For the second time this season, the Raven men’s basketball team was forced to wait along with the Raven faithful inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium on officials to review game footage at the conclusion of a game.
Benedictine (11-10, 6-4) snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon, knocking off conference No. 2 Evangel University (16-7, 7-3 HAAC), 63-62 in overtime.
With less than three seconds left in the overtime, guard Quaran Johnson (Sr., Philadelphia) knocked in a 3-pointer from deep in the corner right by the Ravens bench.
As the crowd and bench erupted in celebration, the officials met at center court to discuss the play. The ruling on the floor was that Johnson had converted a 3-pointer but the officials decided to review the shot. After review, the shot was confirmed but the officials put one-second back on the clock to give Evangel one last chance.
A full-court pass was knocked away and the Nolan Gymnasium crowd and Raven bench were finally able to celebrate Johnson’s last-second heroics.
It was the second time this season that the end of a Raven game was delayed because of an official review. Back on Jan. 7, the final of the Ravens 71-70 win over MNU was delayed until after officials could review film to determine if time expired before a foul was called against Benedictine.
Benedictine started the game off on a 12-2 run and pushed their lead to as much as 14 points before Evangel closed within single digits by the midpoint of the half.
Baskets by forward Steve O’Brien (Soph., Warragul, Aus.), guard Elgin Caldwell (Sr., Tempe, Ariz.) and forward Charlie Wallrapp (Soph., Omaha) pushed Benedictine back up by double figures.
Benedictine led by 10 at the break after holding Evangel to just five first-half field goals.
The Ravens pushed their lead to 17 points by the midpoint of the second half.
Evangel outscored Benedictine 31-14 over the final 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime.
The Crusaders kept the momentum into the overtime pushing ahead by three points.
Wallrapp and Johnson pulled the Ravens even with a jumper and free-throw respectively before Johnson scored Benedictine’s final five points, which included the last-second 3-pointer.
Wallrapp led the Ravens with a game-high 22 points followed by Johnson with 13 points.
Evangel was led by the 22-point effort of Cale Ramsey.
The win for Benedictine over Evangel snapped a six-year drought against the Crusaders as Benedictine last beat Evangel in December of 2006.
The Ravens return to the road on Saturday as they travel to Marshall, Mo., to take on Missouri Valley College. Tip-off with the Vikings is set for 4 p.m.
— BC Sports Information —