JAMAICA, NY - Now that's how you win a game with a bang!

Despite trailing by as many as 16 points Saturday afternoon, the Purchase College men's basketball team rallied back to defeat SUNY Potsdam, 88-85, as Elijah Lott nailed a three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded to hand the Panthers the York College Invitational Championship.

Lott (JR/Albany, NY), who has led the Panthers all season, finished with a game-high 31 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Following his 21-point outing from the night before, Lott was named to the All-Tournament Team and MVP.

Purchase College forward Maxx Miller (SR/White Plains, NY) and SUNY Potsdam guard Danny Delsonl-Lowry (SR/Queens, NY) also joined Lott on the All-Tournament Team. 

However, before any of the hardware was handed out, the Panthers (5-4) and Bears of SUNY Potsdam (6-3) needed to duke it out first.

Initially, the contest wasn't very competitive. The Bears opened the game by scoring the first seven points, en route to 19-3 advantage six minutes into the night. But Purchase is too talented of a team to be held back all game, so slow but surely, the Panthers clawed their way back into the fight.

Just ten minutes later, the guests had cut the Bears' lead to just six points at 28-22. While that was as close as Purchase got the rest of the half, the comeback seeds had been planted and started to take shape. 

At the halftime break, SUNY Potsdam led by the score, 44-35. Purchase started the second half strong, scoring 12 of the first 16 points to cut the deficit to a point, 48-47, with just over 17 minutes to go. Over the next few minutes, Potsdam continued to maintain a slim margin over the Panthers, before Purchase was finally able to jump back in front on a layup from Elijah Harris (SR/Flushing, NY).

From that point on, the lead changed seven more times between the two squads during the final 11 minutes of the game. 

The Panthers grabbed their biggest advantage of the night on a dunk by Miller, 72-67 with 4:46 to go, but that wasn't enough to put the Bears away. Potsdam responded with an 8-0 over the next two minutes to take a 75-72 lead. 

It was at the point that Lott took over for the Panthers.

After a layup from Harris cut the Panthers' deficit to 75-74, Lott proceeded to score the final 12 points of the game for Purchase, as he nailed two layups, five free throws and the game-winning three pointer. 

However, even with Lott's dominance down the stretch, SUNY Potsdam was still in a great position to win. After Lott nailed a pair of free throws to put Purchase up, 83-79 with 20 seconds to go, Delsonl-Lowry came down the court and nailed a three-pointer.

Potsdam then quickly called a timeout to draw up a play to defend the ensuing inbound and it worked, as the Bears forced the Panthers into a bad pass and turnover. Seconds later, Isaiah Joseph (SO/Harlem, NY) converted a three-pointer to shift the game back into Potsdam's favor, 85-83, with just 10 seconds to go.

However, as Purchase inbounded the ball to attempt to tie the game, something bizarre happened. Lott was leveled by a Potsdam player. Initially, just a personal foul was called, but after some discussion among the refs, the call was changed to a flagrant-1 foul. 

That meant that the Panthers and Lott would get two free throws (he sank both to tie the game at 85) and the ball back with six seconds left. 

Everyone in the gym knew Lott would get the final chance and yet it didn't matter.

The junior received the ball behind the half court line, dribbled up the left side of the court, used a hesitation crossover to create space between him and the defender and pulled up from 27-feet, nailing the shot just as the horn sounded.

On the night, Purchase shot 47.9% from the field, while the Bears finished 44.8%. The Panthers also won the rebounding battle, 47-39.

However, the biggest factor in the Panthers' win actually came from what Potsdam couldn't do...make free throws. In the loss, the Bears took an astonishing, 45 free throw attempts, but were only able to convert 22 of them. For comparison, Purchase went 13-for-16 from the line in the win. 

Miller and Jorge Perdomo (JR/Bronx, NY) each finished with 12 points, while Kyle Menard (SO/Paramus, NJ) added 11 points off the bench to help lead the Panthers. For Potsdam, Delsonl-Lowry scored a team-high 24 points. 

With the victory, the Panthers closeout 2019 and enter the winter break on a five-game winning streak.

The contest also marked the final non-conference game of the schedule, as Purchase will return to the court to begin Skyline Conference play at Maritime College. That game is set for January 4th at 7 p.m. and you can follow it here.