Bison Men’s Basketball Rallies Late to Defeat Thomas More in 2OT

Feb. 3 – CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - Behind a career-high 29 points from Andrew Williams (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) and a desperation three from Jerron Athey (Richmond, Va./Banner Christian), the Bethany men's basketball team rallied to take down Thomas More, 95-89, in double overtime on Wednesday night. The Bison trailed by double-digits with just over three minutes remaining in regulation before making the late comeback.

Bethany (13-7, 9-4 PAC) got off to a hot start, taking an early eight-point advantage (17-9) with 14:18 to go in the opening half.

The Saints (12-8, 9-4 PAC) stormed back, tying the game at 19-19 at the 9:45 mark of the half.

A layup at the buzzer from Calique Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) cut the Thomas More lead down to three (37-34) after twenty minutes of action. Jones paced the Bison with eight points and five rebounds while Williams led all scorers with 13 at the break.

Thomas More took control of the game early in the second half, extending their lead to as many as 16 (60-44) with 8:38 remaining.

A layup from Williams, followed by a jumper from Antonio Rudolph (New Castle, Pa,/New Castle) out of a timeout, started what would be a quick 7-0 spurt from the Green & White to make it 60-51 just over a minute later. The two guards combined for 15 points in the final 8:38 of play, with Williams scoring nine and Rudolph adding six of his own. 

Trailing by seven (73-66) with 45 seconds remaining, Rudolph converted a three-point play to cut the Saints lead to four. 

Athey then came up with a clutch steal and layup with 29 seconds left as the Bison quickly called a timeout, down two (73-71).

Bethany locked down on the defensive end and were rewarded for their aggressive play, forcing a Saints turnover out of the timeout. Williams came up with the ball and was sent to the free throw line as the Bison were in the penalty. The sophomore calmly knocked down both attempts at the line to tie the game at 73-73 with 23 seconds to go.

The hosts missed a contested jumper at the buzzer and the two Presidents' Athletic Conference teams found themselves heading to overtime.

Rudolph scored the first points in the overtime period as he made a pair at the free-throw line. Javonte Trujillo (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) then hit from deep to give Bethany a five-point advantage (78-73).

Thomas More quickly tied the game at 78-78 in a five second span on a three from the corner plus a foul, followed by an offensive putback on the ensuing missed free throw.

The Saints retook the lead (81-78) with 1:01 left in the overtime before Williams stepped up again with a triple to tie the game at 81-81.

Once again, Thomas More responded with a go-ahead three pointer with 20 seconds left. The Bison came down looking for a good look at the basket before Athey was able to fire one from distance, tying the game at 84-84 and forcing double overtime.

Thomas More struck first as they took an 86-84 lead at the 3:51 mark of the second overtime.

The Green & White responded as an offensive rebound from Nick Metz (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) followed by a thunderous one-handed dunk from Rudolph tied the game. Athey then picked a Saints' players pocket at half court and coasted in for the easy two to take an 88-86 advantage with 2:48 to play.

Athey coverted another layup and four consecutive free throws, two each from Rudolph and Metz, sealed the game down the stretch for the Bison.  

Metz collected a career-high 10 rebounds for Bethany, including the clinching rebound to get to the free-throw line with 12 seconds left in the second overtime.

Williams exploded for a career-high 29 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-7 from deep. He was also able to repeatedly get to the foul line and make clutch free throws as he finished 12-of-13 from the line.

Rudolph also attacked the Saints defense throughout the night, collecting 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 7-of-11 from the charity stripe. Bethany shot 26-of-35 (74%) as team from the foul line in the contest.

Jones added 12 points on an efficient 5-of-6 from the floor, while Athey totaled 11 points and a team-high four steals. Trujillo tallied nine points to go along with a pair of assists. 

The Bison will return to the hardwood as they welcome Chatham to the Hummel Field House on Saturday, February 6 at 4:00 p.m.