East holds off Dunbar in overtime

ROCKFORD -- East overcame a six-point deficit in overtime and beat Chicago Dunbar 83-77 Friday night for its first win of the young season.

The E-Rabs, who held a 31-24 halftime lead, shot what is believed to be a school record for free throws, 63 attempts, which resulted in 39 points.

The 24 misses, however, nearly turned out to be costly.

East missed 22 of 55 attempts in the second half and overtime, enabling foul-plagued Dunbar to close the gap.

Trayvon Ross, who led the Mightymen with 19 points, tossed in the game-tying basket to send it into overtime knotted at 62, then hit two baskets in the first minute of overtime, helping Dunbar to a 70-64 lead. Before another minute passed, however, Ross fouled out of the game, one of six Mightymen to be sent to the sidelines with five fouls.

Dunbar finished the game with only five available players and two of those had four fouls.

Freshman starter Chris Burnell's four-point play cut Dunbar's lead to 70-68 and East eventually went ahead 73-72 on a pair of free throws by Alex Moore with 1:45 to play.

East never trailed again.

Moore led East with 26 points. Burnell had 23 points and Keivan Evans added 15 for East. Melvin Lamb backed Ross with 14 points for Dunbar. Torey Wright with 12 points and Nial Peak with 10 also hit double figures for the Mightymen.

Dunbar outscored East 67-44 from the floor, but the E-Rabs had a 39-10 advantage in free throws.

East, 1-2, wraps up tournament play at 1 p.m. today against Chicago Farragut, 2-1, at East. ,Dunbar, 1-1, plays Guilford, 0-3, at 11:30 a.m. at East and Freeport, 0-2, at 4:45 p.m. at Auburn.

East 83, Dunbar 77 OT
Dunbar 12 12 15 23 15 -- 77
East 10 21 13 18 21 -- 83
DUNBAR -- Robinson 1 0-0 2, Harris 1 0-0 2, Wright 5 1-2 12, Stevens 0 2-2 2, Blanton 3 0-0 7, Cathery 1 0-0 2, Ross 8 2-4 19, Bishop 1 2-2 4, Peak 4 2-4 10, Scurlock 1 1-2 3, Lamb 7 0-0 14, Totals 32 10-16 77.
EAST -- Smith 1 2-2 4, Moore 8 10-17 26, Charles Burnell 0 3-6 3, Evans 3 8-14 15, Gowan 1 2-3 4, Taber 3 2-6 8, Chris Burnell 5 12-15 23, Totals 21 39-63 83.
3pt FG -- Dunbar 3 (Wright, Blanton, Ross), East 2 (Evans, Chris Burnell).