UPLAND, IN - It takes two hours and twenty minutes, give or take a few minutes for traffic and weather, to drive from Upland, IN to Spring Arbor, MI. The bus rides home will be remarkably better for the Spring Arbor University men's basketball team after defeating a good Taylor University team in overtime 66-59.
Along with celebrating the win, which moved the Cougars into a tie for second place, Chris Bellamy became the 39th player in Spring Arbor University history to score 1000 points in his career. Bellamy needed 14 points to reach the milestone and with 2:13 seconds to play in the game, Bellamy connected on a short jumper for his 14th and 15th points in the game for the mark. He would finish the game leading all scorers with 23 points, 21 of those coming in the second half and overtime.
It was Matt Howe returning to form who kept the Cougars alive for most of the game has he scored most of his 15 points in the game during the first 30 minutes. Howe also grabbed a team high eight rebounds in the road victory.
"Road wins are really hard to come by this time of year and to come down here on a Tuesday night is pretty special," said Head Coach Ryan Cottingham. "I'm thrilled for Chris (Bellamy) getting his 1000 points. He's just gets it done night after night."
"The defensive side was spectacular tonight and that's how we won this game tonight, continued Cottingham. "Caleb Byers, and Matt Carden were clutch for us and Matt Van Pelt's defense was rock solid. Defensively, this was the best we've played all year."
Spring Arbor was down by seven at the break, and Taylor scores quickly to go up by nine points (31-22) and that's when the Cougars shut them down on the defense. Over the next 9:23, Spring Arbor would out-score the Trojans 22-6 and take a 44-37 lead with just over 9:00 to go in regulation.
With a minute to go in the game, Spring Arbor held a 54-50 lead and was looking to close the door, but a bucket by Nate Kasper with 44 seconds left and then a Bellamy miss and Taylor grabbing the rebound with 17 seconds left gave Taylor hope for a tie or a go-ahead 3-pointer.
Rob Hogans got called with a foul on a Trojan drive with 0:02 on the clock that would send Kyle Hanaway to the free throw line shooting two shots needing both to send the game into the extra stanza. Hanaway would hit both to tie the game at 54-54.
Bellamy (8 pts) and Carden (4 pts) would score all 12 of Spring Arbor's points against Taylor's five in the extra period to put the Cougars on top.
Spring Arbor improves to 5-4 in the MCC (14-7 overall) and is now tied with Goshen, Bethel, Huntington, and Indiana Wesleyan who are also all 5-4 in the Conference. Grace leads the league with a 7-2 mark, while Marian and St. Francis are both 4-5. Taylor drops to 3-6, and Mount Vernon sits in the basement at 2-7.
