ROSEMONT, Pa. – The Rosemont Ravens broke their five-game losing streak in a big way today, defeating the Griffins of Gwynedd-Mercy in Alumnae Hall 103-98 in overtime. The Raven's overall record improved to 3-5 (1-2 CSAC) as they broke through for their first conference win of the season. Gwynedd Mercy dropped to 5-3 (2-1 CSAC), as they were defeated for the first time this season in conference play.
The Ravens never led in the first half with the Griffins building an 11-point lead, 28-17 with 8:40 left in the first half. A three-point play from Marcus Thomas would end a Rosemont 6-0 run to put the home side within five points at 28-23 with 8:01 left. The Ravens would narrow the deficit to four points with 2:36 left in the half but the Griffins put together an 8-0 run to grab a 49-37 lead, their largest of the game to that point, with 1:07 left in the period. The Ravens ended the half with momentum on their side. Three buckets by Marcus Thomas would give Rosemont another 6-0 run to end the half trailing by six points, 49-43.
It took another eight minutes for the Ravens to take their first lead of the contest. A Dom Scafidi layup gave the Ravens a 61-60 lead with 12:03 left in the second half. The teams traded scores for the next eight minutes. Ahead 75-74 with just under four minutes left to play, Gwynedd Mercy appeared to take control of the game with a layup by Arron Goodman followed by a three-ball from Darnell Artis to grab a 6-point lead at 80-74 with 2:16 left. Marcus Thomas would end a 7-0 run for the Ravens with a bucket from downtown to put the Ravens ahead 81-80 with 55 seconds left.
Things started to look bleak for the home side as the Griffins sank five shots from the charity stripe, many coming from Rosemont fouls after the Griffins grabbed offensive rebounds off of missed back ends of free throws, to take an 86-81 lead over Rosemont with only 27 seconds left to play. It took only six seconds for Rosemont's Charles Presley to bury a clutch 3-pointer on a pass from Nadir Stukes to make the score 86-84 with 21 seconds left. Two missed shots by Gwynedd Mercy gave Rosemont an opportunity to stay alive. Nadir Stukes nailed a free throw with 10 seconds left as the Ravens still trailed by a lone point, 86-85 with 10 seconds left.
Stukes missed his second free throw, but the Ravens got an offensive rebound. Rosemont missed a jumper, but Dom Scafidi was fouled with 4.5 seconds remaining after grabbing another Rosemont offensive board. Scafidi converted one of two from the line to tie the game at 86-86. The Ravens got the rebound off of Scafidi's missed free throw as the buzzer ran down to send the game into overtime.
The Ravens quickly jumped out to a seven-point advantage in the overtime started by a Marcus Thomas layup, two free throws from Scafidi and a big downtown hit from Thomas to put the Ravens in front 93-86 with 2:41 left in extra time. The Ravens would extend their lead to eight points, 97-89 with 1:15 left on a couple of Nadir Stukes free throws, but Gwynedd Mercy would not give up. A layup by Arron Goodman and a three-pointer from Brian Hennessey after his own steal got the Griffins back to within three points, 97-94 with 51 seconds left.
The Ravens would not let the Griffins back in, as the team continued to hit clutch free throws down the stretch, most by Clayton Wolfe, to ice the game for Rosemont.
Marcus Thomas had his second straight strong game on offense, scoring 28 points today to lead all players in the game. Dom Scafidi shot 8-for-9 from the field, including 1-1 from downtown to score 21. Nadir Stukes (18 points, 7 rebounds) and Clayton Wolfe (18 points, 8 rebounds) also featured for the Ravens today.
Gwynedd Mercy had five players hit double-digits. Arron Goodman (21 points, 10 boards) and Julian Hyden (15 points, 12 rebounds) each earned double-doubles for the Griffins. Justin Knight (16), Seth Heinicke (14), Darnell Artis (13) and Cedric Elleby (11) all reached double-digits for the visitors today.
The Ravens will wait 10 days until their next game, a non-conference meeting at Arcadia University on Tuesday, 12/16. The game is slated for an 8:00pm start.
