By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Former Owens Community College men's basketball assistant coach Carl Thomas came into the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) with his Jackson College men's basketball team and upset the No. 12 Owens men 80-75 today.
Thomas helped lead his Jackson team to its fourth win of the season behind 26 points from Tre'Vion Crews, who nearly produced a triple-double with eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
As a team, Jackson shot 31-for-64 (48.4 percent) from the field, including a 10-for-24 (41.7 percent) finish from long range.
Crews started the game with a 3-pointer, and he hit another with 10:27 left in the half to give his team a 22-15 lead. Owens rallied with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 24-all with 6:08 remaining, but Alex Potter drained a 3-pointer on the other end, and Jackson never trailed again.
Jackson led 39-30 at halftime, and they pushed it to 17 over the first four minutes of the second half. From there on out, Owens rallied on several occasions to trim the lead to as few as nine, but Jackson responded every time.
Owens closed the game on a 9-1 run, which included a 3-pointer from Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) at the buzzer, to make the final score look closer than it actually was. Their only lead came with 12:58 left in the first half on an Austin Somerfield (Greenville/Greenville, Mich.) lay-up that made it 12-11.
Aside from Crews, who finished 8-for-15 from the field, Jackson got 15 points from Eldridge Mason, 12 from Matt Bullinger and 11 from Alex Potter. The Jackson starting lineup finished 9-for-21 from 3-point range.
On the other side, Lindsey had a team-high 17 points for Owens. Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) added 14 points off the bench. Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind.) also had 13 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. Darren Groves (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) had a team-high three blocks.
As a team, Owens finished 27-for-73 (37 percent) from the field, 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) from 3-point range and 14-for-23 (60.9 percent) from the foul line. They out-rebounded Jackson 53-38, but lost the game on the defensive end.
With the loss, Owens falls to 8-3 this year, while Jackson improves to 4-4. Thomas was an assistant coach at Owens from 2011-13, when he helped lead the team to a 50-18 record. This is his second year as a head coach at Jackson.
Owens is now 3-3 over its past six games after starting the season 5-0. They will be back in action next weekend in the Delta College tournament. They will take on Oakland Community College and Delta College Dec. 12-13.