ALBANY – Junior guard
Jermaine Clark hit the front end of a one-and-one with three seconds remaining to lift The College of Saint Rose to a 74-73 overtime victory against Northeast-10 Conference rival American International this afternoon at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.
Saint Rose (5-7/3-4 NE-10) overcame five turnovers in the extra session, plus another in the final minute of regulation and a 0-for-13 shooting slump to start the game to run its home record to 4-2 on the year.
Clark filled the box score with 13 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six assists for Saint Rose, which had all 10 players who saw action figure in the scoring. Freshman guard
Shea Bromirski had a team-high 15 points, while junior guard
Brian Ledbetter finished with a season-best 14 points in 27 minutes of reserve duty. Furthermore, senior center
Evan Lane contributed eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes off the bench.
Following Clark’s free throw, American International senior forward Lucius Millinder was forced to hurry a 15-footer that fell off the mark.
Previously, the Yellow Jackets (7-5/4-4 NE-10) rallied from a four point, 73-69, deficit with 50 seconds left. Freshman guard Isiah Wallace finished in the paint before fellow freshman guard Adrian Hynes-Guery canned a pair of free throws that afforded the game its 11th tie, 73-73, with 30 seconds left. Saint Rose then ran the clock down, but Clark was hit as he made a move to the hoop to get to the foul line.
The Golden Knights played from behind for most of the game, but rallied from an eight point, 44-36, deficit with 14:17 left in regulation to go up four, 64-60, with 1:59 left. Ledbetter and Bromirski both drained jumpers to make it 62-60 Saint Rose. Ledbetter then came up with a steal and a layup to make it a two possession game although Millinder answered for AIC with a 3-pointer that cut the Yellow Jackets’ deficit to one, with 1:39 left. On the other end, Ledbetter went 1-for-2 from the stripe to make it 65-63 Saint Rose before AIC sophomore guard Sesoo Ikpah put back his own rebound to deadlock it at 65-65 with 50 ticks showing.
Saint Rose coughed up the ball on its ensuing possession to afford the Yellow Jackets a chance to win it in regulation. However, neither Millender nor Wallace could get a jumper to stay down and thus overtime was in the making.
Wallace paced four American International players in double-figures scoring with 17 points and nine rebounds. Millinder, Hynes-Guery and Ikpah tossed in 14 points apiece.
Saint Rose will play the second leg of its current four-game, eight day stretch with a 7:30 pm league contest Tuesday at New Haven. American International will also be in New Haven Tuesday for a 7:30 pm conference date at Southern Connecticut State.
Box Score