JOLIET, Ill.--- Despite its best scoring output of the season, which included a red-hot 63 percent three-point shooting effort (17-of-27), the University of St. Francis men's basketball team dropped a 100-97 overtime heartbreaker to Olivet Nazarene University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) play Saturday night at the Sullivan Center.
Led by John Contant's career-high 42 points, Olivet Nazarene moved into sole possession of first-place with the victory, improving to 8-3 on the season and 7-1 against league competition. The Saints fall to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in CCAC action despite six players finishing with double-digit scoring totals.
Saturday's contest saw season-best efforts from Carlos Tovias (SR/Corsicana, Texas) and Carter Fayhee (JR/Macomb, Ill.). In Tovias' first start of the season, he knocked down a season-high five of his six attempted three-point shots. He finished the game with 19 points, while Fayhee provided 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Fayhee nailed three of his attempted four three-point shots.
For the second straight game, Lewis Holey (SR/Sydney, Australia) recorded a double-double. He totaled 13 points and a new season-high 12 rebounds. Saints' leading scoring Joey Buggemi (JR/Frankfort, Ill) finished in double-digit scoring for the 12th time this season with a 14-point performance. Both Russell Tillery (SR/Portland, Ore.) and Matt Attard (JR/Melbourne, Australia) registered 12 points. Attard's 12-point outing was also a season best.
The Saints got off to a hot start early on in the first half, countering ONU's initial 9-0 run with a 26-4 surge to put them up 26-13 with 10:25 left in the first half. The 13-point lead would be the largest of the night for the Saints and aided in ending the half with a 43-36 advantage, shooting 55.2 percent from the floor (16-of-29) and 56.3 percent from the three-point line (9-of-16).
Olivet Nazarene was down, but not out. The Tigers trailed 77-67 with 6:18 left in the second half and went on a 15-4 run to give them their first lead of the contest (82-81 with 3:10 to go) since the start of the game. The ONU comeback was led by Contant, who scored 26 points in the second half.
The final three minutes of regulation was a see-saw affair with the Saints taking the lead on three separate occasions and the game being tied another three times. With the Saints up 88-87, ONU center Alex Gross would split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 88 with 26 seconds left. Both teams missed an opportunity to win the contest in the closing half-minute of play, forcing overtime.
ONU was able to take advantage in the extra period, handing the Saints their second loss in a row. Including Contant, the Tigers had four players score in double figures. Center Gross authored a double-double with his 18-point, 12-rebound performance. Cade Chitty and CJ Smith finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
The Saints finished the night shooting 32-of-65 (49.2 percent) from the floor.
St. Francis heads to Notre Dame, Indiana on Wednesday (Feb. 10) to take on Holy Cross College in CCAC action. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 pm CT at McKenna Arena.
