UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. – The Roosevelt University men's basketball team defeated Governors State University by the score of 54-53 on a Trenton Kyler layup with 14 seconds remaining to end the regular season at The ARC in University Park, Ill.  The Lakers head into the CCAC Conference Tournament as the fifth seed with an 18-11 overall record and a 13-9 CCAC record.

Neither team led by more than two points for the first 10 minutes of the first half until Caleb Brown scored on a layup to put the Lakers up 10-6 with 9:18 to go.  Roosevelt then pushed its lead to 15-8 after a Kyler three-pointer and led 22-14 on a three by Anthony Martinez with 4:52 left.  However, the Jaguars closed out the half outscoring the Lakers 11-3 to cut the margin to 26-25 at the half.

In the second half, the two teams traded the lead during the first half of the second stanza before Matt Myers and Ayomide Ajiboye hit back-to-back jumpers to put Roosevelt up 43-39 with 10:05 to play.  The Lakers increased their lead to 48-41 on another Martinez three with just under eight minutes remaining, but the Jaguars scored nine consecutive points to regain the lead at 50-48 with 3:14 on the clock. 

Myers then knocked down two free throws and Ajiboye followed with a slam dunk with 1:06 remaining to give RU a 52-50 advantage.  Governors State answered with a three-pointer 23 seconds later to go up 53-52, but Kyler came through with a layup with 14 ticks left on the clock and the home team missed a three-pointer as time expired for the 54-53 Roosevelt victory.

GAME DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt                            26           28           54
                Governors State               25           28           53

Records: Roosevelt 18-11, 13-9 (CCAC) | Governors State 10-19, 7-15 (CCAC)

Location: The ARC | University Park, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Anthony Martinez scored a team-high 15 points to go with three rebounds & two assists
• Trenton Kyler had 11 points, three rebounds, & three assists
• Matt Myers added 10 points
• Mark Johnson pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds & had three assists
• Caleb Brown registered seven rebounds
• RU shot 32.1% overall & 27.3% from three-point range
• GSU shot 35.5% from the field & 19% from behind the arc
• The Lakers were 14-of-20 from the free-throw line, while the Jaguars went 5-of-13

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers swept the season series from the Jaguars & now lead the all-time series 7-5
• RU ends the CCAC Conference regular season in fifth place with a 13-9 record
• Click here to view the final CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers begin the postseason on Wednesday, February 23 as the fifth seed in the CCAC Conference Tournament, taking on fourth-seeded St. Xavier University.  The game will take place at the Shannon Center on the campus of St. Xavier on the south side of Chicago with a game time to be announced.