JOLIET, Ill. -- A combined 46 points from Aitor Anabitarte and Rahmel Davis and a strong second-half scoring surge from Nick Niego enabled the University of St. Francis men's basketball team to eke out a 79-77 overtime victory against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) on Wednesday night at the Pat Sullivan Center.

The win locked up no less than a share of the regular-season league title for the Fighting Saints (22-4, 16-3 CCAC), who own a one-game advantage over Indiana University Northwest for first place with one game to go.  Before the contest, St. Francis honored its six seniors, Gabe Amicon, Aitor Anabitarte, Rahmel Davis, Ben Faatz, Don Joachim and Jalen Reneau. .

Anabitarte registered his eighth 20-plus point game of the season, netting 25 markers to go along with 11 rebounds for a double-double.  Davis, meanwhile, put up a game-high six assists and scored a season-high 21 points, with Niego contributing another 15 points.

Calumet St. Joseph (15-11, 10-9 CCAC) countered with four players hitting for at least 11 points, topped by Colby Wiggins' 16.  Scott Gowan added 15.

Neither team could pull away from the other for the majority of the contest.  The Saints' biggest lead in the first half was six points (16-10) before Calumet rallied with 16 of the next 24 points to take a two-point edge, 26-24, with three minutes remaining before halftime.

Anabitarte quickly stopped CCSJ's wave of momentum, however, by forcing one of 15 ties in the contest 21 seconds later with a powerful dunk.  The two teams swapped baskets moments later to send the game into the break even at 30-all.

After converting at just a 38.5 percent clip from the field in the opening half, the Saints were 16 percentage points higher in the closing 20 minutes when they hit on 12-of-22 shots (54.5 pct.).  Calumet would counter with 13 buckets of its own, which allowed the Crimson Wave to hold a slight advantage for most of the second half.  After CCSJ jumped ahead (39-38) at the 15:23 mark and expanded its lead to as many as eight points twice, the Saints would get as close as three points on eleven separate occasions over the next 13 minutes.  They eventually tied the score at 63-63 on an Anabitarte jumper with two minutes to go.

Niego was a key piece to St. Francis maintaining its close margin in the second half.  He scored 13 of his 15 points and went 5-for-7 from the floor after the intermission.  He also netted one of the biggest shots of the evening for the Saints with his deep three-pointer with 31 seconds to go to help push the game into overtime tied at 67-all.

After three tied scores in the extra frame, the Saints held a four-point margin with just over a minute to play before a CCSJ layup cut the gap to two (77-75) with 39 seconds remaining.  Head coach Ryan Marks' club then hit 2-of-4 free throws to expand the lead back to four points before Calumet added a layup at the buzzer to close out the contest at 79-77.

Up Next
The Saints end the 2024-25 regular season on the road when they travel to Chicago on Saturday (Feb. 22) to take on Saint Xavier University in a CCAC matchup beginning at 3 pm.

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