Deuce Jones’ Overtime Buzzer Beater Lifts Men’s Basketball Over St. Bonaventure

OLEAN, N.Y. - The La Salle men's basketball team defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, 83-82 at the Reilly Center on Saturday afternoon for the squad's first Atlantic-10 victory of the season. After a thrilling 40 minutes ended with the teams deadlocked at 74, freshman guard Deuce Jones sank a game-winning three-pointer with 0.3 seconds left on the clock to give the Explorers the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

• Demetrius Lilley scored six of La Salle's first nine points. The Explorers gained an advantage, 12-10 after seven minutes of action.
• The Bonnies threw a counterpunch to get to a 17-13 lead, but a Mac Etienne slam tied the contest back up at 17 with eight minutes left on the clock.

• The game see-sawed for the rest of the half. St. Bonaventure got out a 31-24 lead, but La Salle came right back with six straight to trim the deficit to one point, 31-30. The Bonnies hit a three to conclude the half.

Second Half:

• Back-to-back three-pointers from Daeshon Shepherd and Corey McKeithan sliced the lead to three points, 39-36. The Bonnies quickly responded with six straight points to extend their lead to nine.
• The contest tightened as La Salle found its footing offensively. The Explorers outscored the Bonnies 11-5 over the next four minutes. Shepherd, Deuce Jones, and Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi each converted three-point plays to help close the gap.
• Thanks to free throws from Eric Acker, La Salle re-tied the game for the first time since the first half on a three-pointer from McKeithan with 8:53 remaining.
• Back-to-back deep shots from Lilley and Jones gave La Salle its second lead of the game with just over five minutes left.
• After four minutes of tightly contested action, La Salle retook the lead, 72-71, on a Demetrius Lilley three-pointer with just over a minute left. Thirty seconds later, Jahlil White hit a layup to put La Salle up three. Melvin Council of the Bonnies completed an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game at 74 with 32 seconds remaining.

•  McKeithan and Shepherd both missed what would have been game-winning shots, sending the game to overtime.

        Overtime:

• The Bonnies held a three-point lead with 2:30 on the clock, but Shepherd drilled a critical three-ball to keep the Explorers in the game.
• Council scored a driving layup to put the Bonnies up 82-80 with 1:56 left. Neither side scored until Jones' three gave the Explorers the win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Jones' buzzer-beater is the first since Khalil Brantley's last season in the Big 5 Classic against Penn.
• White set a career-high and season-high for any Explorer with four steals.
• Lilley had one of the best all-around games of his career, scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds. It is his second straight game with over eight boards.
• Jones scored 16 points, he set a new career-high in three-pointers made (3).

NEXT UP
Next up, the Explorers return to John Glaser Arena for a Wednesday battle against Davidson. The game will tip at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+. Tickets are available at GoExplorers.com/tickets.