TIGERVILLE, S.C. – Gus Rowland's layup with five seconds left in overtime allowed the Chowan Men's Basketball team to escape with a 79-77 road victory against North Greenville on Thursday afternoon.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 79, North Greenville 77 OT

RECORDS | Chowan 7-8, North Greenville 6-11

LOCATION | Tigerville, S.C. (Hayes Gym)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Gus Rowland led the charge of five Hawks in double-figures with 22 points.  Trevis Buckhanon notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Tim Hewett (19), Robert Grubbs (17), and Dino Muminovic (11) also scored in double-figures.  Muminovic added seven rebounds and four blocks to his line, while Hewett posted five rebounds and five assists.

North Greenville scored most of their points from the charity stripe going 25-29.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

Chowan missed on their first two possessions of the contest as North Greenville jumped out to a 5-0 lead.  The Hawks would mount a 19-1 run sparked by Robert Grubbs from behind the arc.  Grubbs drained three straight triples to give the Hawks the 9-6 advantage.  Tim Hewett scored the next five points before a layup by Gus Rowland and another triple by Grubbs forced a NGU timeout, 19-6.

Following the timeout, NGU went on a 12-4 run to trim the deficit to 23-18.  Trevis Buckhanon and Robert Grubbsslowed the run with a pair of buckets.  Buckhanon ended the NGU run with a dunk.

Dino Muminovic put the Hawks back up by double-figures, 28-18, with a three with 6:26 left in the opening stanza.  NGU cut the deficit to 28-22 at the final media timeout of the half.

A pair of triples by Tim Hewett and a jumper by Dino Muminovic pushed the Hawks back to double-digits, 36-24, with 2:10 left in the half.

NGU tacked on a bucket before the half as the Hawks led 36-26 at the break.

Second Half:

The Hawks jumped out on a 10-4 run to start the second half.  Trevis Buckhanon started the run with a layup.  NGU tallied a pair from the charity stripe before a triple by Gus Rowland and an old-fashioned three-point play kept the run going.  Dino Muminovic and Rowland provided the largest lead of the contest for the Hawks widening the gap to 48-32.

NGU halted the run with a triple, but Gus Rowland pushed the tempo with back-to-back buckets to force a Crusader timeout.  Dino Muminovic and Rowland knocked down triples to push the Hawks to a 58-40 advantage.

Trevis Buckhanon converted from the charity stripe before Robert Grubbs finished off the three-point play midway through the final half.

The Crusaders trimmed the deficit to nine, 65-56, with 6:04 left in the half grabbing points at the charity stripe.  Gus Rowland ended the rally with jumper and free throw combo.  NGU continued to chip away at the deficit with a quick 10-0 run forcing a timeout with 2:50 remaining, 68-66.

Following the timeout, NGU took their first lead since the first half with a triple, 69-68.  Trevis Buckhanon knocked down a pair from the stripe with 10 seconds left to tie the contest at 71-all.  North Greenville missed a shot at the buzzer.

Overtime:

Neither team let up on the defensive end until Robert Grubbs found a wide open Tim Hewett behind the arc for the 74-71 lead.  NGU went 1-2 from the stripe for their first points in overtime.

Gus Rowland pushed the advantage to four, 76-72, following the Chowan timeout with 1:57 remaining in overtime.  The Crusaders continued to find points at the charity stripe to trim the deficit to one, 76-75.  After a freebie by Rowland, NGU ties the contest up at 77-all with 21 seconds remaining.

Gus Rowland tallied a layup with five seconds left to give the Hawks the victory as the CU defense forced a turnover to end the contest.

UP NEXT

Chowan returns home to face nationally ranked Virginia State on Saturday, January 20 for a CIAA Northern Division clash.  Tip-off is slated for 4:00pm.