Lowgators Outlast Riverdragons

The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for the Riverdragons and drops their record in overtime to 1-2. The Lowgators, the top-scoring team in the league, eclipsed 90 points for the third straight game.

The Lowgators had six players in double-figures, led by forward Sedric Webber who tied a season-high with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor. Guard Fred House had 18 points, including five in overtime, and center Makhtar N’Diaye pitched in 16 points before fouling out with 1:34 to play in the fourth quarter.

The Riverdragons hurt themselves at the free throw line, making just 16-of-26 from the line. The Riverdragons entered the game shooting 71 percent from the line through the first eight games of the season. The Lowgators responded by hitting 25-of-32 free throws (78.1 percent), while hitting 7-of-10 free throws in overtime to seal the victory.

The Lowgators shut out the Riverdragons for the first 4:20 of OT, putting together a 7-0 run to eventually extend their win streak to three and beat the Riverdragons for the second time this season. Guard Fred House led the Lowgators' overtime push with five points.

The Lowgators overcame a five-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, putting together an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead. The Lowgators would not trail by more than two the rest of the way.

Galen Young hit two free throws to give the Lowgators an 86-84 lead with 33 seconds to play but Gabe Muoneke answered with two free throws of his own with 15 seconds in regulation to force the overtime.

For the sixth time in the last eight games, the Riverdragons were led in scoring by Tremaine Folwkes. The NBDL Player of the Month had 18 points and seven rebounds. Fowlkes entered the game ranked third in the league on scoring.

Riverdragons point guard Chris Garner scored a season-high 17 points along with seven assists. Garner went 4-of-7 from three-point territory, making as many threes as he had through the first eight games of the season.

Forward Gabe Muoneke, who missed his first start of the season, came off the bench to contribute 16 points and nine rebounds. Back-up center Kareem Poole also made a difference off the bench, pulling down a season-high 10 rebounds.

Shooting guard Ray Tutt scored 10 points in his Riverdragons debut. Tutt, who played on the San Antonio Spurs summer league team and was in training camp with the Miami Heat, shot 3-of-7 from the floor and hit all four of his free throws in 10 minutes play.

The Riverdragons have the opportunity to bounce back tomorrow night. Columbus hosts the Mobile Revelers at the Columbus Civic Center at 6 p.m. The Lowgators take a day off before facing the Roanoke Dazzle at the North Charleston Coliseum on Monday at 7:00 p.m.

RIVERDRAGONS QUOTES:

JEFF MALONE:

On poor free throw shooting: "We have to become a better free shooting team, 16 out of 29 from the line. That’s a tough pill to swallow. I always look at my team first. Eleven missed free throws that’s unheard of in a close game. You can’t miss that many free throws especially in the second half when we needed those points to expand our lead. We shoot 55 percent from the free throw line and they shoot 78 percent. It doesn’t match up."

On North Charleston: "We couldn’t stop them. They attack. Their bench guys are very aggressive. We still have to understand situations and have to learn how to finish a game. I feel good going into overtime with them. Right now they are the best team in the league but I think we are close."

CENTER KAREEM POOLE:

On the loss: "We would have liked to get this win tonight but we made some bad mistakes in the end. They are the number one team in the league and they proved it tonight."

GUARD RAY TUTT:

On his Riverdragons debut: "I felt all right. I didn’t really get a chance to get in the groove but that’s OK. I didn’t expect to come here in my first game and get a lot of minutes. It went pretty well but unfortunately we didn’t win and that’s the main thing."

On North Charleston: "They played well and they played together. The thing that sets them a part is they really work hard and play really intense. They are a scrappy team that plays extremely hard."

GUARD CHRIS GARNER:

On North Charleston intensity: "We just failed to match their intensity the whole game. The beauty of this game is we can some back tomorrow and go at it again and improve the things we need to do to close."

LOWGATORS QUOTES:

ALEX ENGLISH:

On team’s effort: "This was another great effort by our guys. We came into the game very short-handed with C.J. Black out (concussion) and with Victor Avila still not able to play. These nine guys played really unified. This team continues to take up each other’s slack. We had a great effort from Sedric Webber off the bench and Mahktar Ndiaye played very well. Neil Edwards also gave us some great defensive minutes off the bench. I told our guys to just hang in there and play tough defense. I thought if we hung around we could eventually wear them out."

FORWARD SEDRIC WEBBER:

On picking up the slack: "We were short-handed without C.J. (Black) and we missed him as a banger and a big body. We had to use our quickness and agility to get some baskets going toward the hoop and we were able to convert that way. Mahktar (Ndiaye) had a great, great game. When your post players are playing the way he did tonight it really opens things up from the outside."

Guard Stais Boseman has hit a three-pointer in six of his last seven…Center Makhtar N’Diaye took eight of the Lowgators 18 shots in the first quarter, hitting 4-of-8 for eight points…Shooting guard Ray Tutt checked in a game for the first time as a Riverdragon at 7:15 of the second quarter…Tutt scored his first basket as a Riverdragon at 4:35 of the second quarter…Tremaine Fowlkes led the Riverdragons in the first half with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting…Chris Garner nailed two-pointers in the third quarter to give the Riverdragons a seven-point lead at 5:31 of the third quarter…Garner finished the game with four three-pointers, as many as he had made through the first eight games if the season….