Live statistics were unavailable for the duration of this contest due to inclement weather.

THE RUNDOWN

The No. 6 ranked Patriots (14-3, 6-2) fought an excruciating 45-minute battle against conference rival St. Mary's (9-4, 6-1) on Saturday afternoon. After trailing by as many as 21 points, DBU scratched and clawed their way back to force overtime in a game where the public had the Patriots written off with 15 minutes left to play. The comeback bid wouldn't have been possible without the defensive effort across the entire Patriots roster. But the Patriots saw huge contributions from Xavion Brown, Cody Stevens, and Justin Haire when the group needed a turnover.

The first 30 minutes of today's contest saw the Rattlers have their way. St. Mary's had DBU on the ropes throughout the entirety of the game but the Patriots refused to go away. Five minutes into the contest the Rattlers had already built an 11-point lead, an advantage they wouldn't relinquish until the waning moments of the second half. A large part of St. Mary's early dominance was their success on the inside. Earning second-chance opportunities and converting on their layups and close shots, the Rattlers built themselves a comfortable lead. St. Mary's currently holds the 7th-best offensive rebound numbers in all of DII, and that dominance was on display this afternoon.

The Patriots opened the second half with a short-lived 5-0 run headlined by an Xavion Brown posterizer. The deficit was then ten points, but just five minutes later, the Patriots were staring down a 20-point deficit, and hope was bleak. That was until a mass of turnovers led to points, and a couple more bounces went DBU's direction. The Patriot defense would force multiple five-second inbound violations late in the second half to help swing the momentum. The defensive highlight of the frame was a chase-down block by Drew Calderon, showing off an unrelenting hustle and sending a shot of energy to the Patriots bench and everyone in attendance.

Trailing by five with 50 seconds left in the game, there wasn't but a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel for DBU. The Patriot offense, moving ever so quickly, squeezed a layup out of Ricky Lujan to bring the deficit to three. Coach Flickner would burn his last timeout immediately after to rally his troops for the final thirty seconds. After the Rattlers couldn't get their potential game-winning free throws to fall, the Patriots rushed up the court for their final possession in regulation before Cody Stevens drilled a 25-foot-three from the left wing to force overtime.

Xavion Brown's layup to open the overtime period gave DBU their first lead since the game's infancy, but the Patriot's comeback bid would come to a close as St. Mary's ended up controlling the later stages of the overtime period, as the Patriots fell 83-88. Ricky Lujan finished today's game with 21 points, and he now sits two tallies removed from passing Myles Johnson (2017) to own the fourth most points in program history.
 

FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Cameron Kahn appeared in his 130th career game, passing Jalen White (2023) for second all-time in program history.

- Today marked the first time all season that DBU had gone into halftime trailing in two consecutive games. 

- 15 points is the largest halftime deficit the Patriots have faced during the 24-25 campaign (31-46).

- DBU saw their first overtime period of the season tonight.
 

COMING UP NEXT

DBU hoops will pick back up on Saturday afternoon against St. Edwards (10-5, 4-2) as the Patriots conclude a brief two-game homestand.