Bluejays defeat Anoka-Ramsey 89-81 in overtime thriller
Feb. 5—WORTHINGTON — In a game that featured many dramatic twists and turns, the Minnesota West men's basketball team managed to win in overtime Saturday 89-81 against Anoka-Ramsey.
The game was a rematch of a Jan. 6 contest in which Minnesota West was defeated 76-64.
On Saturday, the Bluejays (4-18, 2-7 MCAC South) held a two-point lead in the final seconds and needed one more defensive stand to win. After a game-winning 3-point attempt from Anoka-Ramsey's Chaz Franklin was blocked, the buzzer sounded and the Bluejays appeared to have won the game.
But a foul was called on the block and Franklin had three free throw attempts with less than a second left to potentially hand the Jays a stunning loss.
After Franklin sank his first two shots from the foul line to tie the score, the final one clanked off the back of the rim and the game was headed to overtime.
Minnesota West stormed out the gate in a high-scoring overtime and this time held its lead to clinch a dramatic win.
"Obviously the kid missing a free throw at the end there saves us a little bit, but I've said for years that winning is a skill," said Bluejays head coach Dan Tharp. "And, you know, we're learning that probably too late in the season for us, but we're learning. We tried to give it away, but those kids battled..."
The Bluejays battled right from the opening tip, jumping to a quick 5-0 lead after a trey from Teddy Collins Jr. and a fast-break layup from Karasharo Ojulo. From there, the teams went back and forth as Anoka-Ramsey went on a 13-4 run to later take a 26-18 lead before the Jays went on an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game with around two minutes left in the first half.
After that, two pairs of free throws from Jiekgoy Wiel made the score 35-33 in favor of Anoka-Ramsey right before halftime. The Rams held on to that two-point lead at the break.
The second half began with a surge from the Bluejays, thanks to 3-pointers from Ojulo and Paul Fairley Jr. That began a 16-2 run that gave the team a 49-37 with around 12 minutes left.
"We were really patient offensively. And that's kind of what got us in trouble at the end there is we just kind of lost our patience. When we get the ball moving side to side over and over again, we become really hard to guard," Tharp said. "We made a couple shots with seven, six on the (shot) clock and as a guy that likes to coach defense, that's demoralizing when they run that much clock off and you guard that long, and then make a tough shot."
With the Bluejays looking in control, the Rams fought back with an 11-3 run to bring the score back to within four points. The Jays held on to their lead over the next several minutes after some big shots. With a minute left, they were up 65-58 following a pair of free throws from Fairley.
The Rams responded with five-straight points after a 3-point play and then a layup off an inbound turnover to suddenly make it a two-point game. On Minnesota West's next possession, Wiel was fouled and he made one of his two free throw attempts to make it 66-63 with 15 seconds left.
A pair of free throws on the other end from Anoka-Ramsey cut the deficit to one with six seconds left. After that, Jordan Sinclair was fouled on an inbound for Minnesota West, sending him to the line. He missed his first free throw, but made the second to make it 67-65.
Anoka-Ramsey had one last chance before Sinclair was called for a foul on Franklin's 3-point attempt with .4 seconds on the clock. After Franklin made two of three from the foul line for the Rams, the game was tied at 67 heading into overtime.
After nearly losing the game in heartbreaking fashion, the Bluejays regrouped for overtime and stormed in front right away off the back of consecutive 3-pointers from Collins. A couple of possessions later, a trey from Fairley made the score 76-71 less than two minutes into the extra period.
"Teddy makes two (and) Paul makes one and it saved us because our defense kind of didn't do what it needed to do there in the end," Tharp said. "But they buckled down when they needed to and I'm just proud of the kids."
But the Rams continued to fight back, responding with a four-point play to only trail by one at 76-75. They then took their first lead since halftime on the next possession and the two teams traded the lead a few times after that.
Tied at 81, Sinclair passed to a cutting Henry Counsel inside for an and-one layup. He converted the three-point play to give the Jays an 84-81 lead with 52 seconds left. Over the next couple of possessions, the Rams tried to hoist up 3-pointers to again attempt a comeback, but they missed. From there, the Jays got clutch rebounds and made game-clinching free throws to finally secure the victory.
"We talked for the last couple days just about staying level headed, and it started with me because I get a little emotional on the sidelines sometimes," Tharp said. " And I thought the kids did a good job, they held me in check. But we all just kind of stayed level headed and we never got too high or too low and luckily then we can get to celebrate with the win at the end and be on that high."
Fairley scored 21 points to lead his team in scoring while Collins and Ojulo each scored 20 and Counsel added 11. Ojulo also led in rebounds with 12 and assists with six. The Bluejays outrebounded the Rams 52-33 overall, including 27-15 in the second half and overtime. They shot 50% from the field and from 3-point range since halftime.
The Jays also had a decided edge in free throws, going 33-of-43 from the line, while Anoka-Ramsey shot 18 free throws and made 15 of them.
Ibrahim El-Amin led the Rams with 17 points, while Franklin added 16 points, Micah Adkins added 15 and Raijah "Ray" Lee added 14.
Saturday's epic win marked Minnesota West's first win over Anoka-Ramsey since the 2019-20 season. On Wednesday, the Bluejays will host Riverland Community College in a men's/women's doubleheader at Minnesota West. Riverland's men's team is 8-1 in conference play and ranked seventh in the latest NJCAA Division III poll.
Anoka-Ramsey 35 32 14 — 81
Minnesota West 33 34 22 — 89
