Saints get by Polk in 2OT, 74-70
It took 50 minutes of play, but the Santa Fe Saints finally finished of the Eagles of Polk State College 74-70 in double overtime Tuesday night at the SF gym.
The Saints (5-2) jumped out to a 12-3 advantage and held the lead for most of the first half, going into the locker room up 29-27 at the break. PSC tied the game on a Milz Tatum basket to start the second half, but the Saints pulled away again outscoring the Eagles 10-1 over the next six minutes.
The Eagles (2-4) took their first lead of the night with under three minutes to play when Tekorian Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a put back to make the score 51-49 in favor of PSC.
Tyrese Williams scored from the baseline to give the Saints a 52-51 lead in the closing minute, but it took a basket by Isaiah Islam for the Saints to tie it at 54-54 at the end of regulation.
After struggling from the free throw line for most of the game, the Saints made 5 of 8 in the first overtime including two by Miles Coleman with two seconds on the clock to extend the game, and 5 of 6 in the second overtime to seal the win.
"Defensively we did a pretty good job tonight", said SF Head Coach Chris Mowry. "This was one of those games where you have to gut it out and our guys never quit fighting, never gave up. I like our spirit."
Coleman registered a double-double with 13 rebounds to go with his team high 17 points while John Mason scored 14. Also hitting double figures for the Saints were Admir Besovic with 13 points, Isaiah Islam with 11 and Tyrese Williams with 10.
"Our starters played a lot of minutes and we had some good contributions off the bench," said Mowry.
The Saints, who have now won four straight, will take the Thanksgiving Holiday off before returning to action on Saturday when they host the State College of Florida for a 2 pm tipoff at the SF gym.
For all SF Athletics schedules, stats and more visit santafesaints.com.