There is a reason that basketball coaches are never completely comfortable until the final horn sounds.

The Lower Columbia College men's basketball team saw a 17 point lead with nine minutes left evaporate into a tie with two minutes remaining. But LCC didn't lost its cool and the Devils came away with an 85-77 victory on Saturday January 27th.

Brandon Cotton put on a second half three-point shooting exhibition, hitting four three's to put the Devils up big.  Cotton ended up with 20 points, three boards and nine assists.  He was 5 for 8 from long distance.

Give the Thunderbirds credit for hanging in there.  They went on a 13-1 run to tie the game at 74-74 with 2:21 left.  The Devils then righted the ship with the Spencer Sweet three and two Wesley Gilbert lay-ins to get the victory.

Sweet, who energized the crowd with a flying, left-handed dunk on an out-of-bounds lob, finished with 25 points. Sweet was 4 for 9 from three point range.

Dwayne Stewart got the start and came up big with 10 points and 13 rebounds.  Gilbert had nine points and four rebounds and Donald Scott made some big plays with nine points and six boards.

The Devils had just nine turnovers and out-rebounded the T-Birds 42-32.

LCC goes to 5-1 in West Region play and 13-7 overall.

The Devils travel to Tacoma on Wednesday January 31 for a 8 pm game with the Titans. Tacoma is also 5-1 in West play.