THE LEAD
The DBU Men's Basketball team saw their five-game win streak come to a halt in a hard-fought 86-85 loss in double-overtime to Texas A&M-International on Saturday in Laredo, Texas.  The Aggies' Anthony Alston poured in 34 points to pace TAMIU, while Shannon Lilly led the Patriots with a 23-point performance.  Myles Johnson and Joey Miller also finished in double-digits as well for the Patriots with 19 and 11 points respectively.
 
In a first half that saw DBU (19-6, 13-4) go up by as many as seven points and maintain the lead through the majority of the first 20 minutes, the Aggies stormed back to pull within one point at the break.  Leading 30-29 at the break, DBU extended their lead back to seven on a Patrick Burke layup with 15:42 on the clock. 
 
TAMIU (17-9, 12-6) responded with a 13-6 run of their own over the next four minutes and retook the lead at 44-43 on a fast-break bucket from Jordan VanDekop. 
 
The Patriots and Aggies would exchange leads three times over the final 11 minutes of regulation, before Joey Miller pushed DBU out in front by four on a jumper with 28 seconds left to play.  After a made free-throw by TAMIU's Anthony Alston, the Aggies tied the game at 64 when Arthur Santana scored on a layup and knocked down a free-throw following a DBU foul. 
 
Tied at 64 at the end of the first half, DBU fell behind by as many as five in overtime, before mounting a comeback.  Down by three with eight seconds left to play, Shannon Lilly drained a shot from beyond the three-point arc to pull the Patriots even and force a second overtime.
 
Joey Miller put DBU up by one in the next overtime with 3:53 left on the clock, before the Aggies retook the lead for good on a three-pointer from Santana.  Later in the second overtime, Santana would drain another big three-point shot to put TAMIU up by five with 2:05 remaining.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, BLAKE FLICKNER, ON THE TOUGH LOSS ON THE ROAD
"It was a tough game today against a hungry team.  When you go on the road against good team, you want to have a chance at the end.  We had our chances.  We made some mistakes, but we also had guys step up and make big plays when it looked like we were out.  Games are going to come down to the wire now and today they made one more play than we did.  We just have to bounce back and make the next play.  We've won our share of close games, we just have to learn from this one and be ready to be even sharper down the stretch next time."
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU is now a half-game ahead of both Rogers State and UA Fort Smith for first place in the Heartland Conference standings.
- Today's loss is just the fourth defeat DBU has suffered on the road this year.
- The Patriots are now 3-1 in overtime games this season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
16 – DBU was outscored by 16 points in the paint (34-18).
22 – The Patriots' bench scored 22 points, compared to just four by TAMIU's.
14 – DBU connected on 14-of-36 shots from three-point range.
 
UP NEXT
DBU travels to San Antonio on Monday to face St. Mary's.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.