Fountain Leads Lions to Fourth Straight Victory
PORTLAND, Ore. – Lion fans couldn’t have asked for a better game on Friday night at Jim Skagen Court when they capped off their first annual “Night at the Nomah” with to a thrilling 104-98 nail-biter over the Evergreen State College (3-13, 0-10 CCC).
Multnomah (10-8, 3-5 CCC) wins their fourth straight game in a row, third against conference opponents, in huge part because of their five scorers in double figures.
With the score at 84-83 Lions late in the second half, it was Justin Martin who gave the Lions the defensive stop that they desperately needed by drawing an offensive foul on Elijah Fuller with :20 seconds left in the game.
Fuller proceeded to foul Martin on the next play and send him to the free throw line in an attempt to stop the clock. Martin knocked down both of his free throws to give the Lions an 86-83 advantage and put the pressure back on the Geoducks.
With 0:03 seconds left in regulation, Elijah Fuller silenced the gym with a fall-away three point shot that banked in, and carried the Geoducks to an overtime period.
In overtime, Trey Fountain knocked down a momentum swinging three from the top of the key on a pass from Jaeden Ingram that gave the Lions a 96-95 lead with only 1:33 left, but the shot that sealed the game was Zach Richardson’s three with 0:28 left on the clock on a swing pass to give the Lions a 100-95 lead. The Lions would win 104-98, and they outscored the Geoducks 18-10 in the overtime period.
Trey Fountain’s spectacular play was the storyline of the win for the Lions; Fountain shot 9-10 from the field for a season-high 23 points and ignited the Lions offense while firing up the crowd.
Justin Martin was at the center of the Geoducks attention as they guarded him the full length of the court, double-teamed on screens, and hedged hard when necessary while trying to make Martin give up the ball whenever they could. Nothing came easy for Martin, and he had to work hard for his game-high 35 points tonight.
MU put up solid numbers across the board: Jaeden Ingram was an aggressor on the floor, finishing with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Richardson scored 15 points, and Forrest Smith scored 10 points with 11 rebounds. Stepan Zavydovskyy was a huge presence on the defensive end of the floor tonight putting up a stat line of 6 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks.
Evergreen State was led by Lane Kennedy with 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Elijah Fuller scored 25 points.
“Trey was special tonight. Only missed one shot and had 23 points off the bench with a huge assist to Zach late. Steph, Forrest, and Jaeden with double digit rebounds was huge. On a night when we only hit 7 threes, we found other ways to score.” – Head Coach Curt Bickley
The Lions have another home battle tomorrow night, as they face-off against Northwest University at 7:30PM.