Story Taken From The Daily Advance
https://www.dailyadvance.com/sports/local/college-basketball-totten-saves-macu-men-with-game-winning-3-pointer-against-virginia-peninsula/article_012346ef-c42d-5dcd-9762-559a36d24ef7.html
Written by David Gough, Sports Editor of The Daily Advance
Mid-Atlantic Christian's Talik Totten celebrated his 23rd birthday on Wednesday and he finished it in style on the basketball court. With the Mustangs needing a basket in the final seconds after blowing a late seven-point lead to Virginia Peninsula Community College, Totten came to the rescue with a game-winning 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left. His triple gave MACU a 70-68 victory on its home floor.
"Who else to take the game-winning shot but the birthday man?" MACU head coach Charles Sims said. "He got in foul trouble – four fouls – came back into the game and he just came up big."
Just a couple minutes earlier, it looked like the Mustangs (6-6) had officially taken control of what was a back-and-forth game all night. Trailing 59-55 after a 7-0 Gators run, MACU began its biggest run of the night with a Totten layup after a Jahiem Hinton steal and pass all the way down court with 4:17 to go. Two possessions later, the Mustangs started a stretch of three consecutive 3-pointers. Noah Richardson-Keys gave MACU a 60-59 lead with a triple from the right side with 3:30 left, Micah Colburn sank a 3 a half-minute later and Totten added on with a triple from the corner the next time down with 2:18 left.
It was an 11-0 stretch that made for the seventh lead change of the game and put the Mustangs up 66-59; their largest advantage of the night.
The seven-point lead stayed that way until it was 67-60 with 1:36 left as Virginia Peninsula made one final push. Javion Majette of the Gators quickly went down the court after MACU free throws with a layup to get within 67-62 with 1:30 left. After a missed layup on the other end, Majette then hit a shot while getting fouled and although he missed the free throw, the ball was knocked out of bounds by MACU on the rebound attempt and Majette scored again with Virginia Peninsula keeping possession to make it 67-66 with about a minute left.
Colburn had his jump shot blocked by Keshaun Johnson on the Mustangs' next possession and Majette laid one up to give the Gators a 68-67 lead with 30 seconds to go. It capped an 8-0 and nine straight points from Majette, who led the road team with 17 points.
"We just weren't hitting the easy layups, the gimme's underneath the basket and not focusing on finishing the way we're supposed to," Sims said of the stretch.
After a MACU miss with 18 seconds left, the Gators called a timeout. Inbounding the ball from mid-court out of it, Virginia Peninsula executed its drawn-up play perfectly with Jhalen Harris receiving the ball and breaking for a wide-open layup. But he missed it and stepped out of bounds on the rebound, giving the Mustangs a second chance with 14 seconds to go.
After a MACU timeout, Totten got the ball on the left side of mid-court, spun around a defender and threw it down to Richardson-Keys near the basket. Richardson-Keys' lane down the left baseline closed quickly and he kicked it back out to Totten at the left elbow, where the now 23 year old drained the open shot with 4.2 seconds left. "He gave me the pass and really set me up perfect, really just catch and shoot," Totten said, adding that it made his birthday extra special.
Virginia Peninsula's Majette was able to sprint down court in the time allotted to try and steal the win back, but his layup attempt didn't connect and the game ended.
Richardson-Keys, who was one rebound shy of a double-double, and Totten led MACU offensively with 22 and 16 points, respectively. Jajour Lambert added six assists on Wednesday.
MACU originally had to play keep-up in the first half as the Gators led for most of it with a couple six-point leads, their latest at 30-24 with 2:42 left. But the Mustangs closed the half out strongly with an 8-0 run that ended with a Totten jumper after pump-faking a 3-pointer to make it 32-30 with 50 seconds left. The score remained the same at halftime. Sims acknowledged full-court pressure and going to a 1-3-1 zone on defense attributed to the halftime lead.
Out of halftime, two triples from Virginia Peninsula put it back up 36-32, but MACU scored 12 of the next 14 points for a 44-38 advantage with 14 minutes left. The see-saw then began.
Sims noted his encouragement in his team's response after they lost by 30 to Pfeiffer last Thursday. They've now won two straight with Wednesday's dramatic end and a 129-64 drubbing of Appalachian Bible College over the weekend.
"After Pfeiffer, we turned everything around, the team came together, we circled the wagons, had a nice little meeting and everybody got on one accord together," Sims said. "(Tonight) was an example of that meeting. "We know that moving forward we have some tough opponents ahead of us. Win out, that's what we're looking to do, but it's not going to be easy and we know that. Looking for a good push toward the end."
