FOND DU LAC, Wis. – In a long season, where it sometimes feels nothing is going your way, finally something went right. Spencer Barnes drilled a 30-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Edgewood College men's basketball team a thrilling 87-85 victory over Marian University at Sadoff Gymnasium.
Jim Bridges gave Edgewood College (3-19, 3-14 NACC) an 84-83 lead when he stuck back a missed three-pointer by Adam Freitag with 25 seconds left. However, Marian's Reggie Roemer drove hard to the basket and drew a foul on the other end. Roemer sunk two free throws to put Marian University (10-12, 7-10 NACC) back in front with nine seconds to go.
After a timeout, the Eagles inbounded directly to Barnes. The junior from Anamosa, Iowa, rushed the ball up the floor and took a three-point shot from just right of the top of the key. The shot missed left and a Marian player outran Edgewood College's Sy Staver to the deep corner of the court. Attempting to keep the ball in play, the Sabre batted it back toward Bridges near the three-point line. Bridges turned to his right and fed Barnes, open 30 feet from the hoop. Barnes let it fly at the buzzer and held his follow through as the ball swished through the net. The Eagle bench unloaded a season's worth of frustration piling on top of Barnes.
In a ridiculously close game, neither team held a lead greater than three points for the final 12 minutes of the contest. The Eagles and Sabres were tied 15 times on the night, including 10 times in the last 12 minutes.
The Eagles shot a season-high 56.5 percent from the field, led by Bridges who doubled his career-high with 16 points on 8-for-11 shooting. The Eagles had five players in double figures for the first time since January 13, 2015 against Lakeland. Adam Freitag scored 13 points, with Tyler Westrick adding 12 points. Arik Anderson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and finished with 11 points, while Staver added 10 points. Barnes ended with eight points and tied a career-high with six assists. Edgewood College had a season-high 25 assists against just 12 turnovers.
Marian University received a pair of huge games from Alex Marquardt who poured in 28 points and Josh Creed who scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. The Sabres shot 48.4 percent and turned the ball over only six times. Marian also held a 20-7 advantage over the Eagles at the free throw line.
Edgewood College will need to gather all the momentum they can heading into Saturday's showdown with undefeated Benedictine University who is ranked second in the nation by D3Hoops.com. Saturday's game tips off at 2:00 p.m.
