East St. Louis beats E-Rabs on last second layup

 The East St. Louis Flyers rallied from a 16-point second-quarter deficit to beat Rockford East on a buzzer-beating layup, 65-64.

East's JT Samules was on the line with 8.8 seconds and a one-point lead when his free throw hit off the back rim. Macaleab Rich grabbed the rebound and then drove the length of the floor and forced up a layup as the buzzer sounded.

That improved the Flyers to 4-0 and gave East St. Louis its second straight 205 Tip-Off Classic title.

For most of the game, it looked as if East was going to deny the Flyers the title. Samules hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter to give the E-Rabs a 24-13 lead. East pushed the lead to 37-21 after a layup by Antonio Lewis.

East St. Louis responded by pounding the ball inside to the 6-7 Rich and 6-8 Demarion Brown. The Flyers kept chipping away at the lead until Robert McCline tied the score in the fourth quarter. The lead bounced back and forth until Rich's buzzer-beating drive.

Rich scored 21 points and Brown finished with 20. Samules led East with 18 and Lewis finished with 17.

BOXSCORE

East St. Louis 65, Rockford East 64

East St. Louis .... 13 14 17 21 - 65
Rockford East ... 24 13 14 13 - 64

EAST ST. LOUIS - Rich 10 1-2 21, Scott 1 0-0 2, D'N. Rucker 2 0-1 4, Da. Rucker 1 2-2 4, Johnson 1 0-2 2, Robinson 1 0-0 3, McCline 2 0-0 5, Boone 2 0-0 4, Brown 9 2-4 20. Totals 24 5-11 65.
EAST - Lewis 8 0-1 17, Samules 6 2-3 18, Barry-Sneed 2 4-5 9, Curtis-Morris 2 2-2 7, S. Hoarde 3 0-0 7, Harris 3 0-0 6. Totals 24 8-11 64.
3-pointers: East St. Louis 2 (Robinson, McCline), East 8 (Samules 4, Lewis, Barry-Sneed, Curtis-Morris, Hoarde).