Jay Lyonett's 3-point basket at the end of the first overtime gave Bethany life, and in the second overtime the Bison managed to hold off a relentless Big Red squad for a 94-90 victory from Livingston Gymnasium.
The game saw 16 lead changes and eight tie game situations, but when the dust settled it was Bethany who went home a winner, thanks to the heroics of Lyonett and the Yeoman's effort on the glass by Bison center Joe Testa. The 6-3 senior pulled down 20 rebounds to go along with his 15 points in 47 minutes of action.
The Big Red jumped out to a five-point lead in the first overtime period thanks to a 3-pointer by sophomore Brett Tiberi (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and a quick jumper by Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood). With 2:27 left, Bethany's Jonas Ankrom knocked down a triple from the top of the arc and after a layup at the other end by Big Red freshman Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland), Bison guard Dustin Opalka drilled Bethany's 10th 3-point field goal of the night to cut the DU lead to one at 75-74 with 1:28 left.
After both teams split free throw attempts Denison found themselves with the basketball with nine seconds left. Before the ball could be in-bounded and any time could expire, Bethany sent DU junior Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) to the line, where he sank both free throws to give his team a 78-75 lead. After a Bethany timeout, Denison defended the Bison to perfection, forcing Lyonett to take a well-defended, off-balance shot as the horn sounded.
In the second OT, still riding high on the emotion of his game-saving shot, Lyonett drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the game to give his team a 81-78 lead. Despite trailing by as many as five points in the second OT, Denison would rally again to take the lead with 1:44 to play when Hale scored on a fast break off an outlet pass from Tiberi.
The biggest play of the second overtime for Bethany came when Ankrom missed his second free throw attempt which would have given the Bison a one-point lead. Instead, Bethany crashed the glass as they had all night, and ripped down two offensive rebounds before Testa finished things off with a put-back with 1:15 left. A miss at the other end by DU, combined with four-straight pressure-packed free throws by Bethany assured that there would not be a third overtime.
Hale led DU with a career-high 23 points off an 11-of-16 shooting performance. Farmer had one of the most complete games of his career as well. The junior finished one assist shy of a triple-double, ending with 14 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in 45 minutes of action.
Luther scored 17 points while Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) added 15 points and seven rebounds in 38 minutes.
Bethany was led by Lyonett's 17 points off a 5-of-8 performance from beyond the 3-point arc. Testa's 10 offensive rebounds was the key statistic in a game chock full of gaudy numbers. Bethany outrebounded DU 25-9 and those offensive rebounds led to 31 second chance points for the road team.
DU outscored Bethany 44-26 in the paint but committed 16 turnovers to the Bison's nine. Denison falls to 2-7 overall and 0-2 in overtime contests this season. Bethany improves to 6-3 with the victory.
The Big Red will return to the hardwood on Dec. 28 when they take on Capital University in Westerville, Ohio on the campus of Otterbein College at 3 p.m.
