TWIN FALLS, Idaho – It went down to the wire but when the clock hit zero, the Yavapai College men's basketball team had prevailed with an 84-83 win over the Casper College Thunderbirds on Thursday afternoon in the Roughriders' first game of the Wright Physical Therapy Shootout. 

"I'm very pleased with our team's ability to step up and match Casper's toughness," Head Coach Kevon Davis said after the win. 

With the victory over Casper, who is currently receiving votes in the NJCAA Rankings, the Roughriders improve to 3-1 on the young season. 

At the beginning of the week, the Roughriders were tied for the national lead in three-pointers made and they showed exactly why in the first half on Thursday afternoon, burying eight from downtown with three coming from the fingertips of freshman guard Raphael Dupouy. 

After trailing by six just before the midway point of the first half, sophomore guard Carter John nailed three-pointers on back-to-back possessions for YC to begin the seesaw battle that resulted in a 46-46 tie at halftime. 

After the break, Casper owned the first four minutes and went on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 58-46 lead. Having already overcome a 17-point deficit earlier in the season, the Roughriders never blinked after falling behind and began to chip away. 

For just over three minutes, the Roughriders dominated play and went on a run of their own, outscoring Casper 18-3 highlighted by the play of sophomore guard Ray Glasgow and freshman guard Nadir Myers. 

The duo combined for 15 of the 18 points during the run and after Glasgow drove to the basket and scored to cut the deficit to two, Myers got fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all of his free throws to give YC a 64-63 lead, its first of the second half. 

With a one-point lead and 13 minutes remaining in the contest, YC went back-and-forth with Casper until the final seconds with neither team holding more than a four-point lead throughout the remainder of the contest. 

With seven and a half to play, YC trailed by four, however, sophomore guard Kieran Carr, who played great down the stretch, drove to the basket twice and scored on a layup and hit two free throws to tie things up at 71-71 with seven minutes left to play. 

Five minutes later, the teams were still knotted up with the score sitting at 82-82. Then, with 1:20 to go (and both teams in the double bonus for fouls), Glasgow headed to the line and sunk both of his free throws to give YC a narrow two-point lead. 

On the next possession, Casper headed to the free-throw line, however, the Thunderbirds were only able to get one to fall and YC kept an 84-83 lead with less than 30 seconds left to play. 

With possession of the basketball, the Roughriders fell victim to a jump ball call and the arrow pointing the way of the Thunderbirds with 10 seconds left to play and headed to their defensive side of the court with the game hanging in the balance. 

After a drive to the hoop from the Casper forward, the Roughriders stayed disciplined, didn't foul and watched the potential game-winning basket fall harmlessly to the floor to secure the 84-83 victory. 

Glasgow led all scorers with 23 and was joined in double digits by Dupouy (17), Carr (16) and Myers (13). Carr also grabbed 10 rebounds to collect his second double-double of the season. 

From the free-throw line, YC went 23-of-26 with Carr leading the way at 10-10 while Glasgow was 6-6 and Myers was 5-5. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are set for a rematch tomorrow (November 10) against the No. 10-ranked College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles with tipoff set for 7 p.m.