LINCOLN, Neb. – It was a story of two halves as the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team came back from a 21-point deficit to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls only to come up short, 82-80, in overtime. ETBU is now 2-2 on the year.
Aaron Gregg had a career game with 31 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Darry Moore finished with 20 points and five rebounds while
Jayden Williams posted 11 points.
Kevin Charles led the team with 10 rebounds and had seven points. UWRF Noah Hanson had 25 points to lead his team.
ETBU shot 38% from the floor, 16% from the arc, and 78% from the line (25-of-32) while UWRF made 54% from the floor, 50% from the three-point line, and 73% (19-of-26) from the stripe. ETBU out rebounded UWRF, 40-33, and forced 26 turnovers. UWRF had 23 points off turnovers to ETBU's 19.
The game came down to the final 30 seconds of overtime after Williams tied the game up at 79 with 1:04 left. UWRF missed a three-pointer but grabbed the offensive rebound with 35 seconds left. Just 14 seconds later they hit the game winning three-pointer with 21 seconds to go. Gregg tried to tie the game with a three-pointer with five seconds left but it fell short. An ETBU offensive rebound gave them another chance but Gregg was fouled just inside the three-point line and received two free throws. He made the first one and then intentionally missed the second one but UWRF took the dead ball rebound to end the game, 82-80.
It was the second half where ETBU's offense kicked in gear scoring 50 points and shot 48% from the floor. They didn't hit any three-pointers but were 20-of-23 from the foul line. Down 18 points to begin the half, 40-22, ETBU slowly climbed back into the game. With 18:15 left and still down 18 points, 42-24, ETBU went on a 10-3 run to come within 11, 45-34. Moore, Gregg, and Charles all scored in the run. UWRF still had a commanding lead, 52-37, with 12:02 to go but ETBU responded over four minutes with another run, 10-2, to pull to within seven, 54-47.
Chris Haynes had a lay up to put ETBU closer as UWRF had kept their lead the entire game.
In the final seven minutes, ETBU would be within single digits but were still down seven, 70-63, with 2:03 in the game. Williams cut the lead to four, 70-66, on an and-one situation with 1:52 left. Gregg then hit a jumper at the 1:35 mark making it a two-point game, 70-68. After UWRF recorded a bucket, Moore swooshed two free throws keeping the pressure on UWRF with 53 seconds left, 72-70. UWRF turned the ball over with 36 seconds left and then
Ryan Elzy tied the game at 72 as the clock still had 31 seconds left. UWRF had a chance to win it but turned the ball over with four seconds left heading to overtime.
JAYDEN WILLIAMS
UWRF dominated the first half scoring 38 points shooting 54% from the floor and 57% from the arc. They had a double-digit lead from 9:36 on with a 21-point lead, twice, before taking a 38-22 lead at the half.
STAT OF THE GAME
Aaron Gregg posted a career-high 31 points making 10-of-22 from the floor and 10-of-13 from the line.
NOTES
- ETBU's 50-point second half is the most points scored in a half this season.
- Darry Moore has now had back-to-back 20+ point games with 22 vs. Huntingdon and 20 vs. UWRF
- Jayden Williams now has scored double figures in two of the four games played this year
- Ryan Elzy's only bucket made of the game tied the game and sent it to overtime
- Kevin Charles had a career-high 10 rebounds for his first-ever double-digit game in rebounds
UP NEXT
ETBU will take on host Nebraska Wesleyan on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in the Snyder Classic. It will be the first meeting between the two programs.
