MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Life University men's basketball team fell in a nail-biter to #19 Faulkner University Thursday. After taking the game into overtime, the Running Eagles ultimately fell 90-87 when the Eagles sank a buzzer-beating three-point basket as the OT clock expired.
It was a tightly contested game throughout as neither team led by more than nine in the game. Life University led at the break with a two-point advantage 41–39 and increased it to 47-42 out of the break after a free throw from Shomik Shahjahan.
That five-point lead was quickly reversed in the second half, as the two teams battled to hold an advantage. The game came to a tie at 58 all, but then back-to-back jumpers by Faulkner gave the host team a 60-58 lead with 10:26 to go.
The Eagles then used a favorable run to build a six-point lead with 6:45 to play and maintained the lead through much of the conclusion of the second half. Life U. trailed 75-71 with 1:52 left but the Running Eagles refused to go down as a Devin Story two-pointer and a Dara Olanade ft brought the game to a single possession, 77-74.
The next possession for Faulkner ended with a missed jumper allowing the Running Eagles to push the ball into the front court to set up an all-important final possession.
With twelve seconds remaining, Srjdan Popovich received the inbound pass, Devin Story ran around a perfectly set pindown from Nathan Presnell, and then fired a trey. The catch-and-shoot three from the top of the arc rattled in and, as time expired, Presnell picked up one last block to send the game to overtime, 77-77.
In OT, Life U. earned the first field goal but was then unable to get any offense to connect from the field until the 2:31 mark, 83-81. Then, Presnell added a basket with 1:55 remaining and Joshua Ward scored a crucial acrobatic game-tying layup to level the contest at 87 apiece.
With 5.1 seconds remaining, the Eagles pushed the ball the entirety of the court and as Daniel Garmendia fired a buzzer-beating three-pointer, Faulkner escaped with the 90-87 win.
Joshua Ward scored 27 points in the loss and Devin Story shot 9-of-9 from the free throw line while scoring the OT-forcing 3-ptr. Both freshmen picked up career-highs with Story posting 23 in the thrilling contest.
Up next, Life U. will host Middle Georgia on Tuesday, January 24th inside the Eagles' Nest at 7:30 p.m.
