In last year’s 2-29 disaster, St. Gregory’s basketball team was never able to savor a road victory.
This year’s edition earned that reward in Thursday night’s season opener, upending Paul Quinn College 92-82 in two overtimes.
“It’s hard to win on the road,” St. Gregory’s assistant coach Todd Ellert said. “A couple of guys played exceptionally well, including Chris Dean and Fayzon Richey, both of whom came off the bench. Fayzon had five or six points in the second overtime.”
The visiting Cavaliers outscored the hosts 16-6 in the second OT.
Dean, a post performer from Choctaw, netted 22 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Richey, from El Reno, supplied 17 points, including all eight of his free throws.
Had it not been for freshman John Clark, the game wouldn’t have gone to overtime. With Paul Quinn up 69-67 in regulation, Clark went the length of the court to deposit a layup with less than one second remaining, thus necessitating overtime.
Both squads scored seven points in the first OT session.
Also scoring in double figures for St. Gregory’s was Josh Coulter with 12 points.
Jason Burke-Kavros of Paul Quinn connected on 14 of his 26 field goal attempts to produce a game-high 40 points.
St. Gregory’s went 50 percent (31-62) from the field and 71.4 percent (25-35) from the charity stripe. The Cavs were 23 of 29 in the second half.
St. Gregory’s will meet Hillsdale Free Will Baptist at 6 p.m. Friday at the Northwestern Oklahoma Classic in Alva.
