The Lancer men's basketball team opened up the 2017-18 season with a hard-fought 99-94 victory over the NCAA's Jacksonville Dolphins in overtime on Friday night at the St. Denis Centre. 

Luke Allin led the Lancers with a team high 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Mike Rocca also had an impressive night with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Anthony Zrvnar and Lucas Orlita also had strong debuts, each putting up 16 points in the win. 

Jacksonville was led by Jace Hogan with a game high 34 points and 11 rebounds. Four other Dolphins finished in double-digits with JD Natoe putting up 16 points, Aahmane Santos and Tanner Rubio each scoring 12, and Josh Wallace with 11. 

GAME SUMMARY
With Jacksonville up 10-5 with just under 5 minutes to play in the first quarter, the Dolphins and Lancers traded buckets for the next few minutes before Windsor went on a short run to take a 22-17 lead into the second quarter.

Windsor scored first in the second period on a free throw to lead 23-17 with 9:02 left, but JU started chipping away, narrowing the Lancer lead to just three points, 26-23, with just over seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Another Lancer run gave Windsor its largest lead of the game, 37-27, with 3:56 left in the half. But the Dolphin defense locked in, holding Windsor scoreless for the next 3:22 as JU went on a 11-0 run to lead 41-37 with just 35 seconds left. The half ended with the Dolphins leading 43-41.

JU outscored the Lancers 14-5 to start the third quarter, including a 9-0 run from 6:53 to 4:22 that gave the Dolphins a 12-point lead, 59-47. Windsor responded with a 13-6 run that put the score at Jacksonville 65, Windsor 61 at the end of third.

The two teams traded buckets in the early minutes of the fourth before Windsor strung together an 11-5 run that gave the Lancers a two-point lead, 77-75, with 4:55 left in the game. JU would retake the lead, 83-82, with two minutes remaining on consecutive buckets, but Windsor immediately tied it at 83-83 by making one of two free throws on the other end. Two more lead changes knotted the game up at 87-87 with just eight seconds remaining, and both teams missed their final shot attempts. At the end of the second half the game was tied 87-87.

In overtime, the teams traded baskets to start the extra frame but some missed Jacksonville free throws would help lead the Lancers to victory. 

UP NEXT
Windsor will now host Ferris State University on Sunday Sugust 20th at 4:00pm at the St. Denis Centre, while Jacksonville will continue their Canadian tour and head up the highway to take on the Brock Badgers on Sunday.