JOLIET, Ill. --- Rahmel Davis totaled 23 points, Te Jones and EJ Charles each scored 14 and all three were clutch down the stretch to keep the University of St. Francis men's basketball team's hopes alive for a postseason berth with a 77-71 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Judson University on Saturday afternoon at the Pat Sullivan Center.

The win keeps the Fighting Saints (8-15, 7-11 CCAC) one game in back of Calumet College of St. Joseph (10-15, 8-10) for the eighth and final spot in the CCAC Tournament with two games to play.  The two teams square off against each other on Wednesday night at 7 pm in Whiting, Ind.

On Saturday, head coach Ryan Marks' squad outlasted Judson, which came into the contest tied for fifth place in the league standings.  In a game that neither team led by more than seven points and featured both nine ties and 14 lead changes, USF hit all three of its shots from the field and 7-of-8 free throws in the closing three minutes to prevail.

Each time the Saints would attempt to pull away with seven-point leads in each half, Judson was quick to respond.  The Eagles (12-14, 9-9) used a 10-2 run in the first half to go up 22-21 and an unanswered eight-point run to turn a 45-38 deficit into a 46-45 lead 3:36 into the second half.

USF then played role reversal on the guests.  After Judson gained its biggest lead of the afternoon (56-50) with 11:30 remaining in the game, the Saints put up ten of the next 12 points with a perfect 4-for-4 mark from the field and two free throws from Don Joachim over its next six possessions to regain a slight 60-58 lead at the 7:23 mark.

From that point on – up until the closing 40 seconds – the lead would never differ by no more than three points for either club.  Shir Moraidi forced the final tie of the game (65-all) on a layup with 3:04 to play and Davis put the Saints up for good 36 seconds later with his second three-pointer of the day. 

Don Joachim would follow the next time down the court with a layup to offset a Judson basket.  From there, the Saints would go 7-for-8 from the foul line with a pair each from Charles, Joachim and Connor Casper and one more from Jones.  In all, USF would score on each of its final seven possessions of the contest.

Davis gained his 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and one free throw.  He also secured six rebounds as did Jones, who led the team with three treys.  Charles collected eight of his 14 points at the foul line.

Cee Jay Nwosu had a team-high 16 points for Judson, which went 11-for-20 from three-point range, including 8-for-10 in the opening half.

Notes: The Saints recorded a season-high ten blocks in the contest with nine different players contributing to the total.  Moraidi was the only player with two blocks … Davis' 23-point effort was his seventh scoring at least 20 points this season.  He also extended his double-figure scoring streak to ten games in a row and 13 of 14.

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