EKU rallies past Queens in OT for 7th straight win

Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team erased a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Queens University of Charlotte, 86-80 in overtime, on Saturday at Baptist Health Arena. It was the Colonels' seventh straight victory.

 After Yoav Berman’s two free throws gave the Royals a 68-57 lead with 7:31 remaining, the hosts scored seven unanswered.  Jackson Holt started it with a 3-pointer from the left wing.  Montavious Myrick put in a dunk.  Devontae Blanton capped it with a jumper to get his squad within four, 68-64, with 5:35 to go.

 Jaxon Pollard ended the drought for the Royals (16-11, 9-5 ASUN) with a layup before Mayar Wol connected on a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to make it a 3-point game, 70-67, with 2:40 on the clock.  Blanton’s free throw with 2:16 left closed the gap to two, 70-68.

 Jordan Crawford completed the comeback with a steal off an inbounds pass that he converted into a layup at the other end to knot the game 72-72 with 1:14 on the clock.  Blanton’s jumper in the closing seconds just missed.

 EKU (16-11, 10-4 ASUN) scored the first five points of the overtime period, taking a 77-72 lead on Blanton’s jumper with 3:24 to play in the extra period.  After Queens cut it to three, Turner Buttry intercepted a pass near the Royals’ basket and Wol hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 35 seconds on the clock to push the margin to six, 80-74.  The Colonels went 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final 24 seconds to secure the victory, their seventh straight.

 After surrendering 47 points in the first half, EKU held Queens to 25 points in the second half and eight in overtime.  The Royals shot 35 percent in the second half after making 59 percent of their shots from the field in the first half.

 Devonte Blanton had a game-best 23 points and 10 assists, his second straight game with 10 or more helpers.  Wol had 20 points and five rebounds.  Crawford and Holt finished with 12 each.

 Queens jumped out to a 20-6 lead to start the game, but the Colonels slowly whittled away at the deficit.  The Royals were still up 11, 45-34, after an old-fashioned 3-point play from Leo Colimerio with 2:02 left in the opening period.  However, EKU scored eight of the final 10 before intermission.

 Micah Davis cut it to a 5-point game, 47-42, with a 3-pointer from the left wing with two seconds on the clock.  The Colonels went 8-of-13 (62%) from 3-point range in the first half and made 13-of-26 (50%) in the game.

 The Royals scored the first five points of the second half to stretch their lead back to double figures.  Chris Ashby’s 3-pointer with 18:09 to play made it 52-42.  With the Colonels down nine, Nasir Mann hit a pair of shots for Queens to take it back to a 14-point lead.  His first was a contested 3-pointer from the left wing.  His second, a jumper with 13:44 to go, gave the visitors a 61-47 advantage.

 Colimerio led the Royals with 20 points.

 The Colonels will play their final home game of the regular season on Tuesday against Atlantic Sun Conference leader and preseason favorite Lipscomb. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET.