La Plume, PA – DaVaughn Thomas (Port Arthur, TX/Silsbee) forced overtime with 10 seconds remaining in regulation, but visiting Rosemont College scored the game-winning field goal with seven seconds left in overtime to give the Ravens a 77-75 victory over Keystone College in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon. The Ravens improve to 7-8 on the season and 5-3 in the CSAC while the Giants slip to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play after suffering their first home loss of the year.
Keystone scored the first 12 points of Saturday's contest before Rosemont battled back to within three at 17-14 with 11:29 left in the first half. The Giants countered by outscoring the Ravens 15-4 over the next 6:26 to hold a 32-18 advantage with just over five minutes remaining in the opening stanza before Rosemont was able to cut their deficit to nine points, 34-25, heading into the halftime break.
Duncan Lunsford (Marietta, GA/Sprayberry) led Keystone with 11 points in the first half while Dan Candemeres (Holbrook, NY/Sachem East) netted seven points. Thomas led all players with five rebounds in the first half as the Giants held a 20-14 advantage on the boards in the opening 20 minutes of play while shooting 51.9 percent from the floor including a 3-10 effort from three-point range.
Kyle Lafferty paced Rosemont's offense with 11 points while Kiwan Murray chipped in eight points. Dom Scafidi was the Ravens' leading rebounder with four boards in the period. Rosemont shot at a 32.1 percent clip in the first half while going 4-9 from downtown.
Rosemont opened the second half with a 17-4 run to claim a 42-38 lead with 13:40 remaining in regulation. Keystone battled back and took a 50-48 advantage at the 8:39 mark on a three pointer from Miles Dargan (Orlando, FL/Wekiva). The Ravens briefly went back in front on a three-point play before Dargan hit all three free throws after being fouled beyond the arc and Rashaud Kelley (Farrell, PA/Paul Laurence Dunbar) followed with a layup to give the Giants a 55-51 advantage with 5:45 showing on the clock.
The visitors eventually worked the game into a 60-60 tie with 2:36 remaining and would claim a 66-62 lead with 35 seconds remaining. Jesse Longmire (Harlem, NY/John S. Burke Catholic) made it a two-point game on a lay-in with 23 ticks left and following a missed free throw by Rosemont, Thomas converted a layup with 10 seconds remaining to force overtime.
In the extra period, Longmire gave Keystone the early lead in a five minute period that would be tied four times and remain within a single possession throughout. Candemeres gave Keystone a 75-74 lead by making one of two free throw with 44 seconds remaining before the Ravens' Nadir Stukes tied it with 10 seconds left by hitting the front end of a pair of free throws. Stukes, however, was able to grab an offensive rebound after missing his second shot and scored on a layup with seven seconds remaining. Following a Keystone timeout with three seconds remaining, a long range attempt at the win by the Giants was blocked as Rosemont emerged victorious in the thrilling game.
Lafferty finished with a game-high 23 points for Rosemont while Scafidi netted 20 points to go along with nine rebounds. Murray contributed a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Ravens, who shot 42.4 percent from the field for the game including a 35 percent effort from three-point land while going 14-20 from the free throw line.
Lunsford led Keystone with 20 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals while Candemeres and Dargan scored 12 points apiece in the loss. Thomas and Kelley tied for the team-lead with eight rebounds apiece as the hosts held a 43-37 advantage in rebounding for the contest. Candemeres and Alex Smith (Floyd, NY/Holland Patent ) tied for a game-high with five assists apiece while Dargan also added three steals for the Giants. Keystone finished the afternoon shooting 46 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc while going 11-17 from the charity stripe.
Keystone will be back in action on Monday evening when they host Immaculata University in a CSAC contest scheduled to tipoff at 8:00 p.m. in the Gambal Athletic Center in La Plume.