La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College and Cairn University played a game for the ages on Saturday afternoon in the Gambal Athletic Center, battling for 60 minutes before the Highlanders claimed a 111-108 victory in a Colonial States Athletic Conference men's basketball contest that needed every second of four-overtime game to decide a winner.
The two teams were battling for eighth place in the conference standings and did not want to see their seasons end. Jeremiah Harris's three-pointer with less than two seconds left in the fourth overtime would prove to be the difference as the Highlanders and Giants both finish the year with identical 7-18 overall records. Cairn ended with the advantage in the standings, finishing 4-13 in the CSAC while the Giants end the year with a 4-14 mark in conference play.
Prior to Saturday's game, Keystone honored seniors Khyle Diaz (East Miramar, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) and Deion Monroe (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston ) who made their final appearances for the Giants outstanding ones on Saturday. Diaz set a school record with nine three-pointers made to finish with a career-high 27 points while Monroe tallied a season-best 20 points, just two off his career high.
Cairn jumped out to a 13-2 lead over the opening 3:44 of Saturday's contest and led by as many as 12 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Trailing 29-20 with 6:10 left in the opening half, Keystone embarked on a 16-3 run over the next four minutes to claim a 36-32 advantage. The Giants would go on to hold a slim, 39-38 edge at halftime.
Monroe and Diaz tallied 12 first half points apiece to pace Keystone's offense while John Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast) tallied eight points. The Giants shot 32.4 percent from the floor in the opening stanza while going 4-10 from three-point range and 13-14 from the free throw line.
Gerroid Doughty II led Cain with 13 points in the opening 20 minutes as the Highlanders went 48.4 percent from the field in first half including a 4-11 effort from beyond the arc.
The two teams traded the lead six times in the beginning of the second half before Keystone really off 11 straight points to claim a 64-53 advantage with 9:17 left. Cairn countered with an 11-0 run of its own to tie the score with six and a half minutes remaining.
After the teams traded buckets, the Highlanders took a 75-69 lead and had the Giants down four with a minute and a half remaining before back-to-back field goals by ShaSahwn Drayton and Bryan Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Rialto) sent the game to overtime. A half-court game-winning attempt at the buzzer by Drayon narrowly missing out on falling after hitting the front of the rim.
Keystone took an 84-79 lead midway through the first overtime, but Cairn battled back to tie the contest on a three-point play by Doughty, sending the game to a second overtime period in which the two teams netted a single field goal apiece.
The visitors had a quick start in the third extra session, netting the first five points before back-to-back trey by Diaz gave the Giants a 92-91 edge with 3:19 remaining. The Highlanders went back in front before Ray Mills (Philadelphia, Pa./Overbrook) forced a fourth overtime session with a layup with 36 seconds remaining.
Cairn built a 106-102 edge over the first four minutes of the fourth overtime before Mills converted a three-point play. A lay-in by the Highlanders gave the visitors a three-point edge with 19 seconds showing on the clock. Seeing his first action of the game, Terrence Palmer (Atlanta, Ga./Lakeside) drained a game-tying three-pointer for Keystone with 10 seconds remaining, but with a fifth overtime looming, Harris netted the game-winning trey with just under two seconds left to end the marathon affair.
Doughty led all scorers with 30 points including the 1,000th of his career and was joined in double-figures by Harris (26), Zachary Dolton (22), and Seil Park (15). Dolton added 14 rebounds and Harris corralled 11 boards to round out double-doubles while JD Zamroz contributed 10 rebounds and a game-high six assists for the Highlanders.
Cairn finished the day shooting 48.9 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from three-point range, and 41.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Joining Diaz (27) and Monroe (20) in double-figures for Keystone were Kirkpatrick (19), Mills (13), and Drayton (11). Perry Belcher (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) led the Giants with 15 rebounds while Drayton (12) and Kirkpatrick (10) also reached double-figures on the glass to round out double-doubles. Millis led the Giants with five assists.
Keystone, who held a 62-58 advantage in rebounding for the game and were plus-two (12-14) in turnovers, connected on 36.6 percent of its field goal attempts on the day while going 32.6 percent from long distance and 76.9 percent from the line.