In what is becoming a pattern at the Igini Sports Forum, the Dominican University men's basketball team overcame a second half deficit, forcing overtime thanks to Mike Lizak's three with 15.6 seconds to play in regulation, before Derek Steck converted on a pair of free throws with just 3.6 seconds to play in overtime, lifting Dominican to a 77-76 win over the Lakeland College Muskies Saturday evening in River Forest.
 
After Lizak's three, Lakeland had one chance to finish the game in regulation, putting the ball in the hands of Pat McDonald who finished with a game-high 26 points.  McDonald drove on the Stars' Kevin Mack, working his way into the paint before trying to finish but Mack elevated higher than McDonald and blocked the shot to send the game to overtime.
 
"He had been getting off all day," commented Mack after the game, "but I knew I had to make a play and thank God I did.  We have a sense of urgency lately and know that our season is in our hands so we are trying to give it everything we got."
 
Unlike Thursday's overtime that saw a combined 31 points, the Stars won on Saturday by outscoring Lakeland 7-6 in the extra period.  Lizak opened the scoring in the overtime, breaking a near two-minute scoreless stretch for both sides, when he drove middle for a finger roll that had just enough spin to get up and over the front of the rim.
 
After a short 4-0 run by the Muskies, Ben Walker put Dominican back on top with a wing three after Steck drew the defense into the paint before kicking to the freshman.
 
A minute later, Lakeland went back on top when Eric Nygaard got free underneath the hoop for two of his 18 points in the contest with 24.7 seconds to play.  After Walker seemed to lose the ball on Dominican's next possession, the rookie tied up McDonald on the baseline, causing a Muskie turnover with 11.8 to play.  After a couple of timeouts, Steck set a high ball screen for Josh Mayberry who dished to Steck diving down the lane. Steck elevated from just inside the free throw line where he was fouled with 3.6 to play.  Despite a Muskie timeout before each free throw attempt, Steck calmly buried both to send the Stars to victory.
 
Dominican shot near 44-percent from the field in the winning effort, including connecting on 11 of 30 attempts from three-point distance.  Mayberry led four in double-figures scoring with 16 points while Walker and Steck added 15 points apiece and Lizak tallied 11.
 
The Muskies, led by McDonald's 26 on 10-for-14 shooting, shot an even 50-percent from the field but managed to hit at just a 28-percent clip from three, 4-for-14.
 
With the win, the Stars move into a tie for fourth place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) standings at 8-8, 11-10 overall, with four games remaining on the regular season.  Dominican is looking to secure a spot in the six-team NACC Tournament for the first time since 2013.  The Stars will look to inch one game closer to the tournament on Wednesday when they travel to Aurora University to take on the Spartans at 7:00 p.m.