GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A game-winning three-point field goal by University of St. Francis' Cole Micek (SR/Los Angeles, Calif.) at the final buzzer gave the nationally 19th-ranked Saints' men's basketball team a dramatic 68-66 non-conference road victory over the Aquinas College (Mich.) Saints this Monday (Nov. 11) evening at AQ's Sturrus Center.  
 

Trailing 66-65 with seven seconds left in the game, point guard Eric Ting (JR/Taoyuan, Taiwan) drove to the basket from the right-side wing as the clock was running down and dished off a pass to a wide open Micek in the right corner, who drained the three-ball as time expired to give USF the win as the Fighting Saints improve to 2-0 on the season.
 

Micek, who led all scorers with 22 points on the night, was able to redeem himself by capitalizing on the last second opportunity after committing a turnover in the Saints' backcourt with 18 seconds and USF holding a 65-64 lead. Aquinas' Deric Murray put the Saints back on top at 66-65 on a driving reverse layup underneath the basket and USF promptly called a timeout with six seconds on the scoreboard.
 

Joining Micek in double-figure scoring for USF was guard Malik Bailey (SR/Tutwiler, Miss.), who pumped in 17 points to go with a game-high four steals. Ting contributed eight points and had a game-high six assists while forward Lewis Holey (JR/Sydney, Australia) pulled down a game-leading 11 rebounds, which included four caroms on the offensive glass. 
 

Micek and Bailey both shot the ball well for the contest. Micek was seven-of-12 from the field and connected on six-of-10 treys while Bailey went six-of-10 in field goals and three-for-six beyond the three-point line. Both were two-for-three at the charity stripe.
 

USF started out slow in the first half as the Fighting Saints trailed 36-28 at the half as a result of shooting 34.4 percent (11-32) from the field compared to 51.9 percent (14-27) by Aquinas. USF was able to narrow its deficit down to three points (53-50) with 7:35 remaining in the game on a guard Jorden Thornton (SR/Hoffman Estates, Ill.)'s jumper and then faced a seven-point deficit at 57-50 with 6:44 left before scoring nine unanswered points to claim a 59-57 advantage as Micek knocked down a triple with 11 seconds to go before the five-minute mark.
 

Aquinas tallied the next four points to regain the lead at 61-59 with 2:43 remaining before Bailey canned a three ball to give USF the upper hand (62-61) at the 2:20 mark. The host team came right back by scoring three points in a row to claim a 64-62 advantage with precisely one minute to be played. However, the AQ lead was short-lived as Micek's three-pointer made it 65-64 Fighting Saints with 42 ticks left on the clock. A jump ball was called with 21 seconds left as Bailey made a fine defensive play by tying up AQ's DeShawn Lewis on an attempt to score and the possession arrow pointed in favor of USF. Micek then committed a turnover on a AQ double team as the ball went off his leg with 18 seconds to go as the Saints converted, but would get one final chance to make amends which he did in dramatic style.  
 

Aquinas, which is 1-4 on the year, was led in scoring by Davion Benton's 18 points and Jesse Hillis totaled 10 points.
 

USF concluded the game making good on 43.1 percent (25-28) of its shots from the floor and was 11-of-29 in three-point field goals for a 37.9 success rate. The Fighting Saints, who posted a 35-33 rebounding advantage, converted 50 percent (7-14) at the free throw stripe. Aquinas finished the contest by hitting 27-of-56 shots for 48.2 percent, 35.7 percent (5-14) in three-point field goal attempts, and was seven-of-12 (58.3%) in free throws. AQ also recorded a 42-22 points in the paint advantage and outscored USF's bench 40-13.   
 

Up Next

USF returns home to the Sullivan Center this Wednesday (Nov. 13) as the Saints host the Calumet St. Joseph Crimson Wave in a 7 p.m. (CT) Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) game.