JOLIET, Ill. - Marcus Northern's putback bucket with 2.7 seconds to go gave Goshen a one-point upset win against Saint Xavier on New Year's Eve. Heading into 2025, Goshen is 5-9 and finished with a 5-5 nonconference record.

This was the second day of the USF New Year's Classic hosted by St. Francis (Ill.). The Cougars took a quick 11-3 advantage over the first two and a half minutes of action. They had another eight point lead at 41-33 after Goshen had built a brief two point lead of their own. The SXU lead was at 11 with 15:33 to go in the second half after Davion Lawrence made a three. But after that, Goshen had an 8-0 run to pull within three. They finally took a lead at 76-65 with 8:24 left in the game. The Leafs went up by as many as five and then SXU took over again with 2:25 left with an 87-85 lead. 

With 19 seconds remaining, the Cougars were fouled on a three-point attempt and Deontrae Warren made all three free-throw attempts to give his team a 93-92 edge. Goshen went on the attack, and Andre Bradford's layup attempt was off the rim. Marcus Northern caught the ball in the air and put it back in to give the Leafs a one point lead. The half-court heave from Saint Xavier was no good and the Leafs left with a win over a team that had been 9-3 going into the day.

Saint Xavier had scored 100 or more points in five games this season. Goshen had lost to Saint Xavier each of the last two years, with their last win coming in 2016. The Maple Leafs shot 55% from the field while Saint Xavier shot 44%. The Leafs outrebounded their opponent 44-31 and were able to pull through despite SXU's 16 steals.

Judah Simfukwe scored a season-high 24 points and had five rebounds. Richard Wilson had 19 points and 15 rebounds - his highest rebound total of the season. Andre Bradford scored 15 points with six rebounds off the bench and Tariq Humes had 14 points and four boards.

Goshen (5-9, 0-4 CL) is at #16 Grace on Saturday, January 4, at 3:00 pm.