JOLIET, Ill. -- Behind Damarcies Moore's career-high 34 points and three other Fighting Saints players scoring in double figures, the University of St. Francis men's basketball team earned its second straight victory of the 2025-26 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Friday night by defeating St. Ambrose University (Iowa) 95-90 in overtime at the Pat Sullivan Center. 

The No. 2-seeded Saints' offense authored a 20-9 scoring run during a six-minute stretch over No. 6-seeded SAU in the first half before its defense gave up a 22-8 run to the Bees in the final five minutes of the second half.  The Saints then held on for the five-point win in overtime to advance to the league championship game, which will take place on Monday night at 7 pm inside the Athletics & Recreation Center on the campus of Governors State University.

Joffrey Nunnally provided another 16 points for the Saints with six coming from beyond the arc in four attempts.  Merrick Small and Dakoda Joachim also were solid from the field with the former going 7-for-14 as part of a 15-point night for him.  Joachim, meanwhile, was successful in five of his 11 attempts en route to a 13-point night.  Moore (10 rebounds), Small (6) and Joachim (7) also combined to supply 23 of the Saints' 30 rebounds.

After opening the game by holding a six-point lead over the first eight minutes, the Fighting Saints (22-7) found themselves facing a two-point deficit with 3:30 remaining in the first half.  An 11-5 run consisting of a pair of three pointers from Nunnally and Joachim along with a layup by Moore and two free throws gave the lead back to the Saints, however, with the hosts boasting a  41-36 advantage at the break.

St. Francis' lead would eventually balloon to a 12-point advantage (72-60) at the five minute mark of the second half, where the Saints used their inside presence to score 18 of their first 31 points of the period in the paint.  A clutch three-pointer from SAU's Guillermo Narbona on the Bees' next possession finally broke the ice for SAU.  It would be one of six three-point baskets the guests would make as part of a five-minute, 22-8 scoring surge over the Saints which opened up a two-point advantage (82-80) with 16 seconds to play. 

St. Francis, meanwhile, responded by giving the ball to Small and allowing him to go one-on-one against SAU's Nikos Gerokostas on the final play.  Reading the strategy, SAU countered by double teaming Small with Narbona, but the senior broke through both defenders and connected with a layup that resulted in the USF tying the game at 82-82 at the end of regulation.

After Small connected for a layup and free throw on the Saints' first possession in the extra frame, the Bees would work themselves back to a one-point deficit four times over the final five minutes, but USF would not budge from the free-throw line, connecting for six of its remaining 10 points from the stripe.  The Saints held a three-point margin with just under a minute to play before a SAU layup cut the gap to one (91-90) with 36 seconds remaining.  Joachim then came through with a huge layup for head coach Ryan Marks' club leaving six seconds on the clock before an errant inbounds pass from SAU gave the Saints the ball back.  Moore then sank two more free throws to close out the contest at 95-90.

In total, Moore accounted for eight of St. Francis' final 13 points in the overtime period.

Free throws proved to be a key factor in the outcome with the Saints burying 16-of-17 chances (94.1 percent) from the charity stripe.  Moore's perfect 12-of-12 contribution from the free throw line slatted him tied for third in program history for a single game performance with Nick Aleman and Ken Fiedler.  Aitor Anabitarte holds the program record, sinking 18-of-18 attempts in the 2024-25 season, while Ilya Ilyayev connected for 14-of-14 tries in 2014-15.

Narbona poured in a game-high 35 points for St. Ambrose, which finished its season with a 14-16 overall record.  The Bees recorded seven steals as part of USF's 10 turnovers, and shot 60.7 percent (37-of-61) from the field to the Saints' 57.6 percent (34-of-59) with 23 rebounds.  The Saints' defense held SAU to only 12 free throw attempts throughout the duration of the contest with the Bees finishing the game shooting 7-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Up Next
The win puts the Saints in a championship game matchup with No. 1-seeded Governors State University on Monday (March 2).  Tip-off will commence at 7 pm in the GSU Athletics & Recreation Center.

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