The Cougars made 24-of-55 field goals, shooting 43.6 percent from the field and pulled down one more rebound, but only made 17-of-30 free throws, which kept the Colonels in the game. In stark contrast, Wilkes made 35-of-47 from the charity stripe for 74.5 percent.

 

The Colonels were fortunate to send the game to overtime as Steve Kline (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), who was fouled after a Kean missed free throw with .02 seconds to play, knocked down both freebies to tie the game at 63 before the horn sounded in regulation. Prior to Kline's free-throws, Kean's Vinnie Darpino drained a three-pointer with 14 seconds to go to give the Cougars a 62-61 lead before hitting the front end of a pair of free throws with two seconds to play, giving them a 63-61 advantage. 

 

Chris DeRojas (Kingston, Pa./Bishop O'Reilly), who scored a game-high 26 points, drained eight of the team's 15 field goals and scored over 20 points for the third time in as many games. 

 

The Colonels opened the game with a 7-0 run after Tom Kresge (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley) converted a layup and the free throw afterwards with 17:12 to go in the half. Wilkes would only score four points over the next four minutes and by that time, the Cougars took their first lead when Jonathan Jones made a 15-foot jumper with 13:12 to go in the half.

 

DeRojas quickly gave the Colonels the lead back with one of his three three-pointers on the day, giving Wilkes a 14-12 lead with 12:47 to go. His bucket would jump-start a 13-2 run, giving the Colonels a 27-14 advantage, their largest of the game, with 10:16 to go in the first. They would hold a double-digit lead until Michael Oglesby hit a three-pointer with 5:47 to go in the first to pull the Cougars within eight (32-24). 

 

Despite not scoring a point in the last 2:55, Wilkes went into the locker room with a 37-33 advantage. The worst was yet to come for the Colonels as they made just four field goals in the second half, but managed to keep the lead nearly the entire way by draining 17-of-24 free throws. 

 

Even though the Colonels were not able to hit from the inside or the outside, they held the lead until Oshodi Akinwande hit a pair of free throws with 1:28 to go to tie the game at 59. 

 

Like the majority of regulation, Wilkes led for most of the overtime period as DeRojas opened the extra frame with a pair of free throws with 4:36 to go. It would be more than two minutes later before either team would score, but Brian Lytle broke the drought with a jumper just outside the paint to tie the game once again at 65. DeRojas would come up big once again with a steal and a fast break layup with 1:37 to go to give the Colonels a 67-65 lead. He would score four of the team's five points in the overtime period.

 

With 41 seconds to play, Kresge hit the back end of a pair of free throws to put Wilkes up by one (68-67), but Lytle drained two freebies with 25 seconds to play to give the Cougars a one-point lead, which proved to be enough. 

 

The Colonels will have eight days off before heading to Sellinsgrove to face Susquehanna on Friday at 4 p.m.