Men's Basketball Beats Bluefield in Overtime

ATHENS, Tenn.- The men's basketball team was back in James L. Robb Gymnasium on Saturday. The team hosted the Bluefield University Rams in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) game.

An action-packed first half saw 11 lead changes and five ties. Ty Hurst got the Bulldogs on the board and forced the first lead change of the game with a three-pointer. After a 10-10 tie at the 14:24 mark, TWU went on a run that gave the team the largest lead of the game. A 10-2 run by the combination of Hurst, Nichaune Jones, and Amauri Young helped the team lead 20-12 with 12:40 left in the first half. With 9:25 remaining in the game, another tie occurred, this time a 25-25 score. Bluefield led over the next few minutes until a Dariuz Rozier three-point play put the game in a three-point tie. Stratton Lovvorn hit a three-point basket a few moments later to give the team a 37-35 advantage with 5:10 until the half. Kobe Pride put the game in the final tie of the second half, and a three-point basket at the halftime buzzer made the score 45-43 in favor of the Bulldogs.

The second half saw almost the same amount of ties and lead changes. Ten more ties and ten more lead changes to be exact. Emmanuel Ndambi gave Tennessee Wesleyan one of the leads with a pair of free throws to make the score 57-56. As the score continued to climb, Keshawn McPherson made the score 67-64 in favor of the home team with a layup. Later in the game, a 69-69 tie was broken by back-to-back three-point buckets by Kariden Hardrick, giving the team a six-point lead. Bluefield responded with six straight points of their own to put the game in another tie. As time was winding down, the theme of the game appeared at the end: a tie. It came on a Jay Reed putback basket, making the score 83-83 at the end of regulation to force overtime.

In overtime, Peyton West hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the team an 89-83 lead. Pride hit a pair of free throws to give the team 91 points, and free throws from Zhaelin Callahan and West helped the Bulldogs carry the momentum to a 95-87 win.

TWU (10-13, 10-12 AAC) will play their final road game on Wednesday. The team will travel to Kentucky to take on the University of Pikeville in a conference game at 7:30 p.m.