The Millikin men's basketball team lost to St. Mary's (Minn.) 66-59 in double overtime at the Bill Merris Tournament at Illinois College in Jacksonville on Dec. 29.

            The game was a tight contest throughout with the Big Blue holding the lead on several occasions including 29-28 at the half.

            St. Mary's tied the game for the eighth time with 22 seconds left to play at 49-49.

Millikin's Kyle Taylor sent the game into a second overtime period scoring with four seconds left in the first OT to make it 53-53.  St. Mary's outscored Millikin 13-6 in the final overtime to pull out the victory.
            Millikin shot 39 percent for the game including hitting 48 percent of its shots in the first half.  St. Mary's hit on 40 percent of its shots and won the rebounding battle 37-34.

            Millikin's top scorer was freshman Matt Merrigan with 12 points.  Fellow freshman Nikko Robertson had 11.  Sophomore Rodney Clark has 10 points while Big Blue senior Kyle Taylor had eight points and a team high eight rebounds.

            St. Mary's was led by Chris Palmer with 23 points and 13 rebounds.  Michael Burfeind added 15.

            Millikin (1-8) will face the loser of the Illinois College vs. Clarke contest at 1 p.m. on Dec. 30.  St. Mary's (7-1) will face the Illinois College vs. Clarke winner at 3 p.m.