Marquis Turley’s (Grand Rapids, Mich.) drive to the basket rimmed out as time expired as the Dominican University men’s basketball team dropped its fourth straight contest, falling to the Aurora University Spartans 82-80 in overtime on Wednesday night.
Turley gave the Stars their biggest lead of the night on a pull-up jumper with 6:45 remaining in regulation before Joel Ivantosch pulled the Spartans to within one, 66-65, on back-to-back three’s with 4:48 remaining in the second half. The Spartans then took a 72-70 advantage with just over a minute to play on a lay in by sophomore Ryan Crow. The Stars raced up the floor with Turley knotting the game at 72-all, scoring two of his team-high 22 to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime, the teams continued to exchange leads, with the Spartans’ Mike Bumber giving Aurora the lead for good, connecting on a mid-range jumper with 27 seconds remaining. After a missed three, Scott Laskowski extended the Spartan lead, connecting on the front-end of a two shot foul. For the final possession, Turley carried up the left side of the floor and headed straight for the basket, beating four Aurora defenders on the way, but his last second attempt was too strong off the glass, dropping the Stars to 6-8 on the season and 3-3 in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC).
Turley’s game-high 22 points was part of a 49 point effort from the Stars’ bench with
Milos Mandic adding 14 in 28 minutes off the bench. Senior Durelle Garmon (Chicago, Ill.) logged his second double-double of the season for the Stars, posting 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, including five on the offensive end.
Darrius Nelson (Michigan City, Ind.) chipped in 16 in the loss for the Stars.
Neither team shot particularly well, with the Stars going 31-for-87 from the field and 3-for-19 from behind the three-point arc while the Spartans, paced by Bumber’s 21 points, were 30-for-76 from the field and 4-for-19 from three.
The Stars will sit idle until next Tuesday, January 18, when they will host the Benedictine University Eagles for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff in the Igini Sports Forum.
