College Men’s Basketball: GBUENA VISTA TRIUMPHS IN TWO OT’s, 84-77 OVER TCNJ
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Source media release
Ewing, NJ…The College of New Jersey men's basketball team hosted the Beavers of Buena Vista University on Wednesday night in Packer Hall in a non-conference match-up. Senior guard Rahn Franklin (Kansas City, MO/North) shot back to back three-point baskets in the final minute of the second overtime period to lift his team to an 84-77 win, snapping a two-game losing streak. With the win, BVU is now 7-3 overall, while TCNJ drops to 2-5.
BVU opened with a 7-3 run to open the game. TCNJ would lead twice by as many as eight points, before the Beavers would regain the lead (21-20 at 3:03). By the end of the first stanza there were six lead changes and three ties as BVU held a 27-24 lead on a three-point basket by junior guard Andre Wagner (Omaha, NE/Northwest). Wagner led his team in the first half with 10 points, while junior forward Matt Cleveland (McCook Lake, SD/Heelan) added eight points in the first half.
TCNJ's junior guard Jeff Molinelli (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) had nine points in the first half, while senior co-captain Mark Aziz (Hackettstown, NJ/West Morris Central) had seven points and three steals for the Lions.
After never owning a lead in the second half, TCNJ would climb back from being down by 13 points (55-42, 6:04) and would tie the game on a three-pointer by Aziz with 8.2 seconds left and send the game to overtime tied at 64-64. The game would go to an additional period of overtime tied at 73-73 all and head to a second period of overtime play
TCNJ would have two players foul out of the extra action, Molinelli and sophomore Jay Frank (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial). Molinelli would finish with nine points, while Frank netted a season-high 14 points off the bench.
By game's end, BVU's Wagner added 20 points, while Cleveland added a double-double on 17 points with 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Rahn finished with 12 points, while senior center Adam Arndorfer (Corwith, IA/Bishop Garrigan) added 15 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor.
Aziz led all of TCNJ's players with his season-high 22 points, while senior guard Jeff Warner (Jackson, NJ/Jackson) tallied his first career-double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Aziz hit the three-point basket on a pass from Warner with 7.8 seconds left in regulation to send the game to the overtime session after tying play at 64-64.