MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (Dec. 20) – A circus layup by senior Tayler McNeal at the overtime buzzer lifted the Saint Vincent College men's basketball team to a 94-92 overtime victory against Benedictine University at the Cruzin' Classic, moving the Bearcats to 11-0 on the season. 

McNeal's game-winner was the second of two dramatic buzzer-beaters hit by the Bearcats (11-0), as senior Osyon Jones closed out the second half in similar fashion, converting on a fast-break layup with less than two seconds left to tie the game at 83 and send it into the extra session. The back-and-forth game featured 11 ties and 14 lead changes, with SVC trailing by as many as seven points with less than three minutes left in the second half, and by four with inside four minutes left in the overtime period.

In the high-scoring affair, Saint Vincent had three players score at least 20 points. Sophomore Jaden Gales had a monster effort in the victory, producing a 30-point, 13-rebound double-double to lead both sides in each category. Sophomore Dev Ostrowski scored 25 points, fueled by a 4-for-5 showing from behind the arc, while Jones scored 20 on an efficient 8-for-12 performance from the field. McNeal added nine points, going 3-for-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line, while dishing a team-best three assists.

After the teams traded baskets to begin the game, the Bearcats would inch out to a 14-11 advantage with just over 10 minutes left in the half, with Ostrowski scoring eight points and Gales four over the span. Benedictine countered with four straight points to take a one-point lead, but SVC promptly answered with an Ostrowski steal and layup and four points from Gales to open up a 22-15 lead with 7:07 left in the half.

The tide would then turn in favor of the Eagles, as they embarked on a 12-4 run over the next four minutes to gain a 27-26 lead. A free throw from Jones, followed by a three-pointer from Gales, put the Bearcats back in front, 30-27, with 2:21 left, but the Eagles scored six of the final eight points of the half to take a 33-32 lead into the locker room.

Benedictine looked to keep the momentum to open the second half, eventually stretching its lead to eight, 47-39, with 16:16 left in regulation, but Saint Vincent answered in a big way. Gales scored four points in a 40-second span, before Ostrowski buried three three-pointers in a two-minute span to give SVC a 52-48 lead with 13:06 left. Jones would then cap off the 15-1 run with a jumper off of an Ostrowski steal to extend the SVC lead to 54-48 with 12:50 remaining.

Again, Benedictine battled back with a 9-0 run of its own to gain a 57-54 advantage at the midpoint of the half. With 9:45 to go in the half, Ostrowski buried all three freebies after being fouled on a three-pointer to temporarily tie the game at 57, but the Eagles came back with a 9-4 run to take a 66-61 lead with 6:30 to go. The Bearcats would twice cut the gap to one over the next three minutes, first on a jumper from Ostrowski at the 5-minute mark and then after three free throws from Mike Iuzzolino with 4:16 to go, but the Eagles scored six straight points to expand its lead to 77-70 with 3:47 left.

With 2:52 left in regulation, a fastbreak layup by Gales trimmed the gap to four, 78-74, before Jones hit a free throw and then cashed in on a layup off of a Jaden Bailey steal to make it a one-point game, 78-77, with 1:44 to go. After the Eagles scored four straight to make it an 82-77 lead with 33 seconds left, Gales hit a pair of free throws, before McNeal stole the ensuing inbounds and sank a layup to again make it a one-point game, 82-81. On the next trip, the Bearcats were forced to foul, and the Eagles connected on just one of the two attempts from the line, to go up 82-81 with six seconds to go. Bailey then sent his inbounds pass to Jones, who weaved his way up the court to score the game-tying layup with under two seconds left, capping off another SVC comeback and sending the game into overtime.

The Eagles scored the first four points of the extra session, before Jones got the Bearcats on the board with a jumper in the paint with 3:49 left, making it 87-85. The teams would then trade five scoreless possessions before a free throw by McNeal made it a one-point game, 87-86, with 1:44 to go. Twenty-five seconds later, Gales hit two foul shots to give the Bearcats their first lead since the 9-minute mark of the second half. With 10 seconds left, McNeal sank two free throws to push the lead to 92-89, but Benedictine's Tanner Resch sank a three-pointer with five seconds left to tie the game at 92, setting up McNeal's last-second heroics.

For the game, Benedictine shot 57 percent from the field and SVC 47 percent, with the Eagles going 8-for-16 from behind the arc, but the Bearcats had a big edge at the foul line, going 27-for-36 (75 percent) compared to their opponents' 14-for-26 mark (54 percent). The Saint Vincent defense forced 19 turnovers and  totaled eight steals, with four from Ostrowski.

The Eagles (6-3) were paced by 25 points from Trevor Montiel and 17 from Resch