LAKE CHARLES, La. – The No. 3 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team took the No. 2 McNeese Cowboys to the brink battling back from down 12 points to fall 84-80 in Southland Conference's (SLC) first-ever triple overtime game on Tuesday at Townsley Law Arena in the semifinals of the SLC Tournament.
The Vaqueros (19-14) had four players in double figures with junior
Koree Cotton leading the way with a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Graduate student
Marvin McGhee III scored 17 points with eight rebounds. Sophomore
Jaylen Washington added 13 points with five rebounds and three assists and junior
Filip Brankovic scored 11 points with seven rebounds and four assists.
The Cowboys (27-5) got a game-high 27 points
Larry Johnson as he added 12 rebounds for the double-double.
Tyshawn Archie scored 14 points while
DJ Richards and
Javohn Garcia each added 12 points and
Garwey Dual finished with 10 points and 10 assists.
The Vaqueros hadn't had the lead since the opening minute of the game and trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half until freshman
Julien Gomez knocked down a three-pointer at the 13:10 mark in the second half. Johnson quickly gave the lead right back to the Cowboys with a free throw, a dunk, and a layup.
The rest of the second half went back-and-forth until the final seconds of regulation when Dual made a dunk to tie the game at 58-58 and Cotton narrowly missed the game-winner to send to overtime.
In the first overtime, the Vaqueros took a three-point lead at 63-60 after a three-point play by Brankovic but the Cowboys answered right back with a couple of free throws by Archie and a jumper by Richards to give them the 64-63 lead. After UTRGV got clutch free throws by Cotton and McGhee III, Johnson knocked down a three to tie the game at 67-67.
In the second overtime, UTRGV scored the first five points behind a layup from Brankovic and free throws from Cotton and Gomez, but the Cowboys scored the final five points with free throws from Garcia tying the game at 72-72 giving UTRGV a good look at the game-winner but narrowly missing it once again.
The third overtime started with back-to-back buckets by the Cowboys but a couple of layup from Gomez and Washington got UTRGV within 77-76. Gomez made a pair of clutch free throws in the final minute to tie the game at 80-80 but the Cowboys got the final two buckets to put the game away.
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