HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA – Despite having just one day of practice in a week, Hampden-Sydney Basketball upended Guilford College 67-61 in overtime. Hampden-Sydney now sits at 12-7, 5-5 in the ODAC while Guilford drops to 15-5, 8-3.

The Tigers showed no rust from the long break, using efficient offense and stifling defense to start out with an 11-1 advantage five minutes in. Matt McCarthy ended the Quakers field goal drought at 13:28, but H-SC continued to lead by eight or more up through the 5:40 mark after a Hunter Kuehn (Raleigh, NC / Sanderson) layup. A pair of three pointers from Cole Greene and a Zachary Houston layup over the next two minutes knotted the game at 20-20. Greg Lewis (Mechanicsville, VA / Hanover) converted a three-point play, but Matt McCarthy drained a triple at 55 seconds to keep it tied. Kuehn gave the Tigers the lead with a layup in traffic with contact, making it 25-23 H-SC after 20 minutes of play.

Guilford took two brief one-point leads in the first three minutes of the second frame, which proved to be the biggest lead they would have all game. Following a Trever Hyatt three-pointer at 17:13 that gave Guilford a 31-30 advantage, Jake Duncan (Williamsburg, VA / Williamsburg Christian) and Mitch Owens (Williamsburg, VA / Walsingham) connected on back-to-back three-pointers to put H-SC out in front by five. Guilford trailed by three, 38-35, with 12 minutes to play in the second half, but Hampden-Sydney scored the next seven to go up 44-35 just two minutes later.

The Tigers continued to hold control of the game, leading by 10 with 7:02 to go, but Jonny Rice went on his own personal 8-0 run to leave his Quakers down just two, 50-48, at 3:45. A pair of Duncan free throws helped quell Guilford's momentum, but McCarthy found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc to make it a 52-51 Tigers advantage at 1:57. The Tigers turned over the ball on their next possession, and a foul in the bonus put Jonny Rice on the foul line for a one-and-one. Rice made both attempts to put Guilford ahead 53-52 at 1:27.

H-SC missed a jump shot on their ensuing possession, but they forced a McCarthy missed three and secured the defensive rebound with 35 seconds left, giving Hampden-Sydney a chance at the last shot in regulation. Guilherme Guimarães (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil / Miller School) got the ball on the block at 22 seconds and forced up a contested shot, but Rice fouled him on the attempt, giving the Brazilian a chance to tie or potentially win the game. He missed the first but calmly swished the second to make it a 53-53 contest. Hampden-Sydney stepped it up on defense and forced Guilford to have to settle for a deep two-point jumper from the right corner from Will Koppenhaver that was well off the mark.

Guimarães made the first big play of multiple big plays for H-SC in overtime when he banked in a three pointer from the right wing with the shot clock nearly expired. Josh Katowitz (Raleigh, NC / Heritage) reached around Rice to deflect a post-entry pass, resulting in a Quaker turnover on their first possession of overtime. H-SC wasn't able to capitalize on the offensive end, but they forced another McCarthy missed three and Rice committed his fifth foul of the game to foul out at 3:10 and send Katowitz to the charity stripe. Katowitz made one of two attempts, but he made up for the FT miss by contesting a Will Freeman layup from behind to force the miss. H-SC made them pay for the missed opportunity as Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) scored the first two of his nine overtime points on a jumper, making it a 59-93 Tigers lead with 2:34 remaining.

McCarthy hoisted up a contested, long two-point jumper but skied in to tip it in 14 seconds later. Luck proved to be on the side of the home team on the next possession as Hargrove lost control of the ball for what looked to be a turnover, but the ball ping-ponged off two players only to find its way in the hands of Hargrove who put up a mid-range jumper and converted just before the shot clock buzzer went off, giving the Tigers a 62-55 lead with only 50 seconds left.

Sanders Rohs trimmed the lead down to four on a trifecta at the 37 second mark, but Murray was sent to the foul line and made one of two attempts just four seconds later. Rohs missed a three at the 24-second mark, and Katowitz looked to have secured the defensive rebound but had a foot on the line. McCarthy connected on a three off the inbound pass, putting Guilford down only two, 63-61, with 20 seconds left. Guilford tried to force a quick turnovers, but once that failed they had no other choice but to foul Hargrove, and he converted both at 11 seconds, making it a 65-61 game. McCarthy missed another three with two seconds left, and H-SC grabbed the defensive rebound to close out the game.

Hargrove finished with a team-best 16 points in efficient fashion, going 4-6 from the floor, 1-1 from three, and 7-8 on free throws to go along with five rebounds. Duncan tallied 14 points as he shot 5-9, and Lewis tallied 13 on a 5-10 shooting performance. Murray dished out a game-high 10 assists along with five boards.

McCarthy finished with a game-high 25 points, but he was hounded defensively all game long, resulting in an inefficient 10-27 mark from the field and 5-20 from three with zero free throw attempts. Rice contributed 16 points and a game-high eight caroms.

H-SC shot 40.4% for the game while Guilford went 35.9%. While the Quakers made 10 three pointers compared to eight for H-SC, GC managed to go just 10-30 (27%) beyond the while H-SC was 8-22 (36.4%). The free-throw line proved to be a big advantage for the Tigers as they went 17-23, and the Quakers attempted just eight, making five. Guilford capitalized on H-SC giveaways, converting 14 Hampden-Sydney turnovers into 27 points.

Hampden-Sydney hosts Bridgewater College on Saturday at 2 pm.