Jan. 30, 2004
Box Score
WASHINGTON, D.C. (www.lafayette.edu) - Winston Davis and Rob Dill fueled a Lafayette second-half rally as the Leopards remained unbeaten in the Patriot League with an 86-83 overtime win at American on Friday.
Dill scored all 15 of his points after halftime, while Davis scored eight of his 15 in the extra session as the Leopards (15-4 overall, 6-0 Patriot League) overcame a seven-point halftime deficit.
The Leopards remain in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League with the win and have equaled the 1999-2000 team's 6-0 league start. Three of Lafayette' last four games have gone into overtime and the Leopards have posted a 3-0 record in those contests.
American (10-10, 4-2) took a four-point lead on a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation. Mike Farrell cut it to two with a pair of foul shots six seconds later, and Andres Rodriguez missed the front end of a one-and-one at the other end. Following a timeout with five seconds remaining, Justin DeBerry took the inbounds pass at the top of key, slashed to the left side of the lane and dropped a pass to Dill, who slammed it home with 1.5 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Dill took over midway through the second half, scoring 11 of Lafayette's final 21 points, including the game-tying dunk. He opened the scoring in the overtime period, then watched as Davis reeled off eight straight. DeBerry put the Leopards up three by converting the front end of a one-and-one with 35 seconds left.
American had two off-balanced looks at a potential tying three-pointer in the closing seconds, but both were off the mark. The Eagles were just 2-of-9 from the field and 4-of-8 from the foul line in overtime.
After hitting just 13-of-33 shots in the first half (39.4 percent), the Leopards rebounded to hit 21-of-36 attempts (58.3 percent) in the final 25 minutes. The Leopard defense limited American to just 38.7 percent shooting for the contest.
Dill tallied his 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed four rebounds and blocked five shots. With his first blocked shot of the game, Dill became Lafayette's career leader in that statistical category, surpassing Frank Barr '01 who had 160 blocks. Davis added six rebounds and three steals along with his 15 points.
DeBerry posted his second career double-double, finishing with 15 points and a career-high 10 assists. Marcus Harley and Sean Knitter were also in double figures with 11 points apiece.
Raimondas Petrauskas led five Eagles in double figures with a game-high 16 points. Jernavis Draughn added 15 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.
Lafayette returns to action on Sunday, visiting Navy at 3:30 p.m. Live action of the Lafayette-Navy contest can be heard on WEST-AM 1400 in the Lehigh Valley and on .
