Derek Scully has put in a lot of work at Rainy River Community College.
The Voyageurs sophomore, who missed last year with a shoulder injury, hit a cold-blooded 3-pointer down the stretch Wednesday night to help give RRCC a thrilling 91-86 victory over Hibbing.
With the shot clock winding down and the score knotted at 86 with 10 seconds to play, Scully was forced to shoot the fall-away over two Cardinal defenders. He buried the 3-pointer right in front of his bench, Hibbing failed to score on the other end and the Voyageurs sealed it with two free throws.
“All day I was thinking about it. It was going to be a close game and I was going to hit the winning shot. It was weird,” Scully said.
Scully finished with a team-high 19 points and eight assists. Sheldon Esdelle-Blackburn (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Evan Ziegler (17 points, 13 rebounds) posted double-doubles and D.J. Fisher finished with 18 points.
Orlando Edwards and Phillip Freeman are two of the top scorers in the Northern Division for a reason. Freeman, the third-highest scorer, finished with a game-high 30 points and eight rebounds, while Edwards, the second-highest scorer, had 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Hibbing (3-6, 8-16). Shaylon Fenstermaker added 11 points.
The Voyageurs suffered a lackadaisical first half, trailing 42-33 at the break, before exploding for 58 second-half points.
“We just started playing harder and transitioning better,” Voyageurs head coach Dieter Humbert said. “We really got going offensively.”
RRCC shot 56 percent from the field in the second half and solidified its hold as the No. 1 free-throw shooting team in the state by making 24 of 27 from the line. The Voyageurs shot just under 31 percent in the first half.
“This is a big win for us, because it actually shows how we can play as a team,” Scully said.
A win today will give the Voyageurs (5-4, 6-15) the No. 3 seed in the state tournament from the Northern Division. The Voyageurs have three more regular season games remaining.
