MADISON, NJ - Despite a furious second-half Drew comeback, the Catholic University men's basketball team steadied itself to earn a 96-90 double overtime victory in New Jersey on Saturday.
Jesse Hafemeister and Sean Neylon combined for 54 points in the victory with each player staying on the floor for at least 45 minutes of game action.
The Cardinals trailed for most of the contest's first 10 minutes before taking a 20-19 lead with 10:07 to play in the half after a Brian Herbert bucket. Jake Melady followed with a three to put Catholic up 23-19 before Drew ended the Cardinals' 12-0 run.
Neylon knocked down threes at the 6:24 mark and 4:34 mark to rapidly change the game in the early going, putting Catholic ahead by 10 after trailing by as many as eight. Hafemeister knocked down a triple with 1:27 to go in the half to swell the Catholic lead to 16 (38-22), its largest of the half.
Hafemeister scored five straight points in the second half to push Catholic's lead to 47-30 less than two minutes in. Tommy Kelly hit a three and was followed up by another Neylon bucket as the Catholic lead grew to 19 with 16:33 remaining.
A Neylon three at the 14:08 mark of the second half pushed Catholic's lead over 20 for the first time and another three with 12:57 remaining gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the contest at 65-40.
Drew began to chip away, but a Neylon jumper had Catholic still leading by 17 with 7:16 left in the contest. Drew used a 10-0 run to cut the lead to seven with 5:03 to play. Kelly got to the basket to end the Catholic drought, putting the Cardinals up 73-64 with 4:36 left.
Catholic held steady, still leading by nine after a Colby Martins layup with 2:30 to go, but Drew scored the final nine points of regulation with Kevin Cronin hitting two free throws with six seconds left to send the game to overtime.
The Rangers led 84-80 with 2:13 to play in the first overtime, but the Cardinals scored four points from the foul line as Dan Buckley tied the game at 84 with 37 seconds left. Drew's shot at the buzzer did not fall and the game was sent to another extra period.
At the 2:04 mark of the second overtime, Hafemeister knocked down a jump shot to give Catholic an 89-87 lead. Catholic would not give back the lead from there, using a 10-0 run to close it out before a final Drew three at the buzzer ended the game 96-90.
Hafemeister pulled down 15 rebounds to go with his 28 points while Neylon knocked down four threes, grabbed six boards, and handed out four assists. Kelly had 14 for the Cardinals who improve to 16-1 on the season.
Catholic welcomes Juniata to D.C. on Wednesday night for a Landmark Conference contest on Franny Murray Court.