Men's Basketball Falls in Double OT

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College men's basketball team lost to Dean 104-102 in double overtime in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game at the Yarnell Athletic Center.

Aj Weston, who had a game-high 37 points, made a pair of free throws with four seconds left giving Dean the lead and Elijah Miller's (Ellington, Conn.) potential game winning 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out.

Dean snapped a seven-game slide and improved to 7-15 overall and 3-8 in the GNAC while the Mariners drop to 7-15 overall and 4-7 in conference play.

Jaylyn Clardy (Pensacola, Fla.) and Wilton Causey (Worcester, Mass.) each had 25 points for Mitchell while Dontae Pollard (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)  and Miller each had double-doubles in the loss. Pollard finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the season, while Miller had a season-high 18 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

Dean led 87-85 after Charles Walker made one of two free throws with 10.3 seconds left and Jaylyn Clardy's layup with 2.9 seconds left would send the game to OT.

In the extra session, Clardy and Pollard made layups as the Mariners scored the first four points in overtime taking a 91-87 lead with 3:44 left.

Moussa Berete tied the game 92-92 on a 3-pointer with 2:20 left.

Mitchell led 95-93 following one-of-two free throws by Clardy with 13 seconds left before Charles Walker tied the game at 95 with five seconds left and Dean missed a few looks to win the game at the end of the first overtime.

In the second overtime, the teams continued to trade baskets and Weston made the two free throws with four seconds left for the win.

Dean shot 40.9 percent (39 of 85) in the win while hitting nine of 22 from 3-point range. Mitchell was 41 of 84 (48.8 percent) and converted four of 17 from behind the arc. 

The Mariners led 15-8 just over five minutes into the game and led by as many as eight in the first half, with a 34-26 lead with 6:56 left.

Dean would use an 8-2 spurt to end the half turning a 45-40 deficit into a 48-47 lead at the break, their first lead since scoring the first bucket of the game.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw five ties and six lead changes and the was tied 68-68 with 10:08 left.

The Mariners pushed the lead to 74-70 with 7:45 left in regulation before Dean pulled even once again 77-77 with 5:09 remaining. It remained a one possession game the rest of regulation.

Mitchell is back in action on Saturday at St. Joseph's of Maine in a GNAC game at 3:00 while Dean will host Rivier in a conference game also at 3:00 on Saturday.