|
02.17.09
- A
potential first round home game in the MCC tournament was at stake
for both teams, so an intensely competitive contest was expected and
that's exactly what the fans got. The game was finally decided
on an off-balance, banked-in, 25-footer by the University of St.
Francis' Austin Leisure as time expired in double overtime to defeat
the Foresters 92-89.
The game was relatively
close throughout with both teams owning a six-point lead in the
first half, but it was the Cougars that took a 36-33 lead to the
break. HU quickly retaliated as the second half began.
The Foresters put the first eight points on the board to reclaim a
41-36 advantage. St. Francis reined them in and then traded
baskets to reach a 52-52 tie midway through the period.
HU
then put together a 14-6 run over the next five minutes to take a
66-58 lead at the 5:11 mark. From there the Cougars' DeJovaun
Sawyer-Davis took over the game. He scored St. Francis' final
11 points to pull the Cougars even with HU and send the game to an
extra period.
The
first overtime was a seesaw battle with three ties and three lead
changes. Kevin Kyle drew the Foresters back even with a field
goal in the paint with 31 seconds to go and Nate Bojrab's 3-point
attempt at the buzzer was off the mark sending the contest to a
second overtime.
The
Cougars jumped out to an early five-point lead, but HU fought their
way back to knot the score on another Kyle layup with 32 ticks left.
St. Francis called timeout to set up their final play. The
Cougars worked the ball around, but the Foresters' defense wasn't
giving up anything easy. With the clock winding down, the ball
ended up in Leisure's hands. He put up the desperation three over
the out-stretched hand of a Forester defender and it banked in for
the win.
Sawyer-Davis took game-high honors with 37 points and 13 rebounds
for St. Francis in the contest. Bojrab finished with 13 points
and Shane Denny added 10 off the bench. Kyle Benge led four
Foresters in double figures with 22 points. Kevin Kyle, who
needed just five points to score the 1000th point of his career,
finished the game with 21. He crossed the threshold on a
traditional 3-point play at the 11:58 mark of the second half.
Tyler Shively had 18 points and Luke Smith contributed a
double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Alex Nafziger
matched Sawyer-Davis with 13 boards in the game.
Box Score
|
