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Purple Knights Men Post Second Straight Second-Half Rally, Beat AIC 81-76 in Overtime

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Created on Sunday, 15 January 2012 03:57

Written by George Commo

St. Mike's Comes From 14 Down to Win

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

COLCHESTER, Vt. - After trailing by as many as 14 second-half points, the Saint Michael's College men's basketball team went on a 9-0 run in the extra session to win its second consecutive overtime contest, 81-76, over American International College on Saturday in the Ross Sports Center.

The Purple Knights, who had lost 11 of their last 15 to the Yellow Jackets, are 7-8 overall and 6-5 in the Northeast-10 Conference. After also defeating Southern Connecticut State University, 109-104, in four overtimes on Wednesday, Saint Michael's earned consecutive overtime victories for the first time since January 1975. American International slipped to 4-11 and 2-9, dropping its sixth straight contest.

Senior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Purple Knights, freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) added 13 points and four assists versus zero turnovers, and sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) notched 13 points. Junior Derek Knutty (Rocklin, Calif./Whitney) and freshman James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) each totaled 12 points, with Knutty a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor. Saint Michael's shot 13-of-20 on free throws, while American International had a 1-for-2 showing.

The visitors were 11-of-22 from three-point range, thanks in large part to sophomore Janek Schmidkunz (Berlin, Germany/ALBA Berlin), who shot 5-of-9 from deep for a game-high 17 points. Classmate Spencer Braithwaite (Dorchester, Mass./Madison Park/Massasoit C.C.) knocked down four triples and finished with 16 points, while three others had 10 points.

American International forged a 60-46 advantage with 11:04 remaining in regulation and still led by 13 before Saint Michael's used a 15-2 run during a 4:33 stretch to knot the game. Knutty notched eight of his points during that time, including dropping in the tying points at 5:36 to create a 64-64 game. Schmidkunz later hit a long jumper for a 72-70 visitor lead at 1:21, but Holton's lay-up high off the glass with 8.8 seconds to go forced overtime.

In the extra period, the Yellow Jackets grabbed a 74-72 edge at 4:35, but the Purple Knights tallied the next nine points behind 4-of-4 shooting for the stanza. Crawford gave his team the lead for good at 2:33 thanks to a reverse lay-in and created a three-point gap with 39.7 ticks left on a free throw, and junior Travis Warech (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) forced a steal on American International's ensuing possession before feeding Schilling for an icing bucket at 16.5 seconds.

The teams exchanged four leads in the opening half while forging four ties. The visitors grabbed a 24-19 lead by 8:22, but Saint Michael's tallied the next seven points, with Crawford's triple at 4:53 putting his team in front. Knutty made a jumper to keep his team up by three, at 28-25, before American International scored the final 11 points of the period to start a 13-0 run that bridged halftime. Schmidkunz hit two three-pointers in that stretch, finishing the opening half shooting 4-of-7 from deep, and the Yellow Jackets led 36-28 at intermission.

The Purple Knights remain home on Tuesday when they face the University of New Haven at 7:30 p.m.