Fans were treated to a quadruple overtime instant classic Wednesday evening in Flood Arena as the Beloit College men battled but eventually fell to UW-Whitewater 95-94. The marathon game took nearly 2.5 hours.
Free throws were the key in the game as the Bucs were outshot from the floor but went to the free throw line 35 times making 26 of their shots from the charity stripe while UW-W was just 7-12 from the line.
Let's start where the game finished, the fourth overtime. Keep in mind, each overtime period is just five minutes long. UW-W's Bailey Kale knocked down a jumper 20 seconds in to make it 84-82 in favor of the Warhawks. Beloit had the answer on their offensive end moving the ball around until
Michael Polakoski found an open
Tristan Shoup behind the three-point arc. Shoup nailed the triple to give the Bucs the lead. A missed three for UWW was rebounded by
Darin Empereur who pushed the pace up the floor, drove to the rim and was fouled on the shot. Empereur hit both from the charity stripe to make it 87-84 with 3:45 to play.
A pair of two-pointers sandwiched a Beloit free throw to knot the game 88-88 with less 2:30 to go. The Bucs held possession for nearly a minute working the offensive glass but were unable to hit their shots until the Warhawks were finally held off the Beloit rebounders. A foul on the shot led to a pair of free throws for Whitewater as they reclaimed the lead 90-88 with 1:38 on the clock. Once again it was Shoup with the answer for Beloit. This time, Shoup set a pick for Empereur, rolled and was hit with a perfect pass for the bucket to tie the game once more, 90-90.
Beloit capitalized on a Warhawk miscue as Polakoski found some space for a jumper in the paint to make it 92-90 with 40 seconds left. Kale, Whitewater's go-to man when they need someone to create offense, hit a three with less than 30 seconds on the clock to push the lead back into UW-W's favor 93-92. The Bucs inbounded and brought the ball up slowly, in no hurry with over 20 seconds to play. Polakoski darted towards the rim with under 10 ticks left and was fouled on the shot with 6.7 on the clock. The pure shooter hit both from the line to give Beloit a 94-93 lead. Warhawk head coach Pat Miller immediately called timeout in order to advance the ball to UW-W's offensive end for an inbound play that would take place right in front of their bench.
Beloit's defense blanketed the Warhawks leaving little opening for an inbound pass to be made to one of their shooters and forcing UW-W's big away from the paint. Riley Jensen stepped out of the wing catching the inbounds pass facing away from the basket. As the seconds quickly ticked away, the entire Warhawk bench was yelling for him to shoot but the Bucs were in great defensive position. With just a few tenths remaining, Jensen threw up a turnaround jumper that somehow found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded giving Whitewater the 95-94 win.
How we got to the final overtime was just as exciting as the final five minutes of the contest. The Bucs shots 48-percent in the first half while holding UW-W to under 36-percent from the field to carry a 30-28 lead into intermission. The Warhawks won the battle in the paint in the second half outscoring Beloit 18-12 in the lane and 30-28 in the half to force the first overtime.
Dan Babb knocked down the first shot of the first overtime with a triple from the corner off an assist from
Andrew Walters. Beloit never trailed in the period but a UW-W layup with 1:26 on the clock tied the game 66-66 and neither team was able to find the bottom of the net the rest of the way to bring on a second overtime.
The second OT period came down to the wire. The Warhawks led by as much as four at the halfway point of the period but Empereur caused a five-point swing to give Beloit the lead back with less than a minute to play. First he hit a pair of free throws and then, following a UW-W turnover, Empereur knocked down a triple to make it 75-74 with 51 seconds left. Polakoski was fouled with just eight seconds remaining to head back to the charity stripe. He dropped in the first but a miss on the second was rebounded by the Warhawks. A timeout advanced the ball and once again Kale was able to deliver for UW-W on a step-back jumper despite at the buzzer despite good defense to force a third overtime.
Well into the second hour of play, just six points were scored by each squad in the third OT period. Similar to the first overtime, the offenses went cold late in the period with the final bucket, a Kale jumper, recorded with 1:48 remaining forcing the decisive fourth overtime.
There were 28 lead changes in the game and the contest was tied 16 times over six period of play. Beloit held the lead for just over 27 minutes of play while the Warhawks had the advantage for nearly 22 minutes. For the game, Beloit shot 46-percent (30-65) from the floor, 28-percent (8-29) from three-point range and 74-percent (26-35) from the free throw line. UW-W shot 43-percent (40-93) from the field, 29-percent (8-28) from beyond the arc and 58-percent (7-12) from the charity stripe.
Shoup led all players with 33 points in the game. Empereur and Walters each notched double-doubles in the game. Empereur tallied 16 points and 12 rebounds adding four assists in the game. Walters led all players with 14 rebounds adding 13 points and three assists.
Up Next: The Bucs will host Alma College Friday in their final game of 2019. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Flood Arena. Beloit will return to the hardwood and Midwest Conference play in the new year in Mount Vernon, Iowa against Cornell.
