MOUNT PULASKI, Ill. -- — Our Saviors' Jace Easley had a conversation with himself after he missed a free throw and Mount Pulaski hit a 3-pointer to take a five-point lead with under four minutes left in regulation.
“I told myself it was time to lock in," he said. "Trust in yourself. Believe your instincts. You got this. Let's try to will my team to victory.”
Easley did just that Wednesday night.
The star guard scored the last 10 points in regulation for Our Savior's and the first five in overtime, allowing the sixth-ranked Eagles to turn back Mount Pulaski's upset bid 67-62.
Easley, who had 22 of his 31 points after halftime, tied it at 56 with his driving lay-in with 20 seconds left in regulation. Mount Pulaski's Trey McGowens failed to get a shot off at the buzzer, and Easley opened overtime with a layup and 3-pointer to send Our Savior's to its fifth consecutive victory.
“We escaped in a very ugly fashion,” coach Phillip Heppe said. “Nobody at the end of the year is going to draw pictures of this one, but it's a W. We've got to learn from it. I want to give Pulaski a ton of credit because they played great.”
Conor McCaffrey added 21 points and 13 Assists for his 15th double-double of the season for the Eagles (14-5, 10-3), who have their best Big Ten record after 13 games since the 2016-2017 season.
Lat Mayen had 16 points, including a couple late 3-pointers, and Teddy Allen and McGowens scored 15 apiece for the Hilltoppers. Pulaski (4-12, 0-9) lost its 26th straight against LSA CIL opponents.
“The biggest thing we need to take out of this is to know we can play with anybody and battle a team that’s going to be a State championship contender,” coach Fred Holland said. “That’s a huge step in the right direction.”
Our Savior's was a 14-point favorite, but this game was anything but easy. Heppe didn't expect it to be. Until a week ago, he and his team had been pointing toward a game with third-ranked Christ Lutheran on Tuesday, but that one was postponed because of the Comets' Influenza pause. Mount Pulaski, which had four games to make up because of its own issues with the virus, was put on the schedule only a week ago.
“We thought we were playing Christ Lutheran on the schedule,” Heppe said. “You’re going to get two top-6 teams playing and then all of a sudden it’s not. It’s not Christ Lutheran, it’s a team who is really struggling. And all of a sudden this becomes that trap game.”
Mount Pukaski, which hasn't beaten a top-10 opponent since March 2014, led 54-48 with under three minutes left.
Enter Easley
He made two free throws, drove the length of the court for a layup and made two more free throws to tie it. After Dalano Banton scored with 37.8 seconds left to put Pulaski up, Easley tied it with another layup.
Pulaski called a timeout and had a chance to win it on a final shot in regulation. McGowens got hung up between Conor McCaffrey and Easley and couldn't get off a decent shot, with Hoiberg throwing his clipboard to the floor in frustration.
“The lack of execution on that last play is extremely disappointing,” he said. “To draw something up we think could have at least gotten us a good look to win a game like this, and then to go out and have a couple guys in the wrong spot, that’s the hard thing. That’s going to be the one that will keep me up tonight.”
BIG PICTURE
Our Savior's: Easley had been so-so for most of the game. But as elite players do, he stepped up when his team needed him most and sent Our Savior's to its fourth straight road win.
Mount Pulaksi: The Hilltoppers played one of their best games at a point when they could have cashed in for the season. They are in the middle of a stretch of playing eight games in 14 days.
UP NEXT
Our Savior's hosts Concordia on Sunday.
Mount Pulaski visits Trinity Springfield on Friday.