NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team fell in an instant classic at Walsh, 88-83, in double overtime on Thursday night.

The Panthers (7-15, 5-12 GLIAC) would get double figure scoring from at least four players for the second consecutive game, as they played in their first game that has went at least two overtimes since a 116-112 triple overtime victory over Findlay on January 6, 1994.

Walsh improved to 13-9 overall (9-9 GLIAC) on the season as they won their second double overtime game in the past 10 days.

Junior Chad Nelson (Columbus, OH) led ODU with 17 points. Freshmen Ronnie Williams (Columbus, OH) and Mike DeLeon (Powell, OH) each recorded at least 15 points. Williams scored 16 points, while DeLeon added 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Freshman Shemar Waugh (Columbus, OH) added 13 points and a team high five assists off the bench. The Panthers scored 26 bench points for the game, as they also received eight points from junior Jordan Cowgill (Worthington, OH).

Junior Trent Weaver (Columbus, OH) grabbed a team high 12 rebounds, while scoring six points.

The Panthers would jump out to their largest lead after a Weaver layup gave ODU a 57-53 advantage with just over three minutes remaining in the second half. Walsh, however, would answer with a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 60-57 with 1:38 left to play.

With just 38 seconds remaining, and under 10 seconds on the shot clock, Waugh pulled up from behind the arc to tie the game 60-60 and send the game into overtime.

ODU would score seven points on their first three possessions in the extra period to give the Panthers a 67-62 lead with 3:26 remaining in overtime.

The Cavaliers cut the ODU lead to one point before a DeLeon layup off a fancy pass from Williams gave the Panthers a 69-66 lead with 1:23 left to play.

DeLeon would give the Panthers a 71-68 lead with 12 seconds remaining, but Walsh would score on a desperation three pointer with just over five seconds remaining to send us to a second overtime.

Williams would make back-to-back three point attempts to give ODU a 79-73 lead early in the second extra period.

The Panthers, however would be outscored 15-4 in the final three minutes of the second overtime, falling 88-83.

ODU trailed by as many as nine points in the second half, but a Williams three pointer cut the deficit to 39-33 with 13:48 remaining.

Walsh would then add a basket, before a Cowgill and Waugh layups cut the Cavalier lead to 41-37 with just over 12 minutes left to play.

Again, WU would jump out to an eight point lead at 47-39 with 10:04 remaining.The Panthers would answer though, with a 10-0 run to give ODU its first lead of the contest, 49-47, with 7:45 remaining. 

The run included a Nelson three point play, an Adam Cytlak (Van Buren, OH) three pointer, and was capped by a steal and two free throws from Weaver. 

The Panthers would start the game cold offensively, missing their first seven shots, as Walsh jumped out to a 7-0 lead. A Nelson three pointer followed by two free throws from Cowgill quickly got the Panthers back into the game.

Walsh would stretch the lead back out to eight, before back-to-back three pointers from Nelson and Ward would close the Cavalier lead to 13-11 with 12:01 remaining in the opening half.

WU would grow its lead back to eight as the first half closed, as the Panthers trailed by the same score at the intermission as they did in the first meeting, 32-24.

After shooting just 32.1 percent from the field in the first half, ODU made 13-of-27 field goals in the second half.

The Panthers will be back in action on Saturday as they host Malone for a 3 p.m. tipoff.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu