FAYETTE, Mo. – Benedictine Men's Basketball earned its first Heart of America Athletic Conference win of the season on Wednesday with a 79-78 win in overtime.

The Ravens overcame a scoring drought late in the second half to send the game into overtime after Jack Vander Woude hit a 3-pointer with seconds remaining in the game to send the game into overtime.

The two teams combined for 13 points in overtime as neither was able to establish control in the period. A free throw from CMU broke a tie at 77 with 28 seconds remaining in overtime. With no timeouts remaining, the Ravens worked the ball down the floor and after Brycen LaRue missed a go-ahead shot, Preston Reynolds grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back up quickly to put the Ravens up 79-78. Following a CMU timeout, the Eagles were able to get a last-second shot off from near midcourse but the shot fell short giving the Ravens the win.

Central Methodist held the lead in the first half over Benedictine by as much as 9 points inside the last five minutes of the half. The Ravens connected on 3 straight 3-pointers from Vander Woude, Reynolds, and Deaglan Sullivan that was followed by a layup from Haggen Hilgendorf that capped off a 14-0 run that erased Benedictine's deficit.

After taking a 36-33 lead into halftime, the Ravens continued to lead through the under-10 media timeout of the second half. At that point in the game, the Ravens hit 10 3-pointers, half of their total field goals, to lead 56-53.

CMU caught fire from behind the 3-point arc after the under-10 media timeout. Benedictine also went cold for nearly two minutes allowing the Eagles to erase the Ravens lead. CMU used a 15-2 run that was snapped by a basket from Reynolds with 4:20 remaining. 

Reynolds basket pulled the Ravens within 8 points after trading by as much as 10 during the Eagles' run. The Ravens gradually cut away as the CMU lead after a pair of free throws from LaRue and a 3-pointer from Hilgendorf, the Ravens trailed by 3 points.

CMU went back up by 3 points with 6 seconds remaining in regulation to set up the ending that allowed the Ravens to extend the game and earn the overtime win.

Four Ravens reached double figures in scoring, led by a career-high 29 points from LaRue. He finished with 4 3-pointers while connecting on 7 of 9 from the free-throw line. Reynolds finished with 14 followed by Hilgendorf and Vander Woude with 12 each. 

The Ravens finished the game hitting 46.6 percent from the floor with a 50 percent effort from beyond the arc with 12 3-pointers. That number matched the Ravens second-most 3-pointers of the season and gave them 12 3-pointers in two of their last three games.

Benedictine closes out November with a pair of home games inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium. They host a 2 p.m. game on Saturday with Clarke University before hosting Graceland University on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

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