Ft. VALLEY, Ga. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team faltered 67-63 in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) overtime road loss to the Fort Valley State University (FVSU) Wildcats at the HPE Complex on Thursday night.
 
Sophomore guard Jack Morrissey drained a long jumper to put the Badgers up 3-0 over the Wildcats (5-7, 3-1 SIAC East) as the teams traded buckets in the early stages to build a 7-6 SHC lead four minutes into play. FVSU later used a 10-0 run to claw out a 22-13 lead and maintained a 22-15 lead at the 7:32 mark. By halftime, the Wildcats had constructed a comfortable 38-20 cushion as SHC struggled to an 18.5% (5-27) shooting performance in the 1^st period.
 
In the 2^nd half, the Badgers opened with a 14-2 run to cut the deficit down to 40-34 with 11 minutes remaining on the clock. Three minutes later the Badger had battled all the way back to tie the game at 42-42 and retake the lead at 44-42 off a put-back dunk by Walter Massey at the 8:08 mark. Freshman William Loyd completed two free throws to make it a 50-46 SHC lead with five minutes to play and Massey found the rim on a layup at 4:48 to put the Badgers up 52-46.
 
With 2:48 remaining, the Badgers clung to a 52-51 lead when Loyd cleaned up a missed 3-point attempt with a put-back layup only to see FVSU nail a 3-pointer on the other end to tie the game 54-54 at 1:59. Fischer then made 1-of-2 free throws at 1:34 and Dareial Franklin answered with a 3-point bucket on the other end at 1:18 to make it a 57-55 FVSU lead. Senior guard Jared Holland calmly sank two free throws with 59 seconds showing to knot the game at 57 as the teams then traded missed treys at 38 and 21 seconds left to give ball possession to the Wildcats. Franklin's 3-point attempt at 6 seconds was short and Chase Shellman of SHC came down with the ball at 3 seconds, but a final 3-ball from the left side by Morrissey missed the mark sending the game into the extra period.
 
In the overtime, Fischer put the Badgers in front 61-57 with two free throws at 3:53 and a layup at 3:27. Franklin found a 3-point basket for FVSU at 3:18 and Tyler Edwards slammed home a Wildcat dunk as the home team took a 62-61 lead with 2:21 left to play. A Massey layup was answered by a James Barnes bucket for the Wildcats as Fort Valley held a 64-63 margin with 1:18 remaining.
 
Jamaal Garror of FVSU came down with a huge offensive rebound and made two free throws with 15 seconds on the clock forcing Spring Hill to take a timeout down 66-63. FVSU's Jaylon McMillan took away a steal and made 1-of-2 free throws with 5 seconds showing to secure the win.
 
Spring Hill was led by Massey with 15 points while Fischer added 14 with 10 rebounds and Morrissey had 12 points. The Badgers shot 34.5% (20-58) from the floor and 23.5% (4-17) from 3-point range. SHC out-rebounded the Wildcats 48-47, but surrendered 20 turnovers to 14 steals by FVSU while the Wildcats lost 15 turnovers to five Badger steals.
 
FVSU completed 35.2% (25-71) of their shots including 21.4% (6-28) of their 3-point attempts. Franklin was the only Wildcat to reach double figure scoring with 17 points and Barnes corralled a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
The Badgers (2-11, 1-1 SIAC West) will next travel to Albany, Ga., on Saturday to challenge the Albany State University (ASU) Golden Rams (7-6, 2-1 SIAC East) at 3 p.m. (EDT) at the HPER Gymnasium.