Providence, RI- With the Falcons down two with 23 seconds remaining, Coach Rob Blouin called a time out to draw up a play for his offense. After the second time out buzzer the Falcons came on the court eager to score. With a few crisp passes, senior Jhalen Lumpkins (Sacramento, CA) dribbled his way down the paint and floated a lay-up to tie the score at 67-67 with just 13 seconds remaining. Fisher called another time out, leaving the JWU Wildcats to run the length of the court for the final play. With Falcons defense swarming it looked like the game would be heading to OT, but JWU's Justin Bullock found Darnay Gray open in the corner who drained a three to put his team up 70-67. With :.02 left on the clock, the Falcons attempted a hail mary across the court looking for the tip, but they could not get a shot off and lose a heartbreaker to fall to 3-3 on the season.
The Falcons came out of the gate hot in this one, leading by as many as nine points in the first half and claiming a 36-29 lead at the half. Fisher continued to shoot well in the second half, building up a 43-32 lead with 17:08 remaining on a Jason Augliera (Discovery Bay, CA) trifecta. The Wildcats responded with an 18-7 run, tying the game at 50 a piece with 12:33 on the clock. JWU continued the hot streak and built up their biggest lead of the game, going up 63-54 on a Brian Hogan-Gary three-pointer with 5:47 showing. Another Fisher run, this time an 11-0 run capped by a Lumpkins lay-up, gave the Falcons the lead back at 65-63 with 2:34 remaining. Two more ties and a lead change, set up the last second drama, and the Wildcats pull out the win to improve their season record to 2-1.
Fisher shot 47% from the field in the tight contest, but rebounding played a role as the Falcons were out-rebounded 44-31 by the home team. Three Falcons notched double figure efforts with Senior Paul Oha Jr. (Antioch, CA) leading the way with 18 points, a season high, while adding six rebounds. Augliera and Lumpkins finished with 14 and 13 points respectively, while Lumpkins led his team in boards with eight. Hogan-Gary and Gray each tallied 18 points to lead the way for the Wildcats.
Next up the Falcons will face off against the Bryant & Stratton Bobcats on Tuesday, November 26th with the game slated for a 7pm start.