FAYETTE, Iowa – Jalen Windham's 3-pointer at the buzzer lifted Roosevelt to an 83-80 win over No. 24 Upper Iowa on Friday in Fayette, Iowa.
The shot capped off a nail-biting final seven minutes in which no team led by more than one possession. In the final minute, Dante Saywer flew in unmarked to easily put home Kaleim Taylor's missed 3-pointer with 22 seconds left. Protecting a two-point lead, Roosevelt forced a missed shot, but a scramble for the rebound resulted in a foul against the Lakers.
Roosevelt had 12 seconds left after the Peacocks tied the game and Sawyer again looked to make a play as he drove the baseline. His pass to the corner was deflected out of bounds with less than two seconds left, setting up coach Dee Brown to draw up a winning play. Windham sprinted away from his defender to catch the inbounds pass then spun to his left to free himself for the winner.
The Lakers' first win of the season came in the team's non-conference finale after a back-and-forth contest in the second meeting of the season between the teams. The game was tied nine times and the lead changed hands on 15 occasions, although Roosevelt (1-8) led for less than three minutes the entire game and never led by more than three.
Both times, it was Windham who provided Lakers that three-point cushion as he hit a jump shot with less than two minutes left to extend Roosevelt's advantage. That was the only other field goal Windham made in the second half as he finished with nine points over the last 20 minutes and 13 overall in the game.
It looked like the game might be slipping away from the Lakers when the Peacocks went ahead 55-44 midway through the second half. However, three different Roosevelt players drained a 3 then Windham made four free throws over the course of two trips for a 13-0 run that brought the Lakers back into the game. Roosevelt shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half, including 9 of 16 from 3-point range in that span.
Roosevelt was highly efficient on offense the entire game, ending on 57-percent shooting from the floor. The Lakers were led in scoring Friday by Hamahrie Bowers, who made his season debut off the bench with 21 points. It was also a historic first impression for the junior from Chicago as he made all eight of his shots, one away from tying the school record for the best shooting percentage in a game.
Davon Smith-Johnson scored 16 points on 5 of 5 shooting while Sawyer made all four of his shots to finish on 10 points, all of which came in the second half. Mikey West nailed four of his eight attempts from behind the arc to add 14 points, and Mason Kleinsmith knocked down a pair of 3s as well.
UP NEXT: Roosevelt returns to conference play on New Year's Day with a trip to Kenosha, Wis. to take on Parkside at 3 p.m.
