In a battle between two teams that entered the game undefeated in conference play, it was the Oglethorpe men's basketball team that triumphed Friday evening at Dorough Field House, as they outlasted the visiting Sewanee Tigers 65-60 in overtime to improve to 4-0 in SAA play and 10-5 overall. The Stormy Petrels got a layup from freshman guard Lane Foster with 11 seconds remaining on the clock to force overtime, then outscored the Tigers 9-4 in the extra period to come away with the victory.
The Petrels got a pair of free throws from junior forward Will Perry to begin the period, then got a jumper in the paint from junior center Tom Inungu to extend their lead to 60-56 with 3:20 left. After a scoreless two minutes of play, Sewanee got a bucket back to make it 60-58 with 1:16 on the clock, but Foster immediately followed with a 3-pointer from the corner to give the home side a 63-58 cushion with just 46 seconds remaining. The Tigers made it a 3-point game again and the Petrels twice missed the front ends of one-and-one opportunities at the free throw line, keeping it a single-possession game. However, they were able to get stops on the defensive end after both, and senior guard Chris Lawrence put the game away by sinking a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining on the clock.
After a layup from sophomore forward Justin Hughes at the 2:11 mark of the second half, the Petrels led 54-51 against their opponents from Tennessee. However, Sewanee responded with a 3-pointer, tying the game at 54-54 with 1:49 to go. A pair of foul shots gave the Tigers a 2-point lead just 40 seconds later in a game that the Petrels had led for almost 30 minutes. The teams traded missed shots, though, and the Petrels got the ball back with 23 seconds remaining. Senior guard Connor Smith found Foster cutting to the basket with 11 seconds left and threaded a perfect pass. Foster finished it to tie the game, and Sewanee was unable to get anything going at the other end.
Oglethorpe found themselves up by eight points, a margin that equaled their largest of the game, after a Lawrence 3-pointer 30 seconds into the second half. Sewanee was able to whittle the Petrel lead down to just 3 points four minutes later after outscoring them 6-1 over that stretch. A couple of Oglethorpe baskets put them back up by seven, but Sewanee came back again with six consecutive points to make it a mere 1-point game with 12:42 on the clock. The Oglethorpe lead shot back up to six, but seven straight points from the visitors put them ahead 49-48 with 6:33 remaining.
The two teams went back and forth for much of the early portion of the first half, but the Petrels took control late in the period. They used an 11-0 run over 2:40 to turn a 3-point deficit into an 8-point advantage, 31-23, with 32 seconds until the break. A Sewanee 3-pointer made it a 5-point game at halftime.
Perry led the Petrels with 23 points and 11 rebounds, recording his third double-double of the campaign. He also passed out three assists and recorded a pair of steals. Inungu was one of a pair of Petrels who came up big off the bench. He scored 13 points on 6-of-8 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds, while Hughes finished with 10 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from distance.
The Petrels shot just 42 percent from the field, but held the Tigers to just 34 percent shooting on the other end, including a 23 percent mark from 3-point range. Oglethorpe also committed just eight turnovers for the game. They outscored Sewanee 38-28 in the paint, 25-9 off the bench, and 8-0 off the fast break.
"That was a great basketball game tonight," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "I thought both teams played their tails off. We didn't have our best offensive game tonight, but part of that was because of their defense. But with our offense off a bit, our defense won us the game tonight. I thought our defensive intensity was phenomenal! And this team continues to get the job done in clutch situations. Down two inside a minute and we got a big basket and then a big stop to send it to overtime. It was a fun night, but we have to get ready for another tough battle on Sunday."
On Sunday, the Petrels will take on a Centre team that is now tied with Sewanee for second place in the league at 3-1. Oglethorpe will welcome the Colonels to Dorough at approximately 3 p.m. After that, they'll hit the road the following weekend to take on Millsaps and Birmingham-Southern.