GLENSIDE - The Arcadia University men's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 73-72 overtime victory over DeSales University in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play inside Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Jalen Watkins led all scorers with 25 points while securing the 1,000th points of his career, while Nas Johnson added 15.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Knights trailed 8-2 five minutes into the game but Arcadia hit three-consecutive three-pointers, one from Johnson and two from Sean Rafferty to give the Knights an 11-8 lead, part of an 11-2 run.

-Leading 24-22 with 3:07 on the clock, Arcadia went on a 6-0 run, taking a 30-22 lead. The Bulldogs added a basket as the Knights led 30-24 at halftime.

-Arcadia held a 59-48 lead with 6:50 on the clock but DeSales closed out regulation with a 19-8 run. The Bulldogs attempted two free throws with three seconds left trailing 67-66 but were only able to convert the front end sending the game to overtime.

-Josh Parks opened overtime with a three-pointer at 4:14 on the clock, which was the only scoring until DeSales converted a layup with 1:17 on the clock making the score 70-69.

-With the shot clock about to expire, Dom Vazquez hit a huge three-pointer giving the Knights a 73-69 lead with 46 seconds left.

-DeSales hit a layup and free throw to make it a one-point game with 30 seconds left, and after an Arcadia turnover with 17 seconds remaining, the Bulldogs missed a layup as time expired giving the Knights the victory.

KNIGHT LEADERS
Points: Watkins (25) / Johnson (15) / Parks (9)
Rebounds: Watkins (12) / Joshua Okocha (7)
Assists: Justin Money (4) / Johnson (3) / Vazquez (3)
Steals: Darius Isaac (2) / Johnson (1) / Vazquez (1) / Watkins (1)
Blocks: Isaac (1) / Watkins (1) / Okocha (1) / Rafferty (1)

INSIDE THE STATS
-Watkins finished the regular season leading the MAC Freedom in scoring (18.9) and rebounding (11.8), while also leading in field goal percentage at 60.5 percent. He is the only player to average a double-double and had 1.6 more points and 2.0 more rebounds-per-game then the next closest.

-Vazquez finished the regular season tied for fourth in assist average at 3.4.

-Money led the conference in three-point percentage, hitting 40.5 percent of his attempts and also led in minutes-per-game at 36.3.

Rafferty and Parks both set new career-highs for points.

-The Knights had their third-best three-point shooting day of the season, hitting 43.5 percent of their attempts.

-Arcadia also had its third-best shooting day from the floor, hitting 52 percent of its attempts.

UP NEXT
The Knights, the No. 3 seed in the MAC Freedom Championships, will head to No. 2 Lycoming College for the semifinals on Wednesday with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Arcadia split the season-series with the Warriors, falling 69-56 at Lycoming on December 3rd.