Ferris State Comes Up Just Short In Triple-Overtime Thriller To Start Season At Quincy

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball squad officially opened the 2014-15 campaign on Saturday (Nov. 15), but suffered a heart-breaking 109-107 triple-overtime setback against the Quincy Hawks at Pepsi Arena in Quincy, Ill.

The Bulldogs and the Hawks battled thru nearly 55 minutes of even competition before the host Hawks prevailed on their home floor in day one action at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC)/Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Challenge.

In a highly-competitive regional game to start the year, both teams relied on key plays to keep the contest going as neither team could capitalize and fully take advantage until late in the third overtime when the Hawks were able to pull out the win. It went down as one of the longest games in school history for FSU.

Quincy bolted out to the lead in the first half and the Hawks held their largest margin at 11 points only six minutes into the game before taking a five-point halftime lead at 36-31 over FSU.

However, the Bulldogs stormed back and led by as many as 15 points with 8:31 to go in regulation. But, the Hawks made their charge and forced overtime despite being outscored 45-40 in the second half.

After FSU had grabbed the big second-half lead, Quincy rallied and tied the game up with two minutes to play before three free throws and a pair of layups gave the hosts a seven-point lead with only 40 seconds to go.

This time, though, the Bulldogs responded and scored three times in the final 30 seconds, including back-to-back three pointers in the final seven seconds from junior forward Josh Fleming and senior guard Drew Lehman to force overtime as Quincy missed a free throw and turned the ball over inside of 30 seconds to play.

In the first overtime session, the Bulldogs led by three on a pair of Lehman free throws with 39 seconds to go, but the Hawks answered with a trey from Ja'mil Jones with 22 seconds remaining and Lehman missed a potential game-winning jumper with nine seconds to play as the two teams headed to a second extra period.

The second overtime was also highly-contested as the Hawks jumped out to a five-point edge before the Bulldogs battled back yet again. Quincy took a two-point lead on a dunk from Evan McGaughey with 19 seconds to play, but Bulldog freshman Noah King converted with four seconds left to send the outing to triple overtime.

Ferris State led by as many as five points with three minutes to play in the third overtime period. However, Quincy cut the deficit down and tied the contest up in the final minute. A free throw from senior Matt Poches gave FSU a one-point lead with 31 seconds left, but McGaughey responded with a layup to put the Hawks up one.

The Bulldogs again had an opportunity to win the game before a missed shot sent McGaughey back to the free throw line where he hit one of two free throws and then grabbed an offensive board to seal the win.

A total of 11 players reached double-figure scoring in the game with the Bulldogs receiving a game-high 29 points from Lehman. Fleming added 22 points and a team-best 13 rebounds in a double-double effort while FSU also received 14 points each from junior forward James Chappell and the true freshman King. Finally, junior center Jared Stolicker also posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Both Lehman and Fleming played heavy minutes for the Bulldogs in the thrilling triple-overtime game. Lehman was on the floor a contest-best 50 minutes with Fleming playing 46 minutes.

Ferris State was held to 39.1% field goal shooting with 92 attempts for the night, but FSU hit on 11-of-34 (32.4%) three's and 24-of-38 (63.2%) free throws.

Meanwhile, the Hawks shot 52.8% for the game on 20 fewer attempts than the Bulldogs. They were seven-of-21 (33.3%) beyond the three-point stripe and 26-of-44 (59.1%) at the line.

The Bulldogs forced 21 Quincy turnovers and owned a 59-48 rebounding edge. FSU had only 19 miscues as the statistical numbers favored the Bulldogs outside of the overall shooting percentage.

Fleming paced FSU with five assists in the game while Lehman added four as the Bulldogs tallied 16 helpers. They also had nine steals, including three from Chappell, and came up with four blocked shots on the strength of three from Fleming.

For Quincy, the Hawks dished out 24 assists and had eight steals and five swats.

Herm Senor II along with Godson Eneogwe both led Quincy with 20 points each while Thomas Jackson scored 18, both McGaughey and Jones had 16 and Dalton Hoover contributed 10 to go with his team-high 11 rebounds.

FSU held a 34-16 margin in points off turnovers and a commanding 28-8 edge in second chance scoring, but the Hawks scored 56 points in the paint compared to only 44 for the Bulldogs.

Despite the close outcome in the three-overtime affair, the game was tied on only nine occassions and the lead changed hands just eight times on the day.

Ferris State will wrap up action in the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge on Sunday (Nov. 16) as FSU faces another regional foe in Missouri-St. Louis at Pepsi Arena. It will mark the first-ever matchup between the two schools with tipoff set for 12 p.m. (ET) in Quincy, Ill.