Columbus Standard

It took fifty minutes to decide the winner between the Red Wolves and Oakland City Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for the Red Wolves, the Mighty Oaks held off in double overtime 120-115.

Colt Meyer scored a game-high 33 points off the bench. He went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to help with his 11-of-19 from the field. Tobey Billups added 22 points while Bryce Long (18), Kobe Ward (10), and Tavian Tatum (10) were also in double figures.

Both teams shot well in the high-scoring affair. The Red Wolves shot 51 percent on 42-of-82. The Mighty Oaks were even better at 58 percent. Each team held a lead in the first half. IUE scored the first four points and didn't trail until 12:34 remaining in the half. Long's layup with 4:43 to go in the first gave the Red Wolves the lead once more but Oakland City regained the lead and led by three at the break. Billups and Meyer traded off buckets to trim the 7-point deficit down to three in less than a minute.

In the second half, the Mighty Oaks kept their lead early on and even extended it to a game-high 12 points with 11:54 to go in the second. The Red Wolves would tie it five minutes later. Long's triple with 6:16 to go tied the score at 86-86. He later gave IUE their first lead of the second, 91-90, with three minutes to go in regulation. In the last six minutes, both offenses went cold as just eight field goals were made. The Red Wolves scored the last five points in the last minute. Billups hit one of his free throws. Kobe Ward's layup with 27 seconds left to cut the deficit down to two and Long's layup with 11 seconds tied it to force OT.

The Mighty Oaks had two chances to win it in regulation. Tavian Tatum blocked a shot out of bounds with two seconds left. The ensuing inbounds play found Domantas Sakickas in the paint but his off-balanced shot hit the rim and rolled off.

Tatum started off the overtime with an alley-oop dunk. Meyer's three a minute later gave IUE a 3-point lead with 3:31 to go in the first OT period. The teams traded points but it was IUE with the late lead. Jamisen Smith's layup with 20 seconds gave the Red Wolves a 108-106 lead. After a shooting foul and two made free throws from the Mighty Oaks, Tatum had a chance to win the game at the buzzer. But his shot, also, fell off the rim to force a second OT period.

Oakland City scored first and never trailed the rest of the way in the second OT. They will travel to Brescia on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Original source can be found here.