15 Jan 2025 Lawson’s last-second shot preserves win at SEMO

For the second time this month, Johnathan Lawson saved the day with a clutch jumper. The Little Rock junior guard’s driving shot with 1.1 seconds left in the game gave the Trojans a 73-71 win at Southeast Missouri State. His floater late in the game beat UT-Martin Jan. 2. 

The Trojans led for much of the game and were up by as many as 14 in the second half, but SEMO hung around and kept cutting into the lead and tied the game for the first time since the 4:03 mark of the first half when BJ Ward drilled a three-pointer with 11 seconds left.

After a timeout, Lawson inbounded the ball and got it back from Kristyan Popov and went the length of the court and hit the game-winning shot with just over a tick left on the clock. A desperation three-quarter court three-pointer SEMO’s Rod Martin as time expired rimmed out.

The game-winning shot capped off a big night for Lawson as he finished with 28 points. He added seven rebounds. Isaiah Lewis chipped in 17 points. Toungthach Gatkek, playing his first game after a three-game, league-imposed suspension, scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. 

Little Rock led 37-29 at halftime. The margin moved to double digits when Lewis made two free throws with just over 14 minutes left in the game. The lead stayed comfortable for much of the half and Gatkek made it a 14-point advantage at the 11:01 mark when he dunked in traffic and was fouled and converted on the conventional three-point play.
SEMO started to threaten as they whittled the lead down to seven on two different occasions as the game swung under the three-minute mark.

SEMO’s Martin hit a floating jumper to cut the lead to 69-66 with 57 seconds remaining. Lawson responded by sinking two free throws to push the lead back to five with 20 seconds left, but SEMO wouldn’t go away and Braxton Stacker made two free throws to cut the margin to three.

Gatkek may have been able to ice the game with 19 seconds left but missed two free throws. One before a timeout and the other after. That opened the door for BJ Ward to tie the game. However, Lawson wouldn’t let the Trojans leave town without a win and calmly sank the pull-up for the win.

Martin led SEMO with 19 points. The Redhawks were only 23-32 from the free-throw line. The Trojans only shot 21 and made 18.

Little Rock started the game on fire racing to a 13-0 lead. SEMO got back in the contest and actually led by three points late in the half.