SPORTS
Men’s Basketball Defeats Saint Joseph’s in OT
Hyunjung Lee
DAVIDSON — Neither a poor shooting night nor a double-digit deficit could deter the Davidson Wildcats Wednesday night, as Bob McKillop‘s basketball team earned a 73-67 overtime win over Saint Joseph’s in Belk Arena.
It’s the fourth straight win for the first-place Wildcats, who hit the 20-win mark with their 19th victory in the last 20 games and improved to 20-3 overall and 10-1 in Atlantic 10 play.
Playing their first extra session of the season, the Wildcats took the lead for good at the 2:15 mark of overtime when Michael Jones hit a floater in the lane, was fouled and converted his free throw to make it 67-65 just 10 seconds after hot-shooting Hawks’ freshman Erik Reynolds II hit a go-ahead 3-pointer. From there, Hyunjung Lee added a layup off a backdoor cut to make it 69-65, and Jones and Foster Loyer hit two free throws apiece in the final 17 seconds to seal it.
Loyer finished with a game-high 21 points and hit all eight of his free throws, as Luka Brajkovic added 17 points, Lee had 15 and Jones 11. Sam Mennenga scored seven points and added two key buckets late in the second half as the teams battled to a 60-60 tie through 40 minutes.
Davidson trailed 29-16 at the 8-minute mark of the first half, following a 10-3 Hawks’ run, then pulled within 38-31 by the break. After the Hawks went up 44-33, the Wildcats answered with a 9-1 run to cut it to 45-42. Their first lead since the early moments came following a layup and free throw by Loyer with 9:27 to play in the second half, which made it 49-48 and was part of a 9-0 run.
Two Loyer free throws tied the game at 60-all with 1:53 to play in regulation, and neither team could find the basket from there, with Lee and Hawk Jordan Hall missing potential game-winning 3-pointers in the final seconds.
The Wildcats overcame a 2-for-23 performance from the 3-point line, with one of those made treys coming from Lee on the game’s first possession.
Reynolds led the Hawks (10-12, 4-7) with 20 points.
Up Next
Davidson will travel to Rhode Island for a 2 p.m. nationally televised (ESPNU) contest Saturday afternoon.