Box Score After having all of the weekday off from games due to finals the Rams were back in action this afternoon as they hosted NAIA DI Voorhees College. The place was rocking as the Rams set numerous records and battled back from a big deficit to force the game into double overtime, but fell 119-114. The Rams fall to 3-7 on the season, while the Tigers move to 5-7.
The first 8:18 felt very similar to a lot of the Rams games this year as neither team was able to jump out to a big early lead, but the Rams would take a 22-19 lead at the 11:16 mark after a three from Juraj Rovis. The Rams and Tigers would continue to battle, but key baskets would allow the Rams to keep their lead or retake the lead. At the 6:25 mark the Tigers would take a 33-30 lead and hold onto the lead throughout the rest of the quarter. The Rams would go into the half down 55-45.
The Tigers came out of the half looking to extend their lead and that just what they did as they pushed their lead to 21 at the 14:00 minute mark, but the Rams would turn it on after that. The Rams would turn to the hot hand of Nayquan Wilson. Wilson hit four threes in less than four minutes and the Rams would trim the lead to 11.
The Rams would continue to chip away at the lead and come up with key defensive stops. The Rams would trim the lead down to four with 7:26 remaining as Ryan Gibson joined in on the three party. The Tigers would continue to hold onto their lead, but the Rams weren't going away. The Rams continued to fight and tied the game at 88 after a three point play from Jordan Dillingham.
With 32 seconds remaining the Rams would take their first lead since the 8:12 mark in the first quarter as Caleb Gwynn hit both of his free throws. The Tigers would tie the game at 90 with seventeen seconds remaining. The Rams would call a timeout with seven seconds remaining hoping to draw up the perfect play to win the game. The Rams were able to get the ball in and Gwynn was able to get a shot off, but he didn't get the home team roll and the teams were heading to overtime.
The Tigers would jump out in front of the Rams early in the overtime as they started it on a 5-0 run, but the Rams would match the Tigers run as they would go on one of their own to tie the game at 95.
The Tigers would go on another run to take a 99-95 lead, but it then turned into the JC Cavin show as he had the hot hand for the Rams. Cavin would hit a three to trim the lead to one, but after a Tigers basket a beautiful three point play from Cavin tied the game at 101. The Tigers shot at the end of the overtime would not fall and it was on to a second overtime.
The Rams would take the first lead in the second overtime as Wilson would once again hit another three. After two made free throws for the Rams they pushed their lead to five. The Tigers would fight back and take the lead on a four point play, but Cavin would tie the game at 108 on the Rams next possession.
After a layup from Tyrone Dantzler Jr. the Tigers would regain their lead with 1:54 remaining. The Tigers would hold onto their lead and win by the final score.
The Rams set numerous records tonight...The Rams largest comeback before tonight was 10 points against Toccoa Falls last season...The Rams also scored the most points ever in program history as they one upped the 113 that was scored against Johnson on November 2, 2013...Nayquan Wilson would set a couple records of his own tonight as he had 35 points which is the best in program history and the 11 threes that he hit is also a program record...The Rams shot 47.1% (40-85) for the game, including 15-33 from beyond the arc...Voorhees shot 53.6% (37-69) for the game, and 13-19 from behind the arc...The Rams had five players with 10+ points, led by Nayquan Wilson's career high 35 points on 12-24 shooting and 11-20 from beyond the arc...Cavin finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists...Juraj Rovis had 15 points and 5 rebounds...Ryan Gibson and Caleb Gwynn were the other two in double digits as Gibson had 10 and Gwynn had 11...DJ Evans finished with 33 points and 9 rebounds for Voorhees College.
"We have been searching for a will and fight throughout the season and we finally found that tonight," said head coach Marshall Tague. "Nayquan had a heck of a night for us and to set the school record for points is something special. We were up in the second overtime and had a couple mental miscues that came back to hurt us, but I'm proud of the guys and the fight that they showed tonight. This game is something to learn from and move forward with, even though we didn't come away with a victory a lot of good came out of it."
The Rams will be back in action on Monday as they travel north to Charlotte to take on Johnson & Wales University at 7:30 p.m.