Block at Buzzer Preserves One-Point Win for Dutch

Cotton Supplies Career-High 27 Points to 53-52 Setback

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Down by a point with only seconds remaining, Goucher wanted Marcus Cotton (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) to take the final shot in this afternoon's game against Central (Iowa). After all, the senior forward had already racked up a career-high 27 points and he was responsible for 11 of the points the Gophers tallied during a 14-4 run that put them in a position to win.

Cotton got the shot off ahead of the buzzer, but his attempt was blocked by Central's Jacob Winkler, preserving a 53-52 victory for the Dutch in the inaugural meeting between the two schools in the sport of men's basketball.

A conventional three-point play by Cotton and a 3-point field goal by Alex Noble (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) staked the Gophers (1-8) to an early 6-0 advantage, but Central was able to catch and pass head coach Leonard Trevino's squad while reeling off 18 unanswered points during one stretch that last nearly eight minutes in the first half. The Dutch (8-1) led by as many as 15 points and headed to the locker room at the break up 32-21.

Cotton began to take the game over with the Gophers trailing 49-38 and less than six minutes remaining to be played. After grabbing a rebound at the defensive end, he knocked down a 3-pointer at the other end to get the deficit below double digits. Winkler's layup briefly put the Dutch back up by 10, but then Cotton hit a layup and Richard Harris (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) drilled a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions as Goucher closed to within 51-46.

After he converted a pair of free throws with 3:26 left to play made it 51-48, Cotton got a jumper to drop that narrowed the gap to a single point with 2:27 still remaining.

Caves was fouled while making a basket with 1:02 left to play, and even though he missed the free throw, the lead was restored to three points. Cotton was fouled again with :37 remaining and got the Gophers to within 53-52 by canning both of his tries.

Goucher got the ball back for one final possession down by just a point when Brian Morton II (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph) rebounded a missed shot by Winkler with :17 showing on the clock.

Cotton, the only double-figure scorer for either team, was 10-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-4 on 3-point attempts, and 5-of-8 at the charity stripe. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

His previous career-high for points was 25 against Moravian on Jan. 19, 2008.