LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Todd Landrum learned plenty from the opening 20 minutes of his team's nonconference game against Lake Forest on Sunday.
First, he learned that his Cardinals were feeling no ill effects from the Thanksgiving layoff.
Second, he learned that the Foresters were feeling no ill effects from the Thanksgiving layoff, either.
Third, he learned that Sunday's nonconference tilt was going to be a fight to the finish.
All that from the game's first 20 minutes.
Over the game's second 20 minutes, Landrum learned even more — like the fact that Sunday's contest would need more than 40 minutes to determine a winner.
In fact, it would take 44 minutes and 59.5 seconds to do that.
The Foresters' Dayton Young scored the game-winning basket at the buzzer, as Lake Forest outlasted SMU 87-85 in overtime Sunday afternoon.
"It's tough to lose a game like that," admitted Landrum. "(Lake Forest) is a good club, we just didn't make enough plays to win."
Lake Forest got a basket by Nate Bateman to open the overtime period, and the Foresters would use an 8-2 run to push that advantage to 80-74. SMU clawed back, however, pulling even once again when
Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) drained a 3-pointer with three seconds on the clock.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that proved to be enough time for the Foresters to get down the court and score the game-winner, as Young drained a jumper with no time on the clock to steal the win away from SMU.
"One thing about this team is, they will never quit — they are going to play hard every minute of every game," Landrum said of his Cardinals. "I can always count on 100 percent effort, and today was no exception.
"We just made some mistakes you can't afford to make."
Just how even were the two teams? Both finished with 28 field goals, while Lake Forest boasted one more 3-pointer (8-7) and one more free throw (23-22). The Foresters also held a slim, 42-38 rebounding advantage.
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a game-high 23 points, while Holland chipped in 20 for the Cardinals.
Pat Freeman (Champlin, Minn.) and
Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) also scored in double figures for SMU, netting 15 and 11 points, respectively. Freeman, whose 15 points were a career high, also pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds.
Victor Campbell finished with 20 points to lead a trio of Foresters in double figures. Bateman and Travis Clark each added 15 points in the winning effort.
The Cardinals held the upper hand early in the second half, racing out to a game-high eight-point lead, 51-43, with 12:37 remaining. Lake Forest answered with a 10-2 run that tied the game 53-53. The game would be deadlocked six more times, including 72-72 on back-to-back free throws by the Foresters' Campbell with nine seconds remaining to send the game into OT.
The Foresters got out of the blocks quickly in the first half, scoring eight of the game's first 11 points to take the biggest lead of the half, 8-3. The Cardinals would use a 7-4 run of their own to tie the game 12-12, and neither team would lead by more than three until Wright knocked down a free throw with 1:40 remaining to give SMU a 31-27 advantage. A half-ending 6-2 Lake Forest run would knot things at 33-33 at the halftime break.
The Cardinals, who fall to 2-2 overall, are back in action on Wednesday, when they travel to Macalester to kick off the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season with a 7:30 p.m. contest against the Scots.
