LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Manchester men's basketball team won in thrilling double overtime fashion over Transylvania University on Wednesday, January 25. The Spartans took Wednesday's game with a final score of 109-106. 

The Spartans and Pioneers battled it out in a close, back-and-forth  during the opening minutes of play. Transylvania took the 19-17 lead with 11:09 left on the clock and would extend their lead to 8 points with 7:52 remaining in the first half. The Spartans answered, bringing the score within 1 point thanks to a made layup by Coy Hampton (Park Forest, Ill., Crete Monee) with 4:08 to go, but Transylvania would hang on to take the 41-32 lead at halftime. 

Transylvania saw their biggest lead of the night, 10 points, with 15:51 on the clock in the second half of Wednesday's game. The Black and Gold would come back and retake the lead thanks to a layup by Ty Lynas (Crawfordsville, Ind., Crawfordsville) with 5 minutes left in regulation. Transylvania's offense answered, taking the 85-82 lead with 16 seconds left to play. A foul by Transylvania's Jaylan Green lead to three made free throws by Logan Willoughby (Greenwood, Ind., Whiteland Community) to tie the game up and send it into overtime. 

The Spartans and Pioneers continued to battle in overtime, but three made free throws by Transylvania's Colby Napier would tie it up again and send the game into its second overtime of the night. The Spartans would narrowly outscore their opponents 12-9 in double overtime to take Wednesday's game 109-106. 

Three Spartans posted new career-highs in scoring during Wednesday's game. Zach Sawyer (Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Watterson) led the Spartans with a double-double, scoring 34 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Logan Willoughby tallied 31 points, shooting 11-14 from the free throw line. Ty Lynas also recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds. Sawyer also finished the afternoon with a team-high 3 steals while Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind., Harrison) added 2 blocks. As a team, the Spartans shot 47.4% from the field and 79.5% from the free throw line. Winners of four in-a-row, the Spartans are now 10-8, 8-3 HCAC. 

Leading the way for the Pioneers was Colby Napier with 32 points. Five other Pioneers would score in double digits during Wednesday's game, including Jaylan Green (19), Simon Smith (13), Hunter Penn (11), Alex Madson (11), and Dakota Capps (10). Penn also pulled down 13 rebounds for Transylvania. As a team, the Pioneers shot 51.2% from the field and 56.3% from the free throw line. 

Up next, Manchester will host Franklin for another conference doubleheader in Stauffer-Wolfe Arena on Saturday, January 28. The men will tip-off against the Grizzlies at 3:00 p.m., following the conclusion of the women's game.