As they proved all season, the Eastern Wyoming College men's basketball team didn't go down without a fight.

The Lancers had the No. 2-seed Gillette Pronghorns up against the ropes Saturday afternoon, up 65-64 with 2.8 seconds of defense between them and an upset victory in the opening round of the Region IX Tournament. But Gillette, known for it's 3-point shooting prowess, found a way to get the ball inside and scored from just outside the right block to take the game 66-65.

Eastern finishes its season 15-16 overall and 5-4 in February, including an 80-57 loss to Gillette on Februrary 22 that was no indication of today's first-round battle.

Jonatan Arvidsson led the Lancers with 19 points, followed by 17 from sophomore Earl Baker Jr. and 10 from sophomore Jeremi Jiba.

Neither team held more than a five-point advantage in the game's final 14 minutes. Arvidsson's spin into an up-and-under tied the at 56-56 with 6:55 remaining, then Alexander Karras hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to regain the lead for EWC. 

Gillette again knotted the score at 61-61 with 2:30 left, but Eastern's staunch defensive forced a turnover 30 seconds later to keep the Pronghorns from grabbing the lead. The teams remained deadlocked until Gillette hit a corner three with 1:11 to play. Jiba was tackled on his own corner-three attempt and hit two of his three free throws with 56.7 seconds to play with the Lancers down 64-63.

Baker Jr. was called for a foul while trying to grab a defensive rebound, but made up for it with a defensive rebound on the ensuing missed foul shot, a drawn fould on a baseline drive and then the tying and go-ahead free throws with 9.6 seconds on the clock.

The Pronghorns inbounded the ball and advanced past halfcourt before calling their timeout at the 5.8 second mark. The defense of Baker and Sam Tiley forced a jump ball, still Gillette ball, with just 2.8 seconds left, setting up the game's final field goal.

The Lancers rushed out to an 8-0 lead and held multiple double digit leads early in the first half. Eastern's biggest lead 11, first at 16-5 then later at 19-8. Jonathan Hall's bucket with 10:08 left in the half put the Lancers up 21-11, their last double-digit lead of the game. Hot 3-point shooting gave the home team a 33-30 lead at halftime.

EWC sophomores Jordan Potts (shooting) and Alexander Karras (right).