JOLIET, Ill. --- Turning in season-high shooting marks and getting a strong effort from its bench, the University of St. Francis men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to claim a hard-fought 95-90 victory in overtime against Mid-America Nazarene University (Kan.) on Saturday night in the USF Thanksgiving Classic.

In a contest that featured 18 ties and 13 lead changes, the Fighting Saints (5-1) needed every one of their top shooting numbers on the year – a .618 overall field goal percentage (34-of-55), a .571 reading from beyond the three-point arc (12-of-21) and a perfect 15-for-15 reading at the free throw line – to prevail. 

Getting 39 points from its bench opposite 14 for Mid-America Nazarene also helped offset a 36-19 rebounding advantage for the Pioneers, which included 17 offensive boards.  Reihana Maxwell-Topia led the bench contingent with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Darius Wright was next in line with 11 markers, followed by Carter Fayhee with nine.

As for the starters, Carlos Tovias topped the scoring list with 16 points, including four three-pointers in five attempts. He and Fayhee carried the Saints early on with 11 and seven points, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes.

Keys after the intermission were Joey Buggemi, Russell Tillery and Darius Wright, all of whom scored nine points in the second half, and Lewis Holey, who hit a big three-pointer late in regulation. Buggemi finished with 15 points, while Tillery totaled 13 points and a game-high six assists. Holey turned in seven points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Trey Brown authored a career-high 29 points for Mid-America Nazarene (6-4) with Darnell Miller also hitting for 20 points. The Pioneers also shot well from the field, finishing at a .529 clip (36-of-68), but struggled from beyond the arc after halftime hitting just two of their nine attempts. The Saints, meanwhile, hit on six of their final ten three-point attempts.

Both teams shot an identical .615 in the second half, converting 16 of their 26 attempts.

Neither team could build much of an edge in the opening 20 minutes with both teams holding no more than a six point lead. A layup with ten seconds remaining eventually gave the Pioneers a 40-38 advantage at the break.

Mid-America Nazarene used that momentum to score the first six points of the second half in extending the lead to eight points before getting the margin up to 11 points (61-50) with 11:45 remaining in regulation. It was at that point that the Saints went on their biggest run of the game, scoring 15 of the next 17 points to take their first lead since the 4:39 mark of the first half. Wright accounted for seven of the 15 points.

From there, it was back and forth with six lead changes in the closing 3:30 of regulation. Miller had a chance to win it for the Pioneers with a three-pointer off a steal at the buzzer, but came up empty.

In the overtime, Mid-America Nazarene gained the upper hand by four points early only to have the Saints close out the contest scoring 13 of the final 18 points. Maxwell-Topia was clutch in overtime, where he scored eight of his 14 points and was perfect from the field (3-for-3) with one three-pointer.

The win was the fourth straight for the Saints.

Up Next
USF closes out a busy week when it wraps up its Thanksgiving Classic with a 4 pm matchup versus William Woods University (Mo.) at the Sullivan Center.

Live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with all things USF on Twitter @USFSaints.