Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Friday night the shorthanded Raiders avenged a January 16th loss to the Vikings with a huge 85-81 victory in overtime. The win keeps the Raiders two games up in the conference title race with just five regular season games left. They are now 18-6 (11-2) while the Vikings fall to 8-14 and 5-8 in the league.
The gritty Vikings, who had won four in a row coming into the game, got 40 points from Mike Barnfield including back to back threes to force the extra period. The sophomore guard is in the top five in the league scoring 21.2 a game. With the Raiders up 76-71, Barnfield missed a three with 38 seconds left, but his teammate grabbed the rebound, kicked it back out to Barnfield who hit a wild three at the top of the key. After a
William Otole (Grand Rapids, MI) free throw made it 77-74, Barnfield then knocked in another three ball with 16 seconds remaining. Otole nearly won the game just as time expired, but his three point attempt just rimmed out.
In the extra period Otole scored five points on back to back possessions giving the Raiders a 82-77 lead. Jamel Boyd scored a basket with 19 seconds remaining to make it 84-81, but a
Camren Spicer (Grand Rapids, MI) free throw and a
David Hearns (Hazel Park, MI) steal sealed the victory for the conference leading Raiders.
Two of the conferences best three point shooters each had five on the night.
Sammie Ryans (Kentwood, M8I) (team high 29 points-3 assists-3 steals) and Otole (23 points-4 assists) combined to go 10 for 24. Hearns added two more three's in part of his 14 points. He also had 8 rebounds, a game high 6 assists and 3 steals. Sophomore forward
Ike Kanu (Grand Rapids, MI) played all 45 minutes and had 9 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.
The Raiders will be back at it on Monday February 18th in a make up game against the Mid-Michigan Lakers. In their first meeting the Raiders bested the Lakers on their floor by a final of 84-71. Currently the Lakers are 13-8 overall and 8-4 in the conference. Tip-off is 7:30 PM in GRCC's Hunsberger Arena.
