Birmingham-Southern College erased a six-point deficit with 1:48 remaining in the second half and exploited Colorado College's foul trouble in overtime to escape with a 93-80 victory in a battle of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference division leaders on Sunday afternoon.
The loss snapped the Tigers' five game winning streak, but they still hold a two-game advantage over Trinity University atop the SCAC's Western Division with a 6-1 record. CC slipped to 10-6 overall and 6-2 on the road. The Panthers improved to 12-1 overall and are tied for the Eastern Division lead with a 6-1 conference record.
BSC tied the game at 73-73 when Jasen Jonus was given three free throws with 19 seconds to play and CC's Nick Rose couldn't get a jumper to fall as time expired.
Playing with four fouls, Brady Ohlsen and Ian Rewoldt could only watch as Zac Richards gave BSC its first lead of the game 12 seconds into the extra period. The Panthers built a seven point lead before Colin Madden made a pair of free throws to pull the Tigers to within 80-75.
But that was as close as Colorado College would get.
Birmingham-Southern made 11 of 12 free throws during the extra period and 25 of 33 for the game.
The Panthers also drained 12 of 28 shots from three-point range, including six in the second half to help them overcome a nine-point deficit with 14:20 to play.
After Rose scored three of his 25 points to give CC a 48-39 lead, BSC ran off 11 consecutive points and tied the game on a long-range shot by Jonus. The Tigers countered with 11 of the next 14 points to build a 63-56 lead when Rose knocked down another three-pointer with 5:48 to play, but the Panthers used a 17-10 run to send the game to overtime.
Ryan Milne scored 15 points for Colorado College, while Ben Foley added 13. Brady Ohlsen pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with nine points.
Jonus went 5-for-7 from behind the arc and paced BSC with a game-high 26 points. The Panthers also got 19 points from Blaise White and Kevin Kegarise.
Colorado College plays at home for the first time since defeating Southwestern University on Jan. 2 when the Tigers play host to Oglethorpe University on Friday night.
