LEWISTON — Salem State gaurd Rayshaw Matthews secured a steal with seven seconds left and fed Tyreik McCauley for a layup with 3.8 seconds remaining, as the Vikings completed a wild 83-81 comeback victory over the Bates College men’s basketball team Monday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
The Vikings (13-3) trailed the Bobcats (8-9) 81-76 with one minute remaining in the game after Nick Gilpin had made a jumper and set up James Mortimer for a layup.
After a Bates turnover with 42 seconds left, Jacob Lindland made a contested rainbow 3-pointer from the top of the arc, tying the game at 81-81 wtih 36 seconds left in the game.
With a four-second difference between the game and shot clocks, Bates cleared out for guard Jeff Spellman in isolation on the left win. But, Matthews poked the ball away as Spellman made his move toward the basket.
Matthews pounced on the ball and surged up the floor before dishing off to McCauley for the go-ahead layup.
Bates, left without timeouts, inbounded the ball from the far baseline and could only settle for a failed halfcourt heave at the buzzer by Spellman.
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