Lakers Stunned By Jaguars On Senior Day

CHICAGO – Roosevelt fell short on the final day of the season in its hunt to claim a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference title.

Governors State came to the Goodman Center on Saturday and upset the Lakers 69-68, sending the Lakers to the third seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Jaguars erased a 12-point deficit with a 22-4 run over five and a half minutes late in the second half then held on in the final minutes to pull off the shocker.

The Lakers (19-9, 16-4 CCAC) started off sluggish and there were 10 total points scored in the first six minutes of play. Governors State eventually extended the lead out to 19-12 with 8:46 left in the first half, prompting a Roosevelt timeout that seemed to change the direction of the game. The Lakers responded to the stoppage by scoring 10 quick points to take the lead as part of a 21-3 overall run that helped Roosevelt lead by seven points at the break.

Although the second half didn't start out the cleanest for the Lakers, they did extend the lead to as many as 14 at the midway point of the second half. Yuri Swinford made one of two free throws with 8:13 remaining that put the Lakers up 54-42, which proved to be the start of the end for the Lakers. The Jaguars made 10 of their last 13 shots, including 8 of 10 after Swinford's free throw, to quickly claw their way back into the game. Governors State made 7 of 12 from behind the arc in the second half, but were a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 8:13 to complete the comeback.

Maurice Commander did his part to keep the Lakers in the game with 16 of his team-best 27 points coming in the second half. Commander hit the 3 that extended the Lakers' lead back to five points the first time the Jaguars climbed back to within two, then hit another 3 right after Governors State took a six-point advantage. After Governors State responded with another triple, Julio Montes II found Chima Nwosu for a dunk then Commander stole a lazy inbounds pass and cruised in for a layup to cut the deficit to two.

Montes scored just seven points in the game and made just 1 of 7 from long range, but the one 3-pointer that did stick helped close the gap to 69-68 with 28 seconds left in the game. The Jaguars missed both free throws after a foul, giving the Lakers a chance to draw up a winning play. Commander missed the first attempt at a winner, but Matt Myers collected the rebound and tried to send the putback towards the rim, but it was swatted out of bounds. With one last chance at a winner with 1.2 seconds left, the Lakers found Commander on the wing, but his shot hit the side of the backboard.

Swinford scored nine points, collected seven rebounds and dished out six assists, but struggled early with four first-half turnovers. Myers and Shane Stevensen both added eight points, and Nwosu scored eight points and grabbed a team-best eight boards. The Lakers won the rebounding battled 37-30 and converted 13 offensive boards into 11 second-chance points. Roosevelt also scored 18 points off Governors State's 13 turnovers in the game.

Prior to the game, Roosevelt honored its six seniors this season: Ayo Ajiboye, Mark Johnson, Lucas Jordan, Matt Myers, Yuri Swinford and Andrew Veon. Those six will have at least one more chance to play at the Goodman Center when the Lakers host Indiana University Northwest on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the CCAC Tournament.