BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence College men's basketball team headed to an extra period of play on Tuesday evening as they hosted the St. Joseph's University of Brooklyn Bears at the Campbell Sports Center. 40 minutes of regulation were not enough to decide a winner as the Gryphons and Bears went to overtime before Sarah Lawrence was decided the victor by a score of 88-83. This is the second time that the Gryphons have gone to overtime this season, doing so in Bronxville against St. Elizabeth on November 19th in a 61-59 loss.

By the Numbers

• First Year Eamon Kelly led the Gryphons with a game-high 26 points and pulled down six rebounds as well for the Gryphons
• Chris Torres aided the scoring effort with 19 points of his own and six rebounds in the winning effort
• Guard Amos Grey led the Gryphons with a game-high seven assists to go along with nine points and two offensive rebounds
• Lucas Murray pulled down 12 rebounds while scoring seven points for Sarah Lawrence

How it Happened

The game started with Sarah Lawrence getting on the board just 5 seconds into the game with an Eamon Kelly three-pointer, but a 6-0 St. Joseph's run in the coming minutes would give the Bears a 6-3 lead just three minutes into the game. Another connection from deep, this time from Torres, would knot the game at six and foreshadow a long back-and-forth battle to come. The Bears would take the lead back and hold it for the following four minutes before a connection from deep by first year Chris Dougherty with 12:26 left in the first half would give Sarah Lawrence the lead once again in what would be one of many lead changes to come in the half and the game. After nearly two minutes of scoreless basketball the Bears would once again tie the game up and take the lead on a three-point play from Jonathan Reno, who led the Bears with 25 points in this contest. The two teams would continue to trade the lead back-and-forth until with 3:10 remaining when Grey connected from long-range to give the Gryphons a five-point lead and momentum to carry that lead into the halftime break. Following the script of the game thus far, that lead would not sustain as Justin Nazon would score the next six points in the game and erase the Sarah Lawrence lead, putting St. Joseph's ahead by a score of 32-31 with 2:09 remaining in the half. It would be Torres and Kelly to help the Gryphons regain the lead before the halftime break, as the Gryphons held the Bears scoreless and the aforementioned duo contributed on the offensive end, scoring five points in the next minute to take a four-point lead with 1:05 to play in the half.  As the final seconds of the first half wound down, it seemed that the Gryphons would take their four-point lead into the half but a last-second three from Evan Sirakis found the bottom of the net and reduced the Sarah Lawrence lead to just one point with 20 minutes of play remaining.

The second half ended up very similar to the first half, with 10 lead changes and 13 ties. Both teams were unable to jump out to double-digit leads in the half, with the Bears bringing their lead to nine with 8:24 remaining before the Gryphons reduced it below that for the remainder of the period. The Bears would hold the lead with under a minute remaining before two free-throws by Grey tied the game and paved the way for overtime basketball.

The overtime period was highlighted by timely three-pointers from Torres and Kelly followed by solid free-throw shooting to close out the game. After starting the period off with connections from deep by the aforementioned Torres and Kelly, in that order, it would be Kelly to step to the line first and sink both shots to give Sarah Lawrence a five-point lead with under a minute left in the first overtime. After a 1-for-2 trip to the line for the Bears, Doughtery would step up just ten seconds later to bring the lead back to five with a successful 1-for-2 trip to the line of his own. In the final seconds it would be none other than Kelly once again to seal the victory, converting on both of his attempts with six seconds remaining to extend the Sarah Lawrence lead to seven points and guarantee the victory despite a last-second basket from the Bears right before time ran out. 

Up Next

The Gryphons (5-11, Skyline 3-4) will remain in Bronxville, N.Y. to host Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday, January 21st with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Campbell Sports Center. The game will follow the completion of the Sarah Lawrence College women's basketball game which will tip-off at noon. Links to live stats and the live video feed will be available at gogryphons.com under the men's basketball schedule as well as the official Sarah Lawrence College Athletics Twitter account on the morning of gameday.