Lomega makes plays late to slip past Bulldogs 41-38

Lomega didn’t make many free throws down the stretch.

But it made just enough - and certainly more than its opponent - to squeeze out a 41-38 victory in the season opener Tuesday night at Drummond.

The Raiders led by five points entering the fourth and were up 37-33 when Cameron Ramer knocked down a short jumper with 5:13 to play.

That started a scoring drought for the Raiders that lasted nearly four minutes.

The hosts were able to tie the game with 4:12 left, prompting a Lomega timeout.

Drummond then had multiple chances to take the lead, but missed four consecutive free throws.

That streak was snapped when Nathan Taylor made the first of two attempts to give the Bulldogs a 38-37 advantage with 2:03 to play.

ThatprovedtobeDrummond’s final point.

Lance Yost’s driving bucket with 1:21 left broke Lomega’s scoring drought and put the Raiders up a point.

Lomega had multiple chances to build on the lead, but did so only incrementally by making 2 of 6 free throws in the final 38 seconds.

One of those came from Noah Lentz, who grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and was fouled.

He put Lomega up 40-38 with 36 seconds to play and Yost added another foul shot 18 seconds later.

The teams were even at halftime, but Lomega outscored Drummond 12-7 in the third quarter.

Yost and Jaxson Snowden each scored four in that quarter.

Yost led the team with 12 points.

Brenden Uhlenhake added seven while Snowden and Lentz scored six apiece.

Drummond, which was just 1 of 9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, was led by Taylor’s nine points.