A question was raised following John Wood Community College's 78-69 victory over Lincoln Land Wednesday night. Was Reo Quarles' dunk in overtime the most impressive highlight in the two-year history of the Student Activity Center? It would be hard to top Quarles' dunk. It would also be tough to find a more important basket since the building opened.

With the Trail Blazers clinging to a four-point lead with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in overtime, Justin Reynolds put up a shot which missed to the right, not even hitting the rim. Quarles reached out to grab the ball with his right hand. While still in midair, the 6-foot-4 freshman from Belleville kept the ball in his hand, slamming home the ball in a single motion. That gave the fans a reason to erupt. It was enough to help JWCC pull away for the MidWest Athletic Conference win.

"(Quarles) surprised me with that one," said Reynolds, who claimed not to remember taking the errant shot. "He's got such a big frame and he's very explosive. He's capable of doing just about anything, but even that one was a stretch."

The dunk came in the middle of an overtime-opening 10-0 run which helped the Trail Blazers pull out to a 74-64 lead before Lincoln Land scored its first points of the extra period with 17.2 seconds left. Quarles was unwilling to accept much praise for his theatrics. To go with his dunk, Quarles finished the game with 14 points and 18 rebounds.

"It just happened," Quarles said of the dunk. "I just reached out to grab the ball and happened to go up with it. It wasn't anything I really thought about. It was something that I was able to do."

It wouldn't have been possible without Jaris Wommack's buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation. JWCC (13-5, 4-2) trailed 63-61 when Lincoln Land's Jake Carey went to the free throw line with 6.3 seconds on the clock. Staring into a large group of JWCC students yelling and waving their arms, the 86-percent free throw shooter missed his first shot. After a Trail Blazers timeout, Carey made the second free throw. Reynolds took the inbounds pass, dribbled upcourt and paused at the 3-point line. Seeing Wommack flash behind him, Reynolds flicked the ball to his teammate, who drained a 3-pointer despite the arms of a couple of Lincoln Land players in his face.

"I'm happy Jaris stepped up and made that shot," JWCC coach Mike Elbe said. "He's struggled a little bit lately and has been down some. Maybe that will get him going again." Just before Reynolds got rid of the ball, he was slapped on the arm by a Lincoln Land player. If a foul had been called, Reynolds would have gone to the line for a bonus situation. Instead, Wommack turned out to be one of the heroes. "I really got smacked but I'm glad it turned out the way it did," said Reynolds, who scored a team-high 20 points. "Somehow Jaris came out of nowhere and I got him the ball."

JWCC took its biggest lead of the second half at 50-44 on a 3-pointer by Keenan Stanbridge with 10:50 left. The Loggers (10-11, 2-5) didn't take their first lead of the game until Carey converted a three-point play for a 54-53 lead with 5:22 left. Carey led all scorers with 31 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. It was the fifth time in the last seven games that Lincoln Land lost a game in overtime or by three points or less. "We weren't talented enough tonight to compete with them," Loggers coach Chad Jones said. "But that doesn't make it hurt any less. (JWCC) is my pick to win the region. They're incredibly well-coached and they play hard all the time. Put those two together and that's a dangerous combination."

Postseason success could happen if the Trail Blazers put together performances like the one in Wednesday's overtime on a more consistent basis. "We've been talking to our players a lot lately about playing with a sense of urgency," said Elbe, whose team travels to Lincoln Saturday. "We don't play with a real sense of urgency sometimes. You can always look back and think about what would've happened if this or that happened. Tonight, we were lucky enough a couple of things went our way."