Late Surge Lifts RiverHawks
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. ---- On a day set aside for the seniors, Ben Rovenstine, Ricky Branham and Ja'Mal Stewart did not disappoint as the trio led the RiverHawks to a come from behind 71-68 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce at Jack Dobbins Field House here Saturday afternoon.
Northeastern State (OK) finishes the season at 11-16 and 6-6, while the Lions fall to 17-10 and 8-4.
The Lion set out to spoil the festivities jumping out to early 6-0 lead as the RiverHawks opened the contest 0-6 from the field.
Northeastern State did not stay down long as treys from Aaron Arango and Jason Jones tied the game at 6-6.
Commerce capitalized on RiverHawks miscues to open up a 13 point lead using a 20-7 run over a nine minute span to lead 26-13. The Lions pushed the advantage to 14 points at 31-17 at the 2:31 mark of the opening half and Cardell Hunter's tip in at the buzzer gave the Lions a 33-21 halftime advantage.
The Lions held the RiverHawks to a dismal 9-26 shooting from the floor and just 3-12 from behind the arc. Commerce on the other hand hit 14-25 from the floor for 56 percent.
Northeastern State came out in the second half with a little more energy and Branham's three point play to open the half cut the deficit to 33-24. Rovenstine connected on a trey and Stewarts lay up pull the RiverHawks to within 33-29 at the 17:46 mark.
Commerce responded by pushing the lead back to eight points at 37-29 on a Ronnie Morgan free throw and Rashad Brown's three-point play.
The RiverHawks kept inching closer and closer as a Stewart lay up and Jesse Scroggins trey pulled Northeastern State to within 37-34. J.C. Snead sparked a Northeastern State run midway through the final stanza hitting two straight treys and was fouled and knocked down three free throws to put the RiverHawks in front 45-44 with 11:34 to play.
The two teams battled back and forth as the game was tied on four occasions and the lead changed hands on six different occasions until Branham's free throws gave the RiverHawks a 55-54 lead and would never trail again.
Commerce fell behind by as many a six points over the final six minutes, but managed to pull to within 69-68 on a three-point play by Deundrae Spraggins with seven seconds remaining.
Rovenstine however iced the victory with a pair of free-throws with three seconds to play and seal the 71-68 victory.
Marlon Burnett led the RiverHawks offensive charge with 11 second half points to finish with a game high 17 points. Branham finished with 11 points, five assists, Rovenstine tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Ja'Mal Stewart collected another double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
