A game that featured 11 lead changes and saw the score tied 10 times needed to go to a second overtime to determine the winner Wednesday, with Jefferson Community College nipping the Tompkins Cortland Community College men's basketball team 91-90. The loss drops the Panthers to 6-11 overall and 1-5 in the Mid-State Athletic Conference. Jefferson is now 7-12 overall and 3-4 in the MSAC.
The Panthers opened the game scoring the first five points, but by the end of the first half, the lead had changed hands four times. Tompkins Cortland went to the locker room up 35-32 after Jefferson closed the half with a 6-0 run. The momentum from the end of the first half carried over to the second for the Cannoneers with the visitors opening the second half by scoring the first 11 points. Jefferson's lead eventually reached 12 points before the Panthers started to chip away.
With 3:03 left in regulation, Jonathan Baker (Staten Island/Curtis H.S.) made a pair of free throws to make the score 64-62 in favor of Jefferson. Over the next two and a half minutes, Baker would score seven more points, eventually giving the Panthers a 69-67 lead with 41 seconds left. Jefferson answered with a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left, tying the score at 69-69. With neither team able to score in the final half minute, the game went to overtime.
In OT, Jefferson won the tip and scored to move back in front, but another Baker basket tied the score. A three-pointer by Jefferson made the score 74-71, but Baker again scored two from the free throw line – the 13th straight point he scored for the Panthers – to cut the lead to 74-73. After a defensive stop, Shakel Cofield (Westbury/Westbury H.S.) scored and drew a foul. His three-point play with 2:15 left in overtime marked the first time any Panther other than Baker had scored in more than five minute of play, but more importantly, put Tompkins Cortland up 76-74. Jefferson knotted the score at 76-76, but Baker put the Panthers back in front with a pair of free throws. Jefferson tied the game with 1:05 left, but Cofield drained a clutch three-pointer with 36.8 seconds left, putting the Panthers up 81-78. A quick Jefferson bucket made it a one-point game, and after a turnover and foul, Jefferson made 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 19 second left to tie the score at 81-81. For the second time, the Panthers had the ball with a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but again came up short, this time sending the game to a second overtime.
Jefferson again scored first in the second overtime, but Tahleek Weekes (South Queens/Construction H.S.) converted an and-one to put the Panthers back in the lead, 84-83. Consecutive baskets by Jefferson made the score 87-84, but Mario Antenor (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla./Coconut Creek) brought the score to 87-86 with 2:40 left. Each team made a pair of free throws over the next possession before Weekes scored a layup to put Tompkins Cortland up 90-89 with 50 seconds left. A Panthers foul sent Jefferson to the free throw line with 28.5 seconds left, and after the Cannoneer made both, the Panthers again had the ball for a final possession with a chance to win. Trailing 91-90 with the clock running out, the Panthers couldn't make a shot in traffic, and then came up short on a last second three-pointer, handing them a second-straight one-point loss.
Baker finished with a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds, with 20 of his points and 8 of his rebounds coming after halftime. Weekes scored 25 points while Cofield and Antenor each chipping in with 11 points.
The Panthers are home again Friday hosting SUNY Broome at 8 p.m.