Rochester, Mich. – The Saints took on the (2-0) Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars tonight (Nov. 4) in a neutral site matchup hosted by Rochester University. Aquinas also entered the game 2-0 and were looking to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2007. AQ would rally back and score eight unanswered points to end the second half and tie the game at 61. The Saints would take a brief lead in overtime, but Mount Vernon would close out the game with a 69-64 victory.

Aquinas moves to 2-1 on the season after the tough overtime defeat. The Cougars of Mount Vernon remain undefeated on the season.

Mount Vernon got off to a hot start in the first half, scoring the first five points of the game and taking a 12-2 lead just five minutes into the game. Baskets by Gabe Overway, Payton Harley, Donovan Brown-Boyd, and Andrew Larson would give the Saints a 9-0 run in just two minutes of play and narrow the deficit to just one point with 13 minutes to play in the first half.

The two sides would continue to trade points until a 9-0 run from MVNU would give themselves a 25-16 advantage. However, the Saints would immediately respond with a 10-0 run of their own to give AQ its first lead of the game. Mount Vernon would continue the game of runs with four minutes left to play in the half as the Cougars would go on a 10-2 run to end the half. Both sides would enter halftime with the score 35-28 in favor of the Cougars.

The run would continue into the second half as MVNU scored the first eight points of the second half to take a commanding 43-28 lead off of a 20-2 run. Naturally, the Saints would respond and go on an 11-2 run to narrow the point difference to just five points. The two sides would continue to trade points, but the Cougars would continue to get the best of the Saints and held a 57-45 lead with just seven minutes left to play.

Harley and Brown-Boyd would combine for seven points to narrow the lead to just five points again. Both teams would hit a free throw to move the score to 58-53, but a three-pointer from the Cougars would give them an eight-point lead with just 3:33 left on the clock.

Similar to the home opener, the Saints would not back down. A layup from Overway followed by a layup from Brown-Boyd would narrow the lead to just four points with 2:28 on the clock. Tommy Gregwer would score a free throw off of a technical foul by MVNU and Harley would tie the game at 61 with a three with just 40 seconds remaining on the clock. Neither side would manage to score a bucket to end the game and the two teams would play five minutes of bonus basketball.

The Cougars would open up overtime with two free throws, but Overway would respond with a layup to tie the game again. Harley would then score a free throw with 3:49 on the clock to take a 64-63 lead. That would be the last point of the night scored by the Saints. Mount Vernon Nazarene would score four free throws and a layup to take a 69-64 victory.

AQ shot 38.71% from the field and slightly improved that percentage in the second half, shooting 40.74% in the latter half. Aquinas would shoot just one-for-five in overtime. In total, the Saints would go 9-20 from the charity stripe, good for a 45% free throw percentage.

Harley played his best game of the season, scoring 19 points while shooting 7-14 from the field. He went 3-6 from beyond the arc while also adding two rebounds, four assists, and a steal to his stat line. Harley is now the third different Saint to lead the time in points through three games.

Brown-Boyd would also score double-digit points with 11 on the night. He shot 4-7 from the field and 2-5 from the three-point line. He also had six rebounds, two assists, one block, and two steals.

Aquinas returns to action tomorrow (Nov. 5) to take on Saint Francis of Indiana at 4:30 PM. The game will, once again, be hosted by Rochester University.