GOSHEN, Ind. — Kedrick Bibby scored the game-tying basket with 1:44 left in regulation and the Goshen College men's basketball team held Spring Arbor University to four points in the final 8:53 of the second half before winning 70-68 in overtime Saturday at Ruth Gunden Gymnasium.
Austin Branagan led the Maple Leafs with 19 points and Tahj Curry and Michael Bowers combined for nine of the 14 scored by GC (3-8, 1-3 Crossroads League) in the extra session. Curry finished the game with 18 points and Bowers had 15.
Bibby and Phillip Hughes each had 6 points, but came through in a big way with nine and eight rebounds apiece as the Maple Leafs outrebounded the Cougars 46-32. Quincy Mussio added a career-high 6 points as well. Bowers led the team with 3 assists.
Brandon Durnell scored a game-high 29 points to lead Spring Arbor (2-5, 0-3), but no other player had more than Nate Flannery's 9. Daniel Cluster tied for the game lead with 9 rebounds while Durnell had 8 and Flannery led all players with 4 steals.
Neither team shot the ball especially well, combining for 42 percent from the floor and 28 percent from long distance. But that simply shifted the emphasis to the glass, where Hughes had 4 offensive boards and Bibby and Branagan each retrieved 3. Spring Arbor finished with 6.
While Goshen lost the opening tip for the 10th time this season, the Maple Leafs got the first rebound and scored 44 seconds into the game on a Branagan triple. A 10-3 run put the team up 7 by the midpoint of the half before Cluster's 3-pointer capped a 7-0 run to give the Cougars a 22-20 lead at the 3:13 mark.
Branagan hit a 3-point play and Bowers connected with 56 seconds left in the half to put GC up 25-24, the halftime score.
Branagan also started the scoring in the second half, but Spring Arbor followed that with a 15-2 run that culminated in a 39-29 lead six minutes later. While Goshen put the biscuit in the basket to end the run, Spring Arbor countered with another 8-2 spurt; when Connor Cottingham swished a 3-pointer with 8:53 remaining, the Cougars led by 10 once more.
Spring Arbor would miss 11 of its next 14 shots, including the front end of a one-and-one, and turn the ball over twice as Goshen went on a 19-6 run that lasted 11 minutes and 37 seconds.
The teams traded four straight empty possessions before Hughes set up Curry for a triple at the 6:36 mark, then added a bucket with 5:22 left and registered a steal that led to a Hughes score at the 4:48 mark. That closed the gap to 54-49.
A pair of missed free throws set up a 3-point play for Branagan to pull the Maple Leafs back within 2 points; while Cluster scored on the ensuing possession, it would be SAU's last bucket of regulation. Curry scored with 2:43 left and Bibby got a put-back bucket at 1:44 to tie the score.
The teams combined to miss their next five shots, getting three offensive rebounds before a GC foul sent Durnell to the foul line. He missed the first to give Goshen the ball back, but a 3-pointer at the horn was off target and the game went to overtime.
Each team scored on its first possession and turned the ball over on its second before Bibby hit the go-ahead '3' with 3:28 left. After another set of misses, the Cougars answered with two foul shots at the 2:16 mark, but Bowers scored 19 seconds later to push the lead back to 3.
Both subsequent Cougar scores were answered by the Maple Leafs and a Curry triple pushed the lead out to 70-64 with 15 seconds left, but Durnell answered with a 3 to cut the deficit to 70-67 with 9 seconds remaining. Spring Arbor fouled with 6.1 seconds remaining and Goshen committed a lane violation to end its possession, but the Maple Leafs fouled with 2.4 seconds to play before SAU could hoist a tying attempt.
Flannery sank the first free throw; the second was unsuccessful, and by the time the ball landed out of bounds, the clock read 0.2 seconds.
The game, which lasted a full two hours and five minutes, was part of the Maple Leafs' first Crossroads League doubleheader sweep since Dec. 3, 2016, against Saint Francis. Further research will be required to determine the last time GC took two conference basketball games from different opponents on the same day.
GC will return to the floor Wednesday to host Huntington in its third conference home game of the season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
