North Branch, NJ – On Thursday, March 1st the RVCC Men's Basketball Team defeated RCBC in OT by a close final score of 76-75. At the half the Lions were up just two points, coming out of the half the Lions had their biggest lead of the night 39-32, however, RCBC never gave up and took the lead back at the 13 minute mark making the score 43-45. The Lions were down 8 points with 4 minutes left in the game and were able to hold RCBC to only scoring 4 points the remaining 4 minutes. It was sophomore Mckay LeDuke that came through for the Lions to tie the game up 67-67 with a 3PT shot to take the Lions into overtime. In overtime it was a back and forth match, the score was 74-75 RCBC with the lead and had the ball, the Lions were able to force a turnover with 10 seconds left on the clock and this time it was freshman guard Rick'Keem Mixson with the game winning 2pt shot to give the Lions the win!
Leading the way for the Lions Rick'Keem Mixson with a season high 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assist along with the game winning shot. Mckay LeDuke with 20 points and 15 rebounds along with the 3pt shot to take the Lions into overtime, and Amadu Benbow contributing 11 boards.
Head Coach Kevin Ryan took time to reflect on this season and stated "Im extremely proud of the resiliency that our team has displayed throughout the course of the year. We've battled injuries and adversity all year but never let those distractions take away from our ultimate goal. We've won 9 of our last 10 games so we've been playing some of our best basketball down the stretch".
The Lions finish their season 21-9 overall, 11-5 in region XIX and 6-2 in GSAC. Next up for the Lions is a home first round playoff game Tuesday, March 6th time TBA.