HIRAM, Ohio (Feb. 4) -- The Thiel College Men's Basketball team posted a come-from-behind 74-73 overtime win at Hiram College as
Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) drained the game-winning pull-up jumper with 13 ticks remaining in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) North Division clash at Price Gymnasium Wednesday evening.
The Tomcats rise to 6-13 (3-8) and have collected back-to-back PAC wins as they sweep the season series with the Terriers (5-15, 1-10). The contest marked Thiel's first overtime affair since 2023 and the second all-time OT clash with Hiram. The Cats are now 2-0 in overtime matchups with the Terriers.
Coming out of a Thiel timeout with 27 seconds remaining, Henderson II drained a pull-up jay from the right wing to put Thiel ahead 74-73 with 13 seconds left. With fouls to give on the defensive end, the Tomcats drained the clock to 4 seconds before Hiram got off a 3-pointer at the buzzer that fell short, giving Thiel the victory.
John DiCecco (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) opened OT with a layup off the opening tip before Hiram notched the next 5 to lead 71-68. Buckets from
Kadenne Kemp (Inglewood, Cali./Northgate (Pa.)) and
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) with a Hiram basket sandwiched between made it 73-72 Terriers with 1:32 left.
Henderson II finished with just 4 points, but none were bigger than the game-winner with 13 ticks left. He dished out a game-most and career-high-tying five assists.
Kemp posted a career-and-team most 19 points on 9-of-15 to go with a game-leading 12 rebounds for his second-straight double-double and fourth on the season. He swiped a game-high-tying two steals. Accursio-Harris pitched in 5 points and three boards.
A pair of Hiram free throws with 16 seconds left in regulation made it 66-64 home side before DiCecco canned a driving layup with 3 seconds left to even things at 66 and force overtime.
DiCecco logged 15 points on 6-of-11 and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
The Terriers led 59-52 with under 7 minutes to play before a pair of
Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) free throws kickstarted a 10-2 Thiel spurt to put the visitors ahead 62-61 with 1:43 to play. Sanders had 6 points in the run. Hiram answered with a 3-ball to lead 64-62 with 1:16 left before
Kenny Ermat (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla./Boyd Anderson) knotted things at 64 with 26 seconds on the clock.
Sanders recorded a career-best 18 points on 8-of-16 to go with two boards and a game-high-tying two steals. Ermat added 6 points on 3-of-6, eight rebounds and two helpers.
The Terriers led by as many as 13 in the first half at 31-18 with 8:19 showing on the clock. The Tomcats ended the first half with a 15-7 run as
Zech Lilly (Madison Heights, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) and
Adrian Llamo (Naples, Fla./Naples) got the spurt going with a layup and 3-pointer, respectively, to get the Cats within 38-33 at the break.
Llamo contributed 3 points on the night while Lilly added 4.
Thiel held advantages in points off turnovers (20-9) and points in the paint (42-34). Both sides shot the ball well with the Tomcats holding a slight edge at 46.3 percent (31-of-67) to Hiram's 44.1 percent (30-of-68).
Thiel is back in action Saturday when they host Saint Vincent at 3 p.m. in PAC interdivisional clash.
