Terry Litch’s 50-foot heave at the buzzer lifted the Benedictine University Eagles past the Dominican University men’s basketball team on Tuesday night, 78-75, handing the Stars their fourth straight loss.
Trailing 73-72 with 1:51 remaining in regulation, Dominican’s Milos Mandic (Munster, Ind.) staked the Stars to a 75-73 lead with a three from the left wing with 98 seconds to play. After missed three-point attempt by Benedictine’s Nate Green, the Stars turned the ball over for the 12th time of the night before Licht knotted the score at 75-all with a pair of free throws with 56 seconds left.
The Eagles regained possession as AJ Brown pulled down his fifth rebound of the night and ran the clock down under ten seconds. Green turned the ball over with under seven seconds to play and Dominican’s Logan Harris (Pleasant Plains, Ill.) collected the loose ball and lobbed ahead to Mandic who got tangled up at half court and lost the ball. Licht was there to collect and heaved a desperation attempt as time expired that found the bottom of the net.
Licht finished the night with 16 points and four rebounds off the Benedictine bench, sharing game-high honors with the Eagles Cameron Snelling.
For the Stars, Marquis Turley (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Durelle Garmon (Chicago, Ill.) shared team-high honors with 14 points apiece to pace five Stars in double-figures scoring. Mandic chipped in 11 points off the Stars’ bench on 3-for-7 shooting from long range while Jovan Turley (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Harris added ten points apiece in the losing effort.
The loss drops the Stars to 6-9 overall and 3-5 in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC). Dominican will not have to sit on the four-game skid long, traveling to Milwaukee, Wis., to take on the MSOE Raiders on Thursday night. It is the second game of a three-game stretch in five days for the Stars. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Kern Center.
