NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind.—Trailing by one with 32 seconds remaining, the Transylvania University men's basketball team hit four clutch free throws notching its fourth-straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory with an 87-84 win in overtime over Manchester University Saturday.
Sophomore guard Alex Jones went to the line with 12 seconds on the clock calmly netted two free throws to give the Pioneers an 85-84 lead. The Transylvania defense kept the Spartans out of the basket on the following possession, as freshman Robert Dence knocked two more free throws to seal the win for the Pioneers.
In a game that saw 12 lead changes, Manchester held a 41-37 advantage at the half, before extending their lead to 48-41 less than two minutes into the half. Jones found junior forwardParker Stansberry out of a Transylvania timeout to give the Pioneers a big basket that sparked a 15-0 run for the Pioneers. Freshman Dillon Pulliam capped the run with a three-pointer at the 14:11 mark giving Transylvania a 56-48 lead for its largest lead of the game.
The Spartans, however, responded with a six-point run of their own to pull within two, 56-54, before a timely long ball from Stansberry extended the lead back to five for the Pioneers. Manchester tied at 59 on a three-pointer from Caleb Jackson with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.
Manchester put together a 10-2 run thanks to another basket from Jackson, back-to-back three-pointers and two free throws building an eight-point lead with just under six minutes left, but the Pioneers did not go away.
Pulliam extended the offensive possession with an offensive rebound, before knocking down a long ball to pull Transylvania within five.
Dence came up with two big defensive plays forcing a Manchester turnover which led to a layup to cut the Manchester lead to three, 69-66.
With 3:28 on the clock, Dence went to the free throw line knocking down one to trim the Manchester lead to two, 69-67. After the Spartans added a free throw of their own, freshmanTristan Burgess drained a three to tie the game at 70 with just over two minutes remaining.
Both teams added buckets as time wound down in regulation to force overtime.
The Pioneers trimmed a 16-point Manchester first half lead to four before the teams went to the locker room. The Spartans outscored the Pioneers 31-14 over a 9:34 span, after the teams were tied at eight early in the half.
"We had a stretch midway through the first half where Manchester was scoring at will," head coach Brian Lane said. "They created mismatches for us defensively and we had to go small to get back in the game."
Transylvania slowly chipped away at the lead as a three-pointer from Lowell Gordon sparked a 15-2 run for the Pioneers to close the half. Senior Tommy Sirkin found the basket, before Jones knocked down a jumper. Pulliam drained long balls on back-to-back possessions to pull the Pioneers within six, 41-35. Jones added another bucket before the end of the half to narrow the lead to four at the break.
"I was thrilled that after getting down 17, we picked up our intensity and got back in the game at the half," Lane said.
Jones led all scorers with 30 points and 10 assists in the win for his second career double-double. Stansberry tallied 12 points to go with six rebounds, two steals and a block, while Pulliam netted 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind-the-arc.
The teams shot a combined 24-for-43 from downtown in Saturday's contest. The Pioneers are now 2-0 in overtime this season.
Transylvania returns to the Clive M. Beck Center Wednesday for another HCAC matchup, as the Pioneers host Mount St. Joseph. Wednesday's game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.