PHOTO CREDIT: Lourdes Athletics.
Box Score SYLVANIA, Ohio--Senior
Brandon Beavers recorded a double-double with team highs of 27 points and 12 rebounds, and classmate
Alejandro
Gonzalez drained a go-ahead three-point field goal, as Lawrence Tech pulled off a 71-68 upset win in overtime over host and nationally No. 14-ranked Lourdes in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference men's basketball action at the Ebeid Recreation Center on Wednesday.
Lawrence Tech improves to 7-6 on the season, including a 4-4 WHAC mark, while the conference-leading Gray Wolves suffer their first loss after starting 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference.
Lawrence Tech Highlights
- Beavers went 8 for 16 from the field, 3 for 7 from three-point land and 8 of 10 at the free throw line, plus he led LTU with three assists.
- Gonzalez added 19 points on 7 for 14 field goal shooting, including 5 of 10 from beyond the arc.
Lourdes Highlights
- Shaunn Monroe paced all scorers with 28 points and Joey Holifield added 21. The latter had nine rebounds and the former had five.
- Jackie Harris pulled down a game-best 16 rebounds, but was held 17 points below his season scoring average of 23.7.
How it Happened
- Gonzalez swished a 3ball from the right wing with 2 minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the five-minute extra session, snapping a 64-all tie.
- The teams traded a pair of free throws by LTU junior Cameron McEvans (8 points, 4 rebounds) and Monroe that left the Blue Devils leading 69-66 at the :53 mark.
- Beavers sandwiched one of two free throws on back-to-back possessions around a layup by the Gray Wolves' Ethan Damerum (6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 steals) to make it 71-68.
- Lourdes had two chances to send the game into a second overtime period, but trey attempts by Monroe and Stephen Coleman in the final 8 seconds were off the mark.
- McEvans hit a 3ball with 10 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, 61-61.
- Holifield's jumper at the 4:42 mark of the second half gave Lourdes a 58-53 advantage.
- But LTU enjoyed its biggest lead of the night at 46-35 at 12:27 after junior Blake Lund made a layup.
- Lourdes took its first lead of the second half at 8:24 when Holifield converted a layin to make it 49-48, capping a 14-2 run for the Gray Wolves.
- The Blue Devils wiped out an eight-point deficit in the first half to go up 30-29 at halftime.
- The contest featured five ties and 13 lead changes.
- Lawrence Tech made 17 of 19 free throws for 89.5 percent while Lourdes went 14 for 19 for a 73.7 clip.
- The Gray Wolves outscored the Blue Devils (13 turnovers) 15-8 on turnovers.
- Lourdes had a slight 43-42 edge on rebounds, but LTU made the most of 10 offensive rebounds to outscore the host team 14-8 on second-chance opportunities.
- The LTU bench outscored Lourdes 12-1.
Beyond the Boxscore
- Lawrence Tech is 8-15 all-time against Lourdes, but snapped a three-game losing streak in the series and picked up its first win on the Gray Wolves' homecourt since Jan. 6, 2018.
- Lourdes received 282 points in the most recent NAIA Top-25 poll for 14th in the nation--up six spots from the previous national rankings.
- The Blue Devils are 2-1 this season against teams receiving points in the Top-25 at the time of their meeting.
- This is believed to be the first-ever road win over a nationally-ranked opponent in the LTU modern era.
- Tonight marks LTU's first win over a Top-25 team in four years when the Blue Devils downed No. 13 Lourdes at home during the 2019-20 campaign.
Up Next
- The Blue Devils will have their first home game of 2024 on Saturday at 3 p.m. when they face WHAC opponent Northwestern Ohio inside the Don Ridler Field House.
