By their own accounts, the Jefferson City Jays were down on themselves after falling to Raytown South by one point in the first round of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic.
But they made the best of their situation during next two days.
Rhylin Spence knocked down a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds left Monday to give Jefferson City a 59-57 win against Lausanne (Tenn.) in the fifth-place game while helping give the Jays a two-game winning streak at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"Winning two feels a lot better than coming in and playing for seventh place like we did last year," Jefferson City coach Blair Thompson said. "Not only that, we beat two really good teams in the process. I'm happy for our guys. It's something to build on and we needed it."
One day after snapping a four-game skid by claiming a 55-54 win against Western in overtime, the Jays found themselves in a similar position in the final seconds against Lausanne. Jefferson City led by eight with 5:09 to play, but the Lynx forced four turnovers and tied the game at 57 with 1:20 remaining.
The Jays opted to take the final shot, and following a timeout, Spence caught an inbounds pass with 6.8 seconds left and drove to the basket, where he was fouled.
"They did a good job, as they should, of making sure O.G. (Anunoby) didn't get the ball," Thompson said. "I told Ryhlin in the huddle that I figured they would probably do everything in their power to take O.G. away. I said, "If O.G. is not there, you've just got to turn and go.' He did and he got to the line."
Spence made both free throws and Lausanne's final attempt from half court fell short - one day after Terrell Howard of Louisville made a buzzer beater from 10 feet inside of the half-court line to force overtime.
"It's great," Spence said. "We came together and finished 2-1 in the tournament. I'm just happy for the team. It was a great overall effort."
Anunoby finished with a game-high 24 points after going 7-of-14 from the field. The Indiana signee also added eight rebounds and three blocks while earning all-tournament honors.
"It was a good win for us," Anunoby said. "It's a confidence booster. They're a really good team."
Kamari Balton added 14 for Jefferson City and Eysan Wiley finished with seven to earn a spot on the all-tournament team, as well.
The Jays were 18-of-36 from the field and 17-of-29 from the free-throw line, but hit just 2-of-6 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter as Lausanne made a comeback after trailing by as many as 14 to open up the third quarter.
"With the free throws being as bad as they've been, we've had two different guys step up and hit them for the game two nights in a row," Thompson said. "The mindset's there, the effort's there, now our fundamentals just have to catch up with everything."
The Jays had a bit of catching up to do themselves in the early going against the Lynx.
Lausanne used a 9-0 run to go up by seven, its largest lead of the game, with less than a minute to play in the opening quarter, but Isaac Roling knocked down a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to bring the Jays within four at the end of the first.
Jefferson City kept the momentum going with an 18-0 run that was capped by a three-point play by Wiley to give the Jays a 32-20 lead with 1:01 left before halftime.
"We forced quite a bit of turnovers," Wiley said. "We were getting stops on the other end and we were finishing plays on offense."
Jefferson City maintained at least a seven-point lead in the third quarter and took a 48-39 advantage into the final period, but the Lynx made things interesting by outscoring the Jays 18-11 in the fourth.
In the end, that didn't matter.
"We play hard, we just make a lot of mistakes and it hurts us," Thompson said. "You can build on that as long as you have guys playing hard."
James Babb scored 17 points to lead Lausanne, which was 22-of-50 from the field and 10-of-13 from the foul line.
"We liked what we were doing defensively," Thompson said. "We were trying to turn them into jump shooters. We were staying down, closing out and keeping the ball in front of us."
After picking up their first win since Dec. 9 on Sunday, the Jays will have a few days off before competing in the Kaminsky Tournament in Joplin on Jan. 8.
"We plan on having a big second half of the year," Anunoby said. "This was a pretty important win for us."