MURFREESBORO – How does a close game become a blowout?

Give Chowan College an overtime period.

Aaron Scott, a newcomer to the Chowan squad, hit a bucket as time expired in regulation to give the Braves a chance to win. They took advantage, outscoring visiting North Carolina Wesleyan 20-6 in the extra session to claim a 99-85 victory.

The Braves used a furious late rally to get to the overtime period, charging from a 72-62 deficit with 5:14 to play.

Scott hit back-to-back buckets before Lenny Hall hit a pair of free throws for Wesleyan. Chris Kenon then buried a three-pointer followed by a hoop from Marcus Artis to get the Braves within three (74-71) with 2:10 to play in the contest.

Wesleyan pushed the lead back to five on a Stephen Mobley hoop before the Braves rolled off six consecutive points.

Scott had the first two hoops followed by a Trayvon Lathan bucket to give Chowan a 77-76 lead with 45 secons to play.

Jarmel Arrington’s three-pointer looked to give the Bishops an upset win in the Helms Center, but Scott’s shot at the buzzer prevented that from occurring.

In the overtime session, Chowan scored eight of the first 10 points to surge ahead 88-81. Artis had two hoops to go along with baskets by Kenon and Wayne Hambrick.

Wesleyan hit a pair of free throws, but Artis responded with four consecutive points to push Chowan ahead 93-83.

The Braves scored seven of the next nine to secure the victory, including five points from Hambrick over the final two minutes.

&uot;I am proud of this team,&uot; head coach Jim Tribbett said. &uot;We dominated in overtime.

&uot;We put a lot of pressure on ourselves by missing free throws,&uot; he added.

The coach said he was pleased with the overall effort and the way they were able to get the victory.

&uot;We got balanced scoring tonight,&uot; he said. &uot;We had good bench play and dominated the boards.&uot;

The game was a close one throughout the evening with Wesleyan racing to a 5-0 early lead only to see the Braves come back and deadlock the score at 13-all seven minutes into the contest.

The home team surged ahead on the strength of a 6-0 run midway through the first half and maintained that advantage throughout the first half. The Braves led 37-32 at the intermission.

Wesleyan battled to get back into the game and took the lead as part of a 6-0 run. The Bishops held that advantage until Chowan’s rally with 45 seconds in the contest.

&uot;Our half-court trap defense helped us get back in the game at the end of regulation,&uot; Tribbett explained. &uot;This was a good win for us.&uot;

Chowan (99): Aaron Scott – 22, Wayne Hambrick – 19, Marcus Artis – 19, Trayvon Lathan – 14, Montino Williams – 13, C. Kenon – 8, R. Sullivan – 2, R. Ramsey – 2

Wesleyan (85): Jarmel Arrington – 29, Lenny Hall – 18, Adam Coleman – 10, Stephen Mobley – 10, S. Carmichael – 6, E. Alston – 4, M. Haut – 3, J. Artis – 3, A. Frazier – 2