Nickelson Leads Comeback for South Side, Edge Lawrence 67-62

Down six points to start the fourth quarter, the South Side Cyclones looked to its on-court leaders to bring them back against a hot-shooting Lawrence team on Tuesday night at Lawrence High School. Juniors DJ Nickelson and Ryan Spadaford responded to the challenge, combining to score 16 of the team's 20 fourth quarter points, along with two clutch free throws by junior Kevin Coyle with 9 seconds left, to seal the win for South Side, 67-62.

With less than 30 seconds left, Lawrence faced a three-point deficit and needed a defensive stop to get one more shot at a tie. The Golden Tornadoes forced an errant shot by Nickelson, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Lawrence got the ball back with 15 seconds left. Ibrahim Shamselden fired a three pointer from the top of the arc, but it rattled in and out. Coyle was then fouled on the inbounds pass, and knocked down two clutch free throws to seal the win.

"I thought we persevered a storm," South Side head coach Gerry D'Angelo said. "We executed in the end and hit some big free throws to close out the game."

In its toughest game of the season, South Side showed resiliency and poise in a hostile environment at Lawrence High School. The Cyclones finished the first quarter up 22-11, and it appeared that South Side would cruise to another easy victory.

But Spadaford and Nickelson were hit with two fouls each only two minutes into the second quarter, and D'Angelo was forced to play his bench for the remainder of the half. Lawrence took advantage of it, and though down 27-16, went on a 15-5 run to close the half, capped by a three-pointer at the buzzer by Dwayne Daniel to slice South Side's lead to one at 32-31.

Both teams began the second half on fire —  the lead changed five times in eight minutes — and Lawrence at one point nailed four consecutive three-pointers in the third. For the game, the Golden Tornadoes sank 10, three-pointers.

Nickelson was the star for South Side in the win, scoring 20 points, but also hitting clutch shots down the stretch. Down two with 5:40 left, Nickelson drove to the lane and hit an acrobatic, double-pump lay up and was fouled. He sank the free throw to give South Side a one-point edge.

With 2:40 left and South Side still up one,  the junior guard connected on a three-pointer to put the Cyclones up four. Lawrence's Ahmed Shamselden responded with a bank three-pointer — one of his four on the day — to bring the Golden Tornadoes back to within one, but on South Side's ensuing possession, Spadaford nailed a jumper from the free throw line to put the Cyclones up 63-60. 

"He took us on his back," D'Angelo said of Nickelson. "He took over. He refused for us to lose."

For the game, Spadaford finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Coyle with 15 points, and Bobby Akeson with eight points and nine rebounds. Lawrence had four starters finish in double digits, led by Shamselden with 17 points, Daniel with 14, and Ed Robinson and Ibrahim Shamselden both with 11.

Lawrence head coach Peter Linderman said he thought his guys played a good game, but the referees took them out of it. In the second half, South Side only committed one foul. "One team foul is absolutely ridiculous," he said. 

South Side plays Sewanhaha on Friday night at South Side at 7 p.m.