FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Just when it appeared the Edgewood College men's basketball team was about to complete a comeback, Marian University pulled out a comeback of their own. The Eagles had rallied from 13 points down in the first half, but watched a victory melt away when Marian's Carvell Oliver drilled a 30-foot three-point shot at the buzzer to lift the Sabres to a stunning 61-58 win at Sadoff Gymnasium.
Edgewood College (8-9, 7-5 NACC) held the Sabres scoreless for nearly the entire final five minutes to reach halftime down just 33-26, after trailing 33-20. They continued their assault in the second half with a barrage of three-point baskets, first from Dylan Heemstra and Dylan Rusch. Later Emilio Lopez, Joe Klocek and Adam Freitag connected on three-pointers on three of four possessions to put the Eagles in control at 43-39 with eight minutes left to play.
Marian University (9-9, 8-5 NACC) regained the lead on a pair of free throws by Josh Creed, but the Eagles answered by pounding the ball inside to Trevor Neale. Neale scored layups on four straight possessions to build a 53-48 Edgewood College lead. The Eagles still had a five-point lead after Klocek hit a deep three-point shot late in the shot clock for a 58-53 score with 43 seconds to go.
Marian's Alex Stecker converted two free throws on the Sabres' next possession and on the ensuing inbounds Josh Creed tipped the ball away. After a scramble Stecker nailed the tying three-point shot with 10.3 seconds to go. Edgewood College put the ball in the hands of Rusch, but under heavy pressure his pass, looking for Klocek, was off the mark. MU's Oliver picked up the loose ball, dribbled across the center circle and buried a running 30-footer in the bottom of the net as the buzzer expired.
Neale finished as the Eagles' leading scorer with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and a game-high nine rebounds. Klocek had nine points, all from the three-point line, while Jake Heuer scored all seven of his points in the first half. Edgewood College went 6-for-13 (46.2 percent) from the three-point line in the second half and finished 9-for-21 for the game. The Eagles shot an even 50 percent (24-for-48), but only made one trip to the free throw line on the night.
Creed scored 16 points for Marian to lead all scorers, while Stecker and the hero of the night Oliver finished with 10 points apiece. The Sabres shot a blistering 77.8 percent (14-for-18) over the first 15 minutes of the game, but finished at 48.9 percent (23-for-47) on the night.
The loss allowed both the Sabres and Lakeland College, who defeated MSOE 91-70 to slip past the Eagles in the NACC standings. Edgewood College sits in sixth place, but is still just a game out of third place in a tightly bunch group of teams. Edgewood College will hit the road on Saturday to play Dominican University as part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader. The Eagle men will tip off at 4:15 p.m.
