Black Knights Comeback Falls Short In Overtime

Wednesday, January 11

West Point

7 p.m.

Army West Point

7-10 (1-4PL)

Colgate

4-14 (2-3PL)

OT 1

COLGATE

ARMY

Black Knights Comeback Falls Short In Overtime

January 11, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team fell just shy of an impressive comeback here Wednesday night, dropping a 79-76 overtime decision to Colgate in Christl Arena.

After facing a 31-22 halftime deficit, the Black Knights rallied to outscore the Raiders 43-34 in the second period to force overtime. Unfortunately, Colgate halted the Army rally and recorded the 14-11 advantage in the extra period to secure its second win in Patriot League play.

John Emezie, who finished with a game and career-high 20 points, highlighted the Cadets comeback with the game-tying 3-pointer with 16 ticks remaining in regulation. That bucket closed out a 13-2 run for the Black Knights over the final two minutes, which tied the score at 65-65 and ultimately pushed the contest into overtime.

The Raiders threw up one last off-balanced shot with three seconds remaining but Sean O'Brien's attempt fell short.

Colgate quickly jumped out to the 68-65 edge one minute into the extra period when O'Brien drained his second trey of the game. A Luke Morrison jumper pulled Army within one before the two teams exchanged buckets making it a 70-69 visitor's advantage with 3:08 left to play. Unfortunately, Colgate added on with an 8-2 run to take a 78-71 lead with 23 seconds on the clock.

Jacob Kessler ended that rally with 3-pointer to make it a four-point game at 78-74 with 18 ticks remaining. After two missed free throws from the Raiders, Emezie stepped up and drained two on the opposite end of the court after being fouled. But that would be as close as the Cadets would come however as Jordan Swopshire converted on 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to ultimately complete the win.

Emezie added a team-high six rebounds and four assists to close out his impressive night. Morrison and rookie Tommy Funk chipped in 13 points, while Matt Wilson and Kessler recorded 12 and 10 points, respectively.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

The Black Knights dip to 7-10 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League.
Army's last overtime game came on Feb. 20, 2016 when the Black Knights defeated rival Navy 80-78 in double overtime in Annapolis, Md.
Wednesday's game marked the first time this season Army lost after having five players finish in double-digit scoring. The Black Knights were 2-0 prior to the game.
Emezie finished 8-of-9 from the free throw line, which was a career-best effort for the sophomore.
Besides his career-high scoring night, Emezie's four helpers matched his career-best effort.
Funk matched his career high with 13 points, marking the fourth time this season the rookie achieved that feat.
Kessler's 10 points earned the sophomore his third career twin-figure scoring night and first since scoring 12 points against Air Force on Dec. 7.
Wilson got back on track Wednesday night by scoring 12 points after missing double digits during Army's last outing. Prior to that he was riding a five-game double-figure scoring streak.
Jordan Fox had his three-game twin-figure scoring streak snapped. The sophomore recorded six points on 2-of-10 shooting from the floor. It was also just the third time this season the Jackson County, Ky., native did not convert on an attempt from 3-point range (finished 0-for-4 from downtown).
Fox did lead the team in assists though with five.
Army finished the night shooting 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the floor, and 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from long range. The Black Knights also converted on 20 of their 29 attempts at the free throw line.
Colgate went 50.0 percent (30-of-60), 25.9 percent (7-of-27) and 60 percent (12-of-20), respectively.
Colgate led for 41:11. Army was in front for 1:46. The game was tied for 2:03.
The Raiders held their largest lead of the game at 16 on two different occasions with their most recent coming following a layup from Malcolm Regisford. His bucket made it a 40-24 advantage for the visitors with 18:14 remaining in regulation.
Colgate recorded the 44-20 edge on points inside the paint and held the slim 15-12 advantage on points off turnovers.
Second-chance and fast break points were tied at 10-10 and 4-4, respectively.
Army tallied 32 bench points to Colgate's 10.
All five of the Raider starters scored in twin figures with O'Brien's 18 points leading the way.

TURNING POINT

After the Black Knights tied the game with 16 seconds remaining in regulation, O'Brien kick-started a strong overtime period for the Raiders with a key 3-pointer just one minute in. Army was never able to recover.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Army started the game with a trey from Funk in the corner. The Black Knights increased that edge to 5-2 following a Fox jumper at the 18:15 mark of the opening period.
Colgate responded quickly though with an 8-0 run to take over the lead at 10-5 with 16:16 remaining in the half. Francisco Amiel drained two 3-pointers during that stretch.
The Cadets then pulled within 15-11 with just under 13 minutes to play but a 16-4 run for the visitors over a seven-minute span increased their advantage to a game-high 16 points at 31-15.
Army trimmed the deficit down to 31-22 at the break after answering with a 7-0 run of their own.
Early in the second half, the Raiders again pushed their lead to a game-high 16 points at 40-24 following a layup from Regisford. Colgate started the second half on a 9-2 run.
The Raiders maintained that double-digit lead for much of the next couple minutes and held the 63-52 edge with 2:23 remaining on the clock.
The Cadets would not go away though, responding with a 10-0 run over two minutes to make it a 63-62 ballgame with 30 seconds remaining.
Army was forced to foul and two made free throws from O'Brien with 26 seconds left extended Colgate's lead to 65-62.
But an Emezie 3-pointer with 18 ticks to go tied the game and ultimately sent the contest into overtime. Emezie's bucket capped a 16-5 overall run for Army in the final 3:33 of regulation.
O'Brien started the scoring in overtime with a 3-pointer to quickly put the Raiders back on top.
Army had pulled within 70-69 with 3:08 left to play but an 8-2 run for Colgate unfortunately put the game out of reach for the Black Knights.
Despite getting the deficit back down to 78-76 with nine seconds to play, the Cadets weren't able to find the needed points and the Raiders were able to hold on down the stretch for the victory.

UP NEXT

The Black Knights head back on the road for an away contest at American on Saturday. That game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. tip in Bender Arena. The Eagles are coming off a 76-66 loss at Boston U. on Wednesday night. American currently sits with a 4-13 overall record to go along with its 1-4 mark in conference play.