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Cougar Basketball Game Recap
Cougars Pull out Much-Needed 79-69 OT Win
at Houghton
written by Dave Parsons, Sports Information Director
Game Boxscore
HOUGHTON, N.Y. (1-30-2010) - In a game that
featured 12 ties and 14 lead changes, the
Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s
basketball team scored the final nine points
of the game to post a 79-69 overtime win at
Houghton (N.Y.) College on Saturday
afternoon in American Mideast Conference
action in the Nielsen Center.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair
with eight ties and nine lead changes as
neither team was able to build more than the
five-point lead that the visiting Cougars
(11-12, 3-7 AMC) enjoyed after a
three-pointer by freshman guard Ben Severns
put MVNU up 18-13 at the 10:20 mark.
 The host Highlanders (8-13, 3-8 AMC) took
the lead 25-24 on a jumper by Devin Paige
with 4:11 left before the break and never
trailed again in the half as Houghton went
to the locker room at the break with a 36-34
advantage.
Sophomore guard Robbie Taylor (left) led the
Cougars with 13 first-half points as he went
3-for-5 from three-point range. Junior guard
Brandon Short also contributed seven points.
MVNU shot 50 percent from the field
(11-for-22), 50 percent from three-point
range (5-for-10), and 77.8 percent from the
free throw line (7-for-9).
Paige paced the Highlanders with 16
first-half points, while Michael Amico added
six points. Houghton shot 46.4 percent from
the field (13-for-28), 45.5 percent from
three-point range (5-for-11), and 71.4
percent from the charity stripe (5-for-7).
A three-pointer by Amico just over two
minutes into the second half gave the
Highlanders their biggest lead of the game
at 41-37 as the second half got under way.
Trailing 47-45 with 10:50 left in
regulation, the Cougars rattled off 10
straight points to take a 55-47 advantage
with 8:46 to go. Severns led the surge with
five points, while senior wing Austin Kaiser
also completed a three-point play.
With MVNU still holding a 61-55 advantage
with 2:30 left in the game, Houghton got a
layup from Ryan Shay and a three-pointer by
Amico to close the gap to 61-60 with 1:16
remaining.
A jumper by Taylor extended the Cougars’
lead to 63-60 with 46 seconds left. After a
defensive stop by MVNU, the Cougars had a
chance to extend their lead with 34 seconds
to play, but Kaiser missed the front end of
a one-and-one opportunity and Shay connected
on a layup on the other end to pull the
Highlanders back to within 63-62 with 18
seconds still on the clock.
Senior wing Travis Brown was fouled with 15
seconds to go and calmly hit both free
throws to put MVNU up 65-62, but Shay
answered with a trey with three seconds to
go to knot the game at 65-65 and send it to
overtime after Short’s long three-point
attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Cougars, who were playing in their
second overtime game in less than 24 hours,
fell behind 67-65 when Shay hit a pair of
free throws 55 seconds into the extra
five-minute period. However, a layup by
Short and a three-pointer by Severns gave
MVNU a 70-67 lead with 2:42 remaining.
After Daniel Tomlinson scored with 2:21 to
go to cut the lead to 70-69, the Cougars
went on to score the final nine points of
the game as MVNU posted the important 79-69
victory to remain in the thick of the hunt
for the third playoff spot in the AMC South
Division. Houghton missed its final six
field goal attempts of the game, while the
Cougars were 3-for-3 from the field and
3-for-4 from the free throw line to secure
the win.
“We showed some resilience tonight after a
tough loss yesterday in overtime and without
a key post player in (junior forward) Adam
(Grimm),” said MVNU coach Matt Moore. “We
had to have different bench players step up
in key spots and they did.”
Taylor led the Cougars with a career-high 23
points as he went 3-for-6 from three-point
range and 8-for-10 at the free throw line.
Short finished with 14 points and seven
rebounds, and Severns tossed in 11 points
off the bench as he went 3-for-7 from beyond
the arc. Kaiser also contributed eight
points and four steals, and for only the
third time all season MVNU finished with
more assists (12) than turnovers (11). The
Cougars also matched their season high with
seven three-pointers made. MVNU shot 47.4
percent from the field for the game
(27-for-57), 41.2 percent from three-point
range (7-for-17), and 72 percent from the
free throw line (18-for-25).
“Rob has a lot of confidence right now and
it shows with the types of shots he is
taking,” said Moore. “I also felt like Ben
gave us great minutes and was a shot-maker
for us. We need to continue to focus on our
execution at both ends and take this thing
one game at a time. Right now, we seem to be
the Cardiac Cougars.”
Paige finished with 20 points to lead the
Highlanders, while Shay, who received the
AMC’s Ron Holmes Memorial Award prior to the
game, finished with 19 points before fouling
out in overtime. Amico also contributed 16
points as he went 4-for-5 from three-point
range. Houghton shot 41 percent from the
field (25-for-61), 38.5 percent from
three-point range (10-for-26), and 69.2
percent from the free throw line (9-for-13).
MVNU will be back in action on Thursday when
the Cougars will host Point Park (Pa.)
University in another AMC game that will tip
off at 7:30 p.m. in the Physical Education
Center.
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