JOLIET, Ill. --- Aided by a balanced attack that saw seven of ten players score between nine and 12 points, the University of St. Francis men's basketball team gained an important 91-86 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Governors State University on Monday night at the Sullivan Center.

The win put the Saints (11-9, 7-8 CCAC) back in the playoff hunt placing them in a tie with St. Ambrose University for the eighth and final conference tournament spot with just seven games remaining in the regular season.

Hitting the 90 point mark also proved crucial as head coach Ryan Marks' club improved to 6-0 when scoring that many points. That became possible by USF connecting on each of its final seven free throws and Lewis Holey registering a thunderous dunk in the closing 69 seconds of the contest.

It came just after Governors State (8-11, 5-7) had cut a 78-69 deficit with just over four minutes remaining down to four points (82-78) at the 1:39 mark.

Neither team could muster more than a single digit lead throughout the night in a contest that featured seven ties and five lead changes. The biggest lead in the first half was five points (31-26) by Governors State before St. Francis wiped that out to force a 38 all tie at the break.

USF's big break came early in the second half. Trailing 43-40 at the 17:48 mark, the Saints went on the biggest run of the night for either team with ten straight points to go up 50-43. Holey started it with a layup, followed by a traditional three point play from Carter Fayhee, a trey from Joey Buggemi, and another layup by EJ Charles.        

Governors State would get the deficit down to three points on a pair of occasions, the last coming at 12:13, but the Saints would never break. They eventually built the lead back up to nine points before hanging on for the five point victory.

The box score was nearly identical on all counts for both squads, including the two teams converting at exactly the same 48.4 percent mark from the field. St. Francis wound up finishing with one more field goal than Governors State (31-30), while the Jaguars hit three more three-pointers (10-7). USF offset that by going 22-for-25 at the line to GSU's 16-of-18 mark.

No Saint scored more than 12 points, while the lowest of the ten to see action netted at least four points. Russell Tillery, Buggemi, and Carlos Tovias tied for team high scoring honors with 12 points each with Tovias being perfect on the night. He went 3-for-3 from the field, 2-for-2 from three point range and made all four of his free throws. He also was a key figure in the Saints' 53 point second half, where he scored ten of his points.

Tillery's other important numbers on the night included his game high five steals and three assists. Charles also had three assists to go along with three blocks and ten points. 

Like Tovias, Fayhee was a big asset off the bench with his 11 points and five rebounds. Holey led the Saints with 12 boards to go along with his 11 points for his third double double of the season.

Darius Wright also pitched in with another nine points.

Governors State was led by Lamar Crenshaw's game high 19 points and 18 markers from Adam Taylor. 

Up Next
The Saints close out a string of six games in 11 days when they travel to Lincoln College on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.

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