Glen Oaks men lose heartbreaker at Lake Land

A pair of free throws with three seconds remaining in the game sealed an 84-82 victory for Lake Land College's men's basketball team Friday night against Glen Oaks in Illinois. 

What nearly turned out to be another massive comeback for the Vikings (5-1) ended up being their first loss of the season. After trailing by 17 points with under 12 minutes to play in the first half, GOCC went on a 35-19 run to take a 41-39 lead into intermission. 

Joreim Lomax, who led Glen Oaks with 21 points, connected from behind the arc and Jordan Lomax converted on a putback to get the Vikings back within 12. But the Lakers hit a 3-pointer on their next possession, prompting GOCC head coach Sam Waniewski to call a timeout. 

After several missed offensive opportunities, Glen Oaks got a fastbreak dunk from Jordan Lomax (17 points) and a spin move basket in the paint by Amauri Moore to cut the deficit to 11 points. Moore cleaned up the boards on back-to-back possessions for putbacks and then finished off a push in transition to make it a five-point contest with just over six minutes remaining in the opening half. 

The Lakers (2-4) stopped the bleeding with a backdoor reverse layup but the GOCC halfcourt offense started to settle in and find good looks. A free throw by Moore, who ended the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and a steal by Kelvion Brown, who took it the length of the court for a score, made it a four-point game. Joreim Lomax found Moore cutting to the hoop for a bucket before Keri Foster tied the game at 33-all after a defensive rebound and layup on the other end. 

Great team defense helped Joreim Lomax come up with a steal and a two-handed jam for the first lead of the game for Glen Oaks. A Moore block fired up the GOCC bench before a media timeout was called. Joreim Lomax tipped in a Foster miss as the teams traded baskets. Foster tied things up again at 39-39 with a pair of free throws with 1:10 to go before the break. 

Brown hit a floater with 26 seconds left for a 41-39 Glen Oaks lead that would stand until halftime. 

Moore opened the scoring down low to start the second half but Lake Land chipped away to tie the game at 43-43. The Vikings build a four-point cushion with a Jordan Lomax layup at the midway point of the second half. 

A Foster baseline drive and a trey and layup by Akin Smith gave Glen Oaks a 70-63 lead with 6:22 to play — its biggest advantage of the contest. Foster, who ended the night with 11 points, would drain a triple from the corner to increase the lead to eight a minute later. But a big dunk after a loose ball by Lake Land energized the home squad. 

The Lakers would tie the game at 78-78 with under two minutes to go and get an easy basket on a putback 30 seconds later to take an 80-78 lead. In the bonus, Moore drew contact and made both attempts from the stripe to tie the game. 

Lake Land did the same on the other end for a two-point advantage with a minute left. With 32 seconds on the clock, Glen Oaks got a jump ball but turned it over on the inbound. They'd steal it from the Lakers on the next play and Foster drew a foul in the lane. He hit both free throws to tie the game at 82-82 with 25 seconds left. 

The Lakers called their final timeout after getting past midcourt with 18 seconds remaining. And with three ticks on the clock, Lake Land drew a foul on the floor that resulted in two made free throws for the win.