JOLIET, Ill. --- A hot shooting hand from long distance and free throws down the stretch enabled NAIA No. 14-ranked Roosevelt University to overcome another gritty effort from the University of St. Francis men's basketball team and its raucous home crowd and escape with a 74-68 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Pat Sullivan Center on Saturday afternoon.

The league-leading Lakers (20-3, 15-1 CCAC) connected at just the right time, hitting on seven-of-eight three-pointers after falling behind for just the second time with 9:22 remaining in the contest.  That nearly was not enough, either, as the Fighting Saints (6-15, 5-11) put together a furious rally in the closing 27 seconds.

Roosevelt led throughout the opening half, but never by more than five points.  USF finally cracked the code at 13:33 of the second half on a jumper by Casmir Ochiaka (game-high 10 rebounds) to put the Saints up 38-37.  That edge lasted just 41 seconds. 

St. Francis' only other lead came at 44-42 with just over nine minutes to play before Roosevelt put on its three-point show.  The Lakers, who made just two baskets inside the arc after halftime, had nine of their final ten field goals come from long distance.  The first of the seven in eight attempts in the closing nine minutes came on a four-point play to put Roosevelt up for good at 46-44 at the 8:56 mark.

Julio Montes II delivered that one as well as two others as part of a 3-for-3 second half mark from long range.  For the game, he was 5-for-9 on three-point attempts en route to a team-high 20 points. 

Teammate David Swedura was even hotter, going 4-for-4 after the break and 5-for-6 overall to go along with a perfect 4-for-4 reading at the foul line in the final four seconds to seal the victory.  He finished with 19 points off the bench.

Trailing by its biggest margin of 68-59 with 38 seconds remaining, the Saints would still not go away.  Te Jones put on an 18-second highlight reel to get USF within one point (68-67) with nine seconds still remaining.  The grad student guard started the eight-point flurry with a jumper with 27 seconds left in the game. 

The first of two Roosevelt turnovers down the stretch was then answered by a Jones three-pointer with 16 seconds left.  A steal by Don Joachim five seconds later led to Jones' second three-pointer in a seven-second span to create the one-point game.

Montes II and Swedura stemmed the tide from there with their six free throws in the closing six seconds.

Coming off a 20-point performance Wednesday night, Jones finished with a career- and game-high 22 points on Saturday, matching Montes II and Swedura's five three-pointers and going 8-for-14 overall from the field.  Fourteen of his points came in the second half as did that of Rahmel Davis, who finished with 16 markers, including ten at the foul line.  He also registered six rebounds.               

Both teams shot an identical 22-for-59 from the field (.373), but Roosevelt was 14-for-30 from long range (.467) compared with USF's 7-for-21 report (.333).  The guests were also 16-of-19 at the foul line (.842) compared with the Saints' 17-of-27 mark (.630).

Notes: Each of Jones' three 20-point games have come over the last eight contests … Davis has scored in double figures in eight straight games and 11 of 12 … Ochiaka's ten rebounds were his second-highest total of the campaign … Jones tied both his and his team's highest three-point total in a single game with his five treys on Saturday … Davis' ten free throws also tied a team season-high mark … Roosevelt was just 2-for-11 (.182) on two-point field goal attempts in the second half and 8-for-29 (.275) for the game … The Lakers went 9-for-15 (.600) from long range after halftime … The Saints head to Governors State University on Wednesday for a 7 pm CCAC contest.

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