Devils Rally but Fall in Overtime

The University of the Sciences men's basketball team rallied from a seven point deficit but squandered a four point lead in the final minute as Millersville University rallied to tie the game and then win it in overtime 64-57 Thursday night in Millersville, Pennsylvania.

The loss snaps a four game winning streak for the Devils, whose  record now stands at 4-2.  Millersville improves to 3-2.

Tyrone Mann-Barnes led all scorers with 22 points (8-12 FG,5-8 3FG).  He was the lone Sciences player in double figures.  Adewale Adefemi added eight points and pulled down 13 rebounds.  Henry Messinger added nine points off the bench.

Demond Vance, whose three-point field goal sent the game into overtime, finished with 19 points to lead the Marauders.  Mike Seibert added nine points.  Elijah Obade had ten rebounds.

After trailing throughout the game, a layup plus 1 by Mann-Barnes gave the Devils their first lead of the contest, 45-42 with 5:49 left.  The lead shuffled between one and three points until Adefemi sank two free throws to put the Devils up four 50-46 with 40 seconds left in regulation.  On the Marauders next possession, Adefemi picked up his fifth foul and Rob Wyley sank two free throws to close the gap to two, 50-48, with 18.8 seconds left.  Will Kernan then made the second of two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to make the score 51-48. Vance then caught the ball in the far corner and launched a game-tying three as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime.

Millersville scored the first five points of the extra frame before Mann-Barnes sank a 3-ball to make the score 56-54 with 2:15 left.  "Ville added four points to go up by six before anther trey from Mann-Barnes cut the deficit in half with just under a minute to play.  That was as close as Sciences would get as the Marauders scored the final four points to finish with a seven-point win  64-57.

In the opening half, Millersville scored the first nine points of the game and opened up an 11-point advantage 18-8 at the 10:57 mark before the Devils started chipping away at the lead.  The Devils pulled within six before the Marfauders boosted the margin back up to 11, 28-17 with 3:04 left.  The Devils closed out the half with a 9-3 run to trail by five at the break 31-26.

The Devils finished the game shooting 30.4% (17-56) which included a 2-for-10 effort in the overtime period. Millersville shot slightly better, making 17 of 50 (34%).  "Ville  made 26 of 39 shots from the free throw line while the Devils made just 18 of 28.  The Devils did hold a 47-37 advantage on the glass but did not protect the ball, committing 24 turnovers (5 assists).  The Mauraders had 21 turnovers (10 assists).

The men's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 11, 2010 when they open conference play against Wilmington University in New Castle, Delaware.  Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m.