Vikings battle back to top Beloit in overtime as DePagter gets win No. 100

APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University men’s basketball coach Joel DePagter picked up win No. 100 on Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium, but it took some drama in regulation and a superlative overtime to get to the century mark.

Jamie Nikitas got a layup with 0.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, and he then scored the first four points of the overtime to lead the Vikings to a 64-53 Midwest Conference victory over Beloit College.

Nikitas finished with his fourth consecutive double-double to start the season by scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Ryan DePouw paced Lawrence (3-1, 1-1 MWC) with 19 points, and Trace Sonnleitner and Troy Miller added 10 points apiece for the Vikings.

DePagter, in his eighth season as Lawrence’s head coach, became just the fourth coach in Lawrence history to earn 100 victories. He joins John Tharp (204), Arthur Denney (151) and Mike Gallus (147).

Steve McAfee led Beloit (2-4, 1-2) with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Rudy Bentley and Sean Fancsali added 13 points apiece for the Bucs.

Beloit led by as many as seven points in the second half, but Lawrence battled back to tie it at 48-48 on Sonnleitner’s 3-pointer with 5:49 left. Beloit finally took the lead back at 50-48 on a pair of Bentley free throws with 2:30 left.

Bentley could have sealed the win when he was fouled with eight seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one and Nikitas grabbed the rebound. He drove the floor and scored on a layup with less than a second left to tie it at 50-50 and force the overtime.

Lawrence then took control early in the overtime as Nikitas scored on another driving layup for a 52-50 lead, and he then knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Vikings up by four. After a Beloit miss, Sonnleitner’s athletic, high-flying tip-in gave Lawrence a 56-50 lead with 2:39 left. DePouw followed with a layup and Lawrence led 58-50.

Beloit finally got on the board in the overtime with a pair of Bentley free throws, but Lawrence went 6-for-8 from the foul line in the final 1:24 to seal the victory.

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