USF (22-5, 10-3 MCC) clawed to a tie with IWU (22-5, 10-3 MCC) in the Mid-Central College Conference while avenging a 23-point loss to the Wildcats in Marion, Ind., just a month ago. It took 10 ties and 14 lead changes before USF prevailed to forge a tie with the Wildcats atop the MCC standings with three games to play. It was USF's first win over IWU in the last nine meetings and more than 700 fans showed up to encourage their teams despite the bone-chilling wind and snow that hampered travel in the northeast Indiana region Tuesday.

Junior DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis led USF scoring with 32 points and gave USF the lead for good nailing two free throws with 4:58 to play in the overtime. Ferdinand Morales-Soto added 14 points including six big points in overtime. Freshman Kevin Bloom scored five points in overtime on a 3-pointer and the final two clinching free throws with six seconds to play in a case of it's not how many Bloom scored, but when he scored them.

"(Zach) Coverstone was saggin' off of me, so I had an open look and I took the shot," Bloom recalled. "Coach told us if you've got the open look to knock it down. Even before that shot, we had momentum and I felt like we were goin' to get the job done in overtime. We were playin' well defensively and that's what made the whole team confident we could win in OT."

After a Ryan Hetrick 3-point attempt that missed, Morales-Soto split two IWU defenders to score for a 74-67 USF lead with 3:40 to play to cap a 13-0 run from late in regulation. After Derrick Troyer scored pushing the Wildcats' lead to 67-61 with 3:52 to play in regulation, IWU didn't score again until Troyer hit two free throws with 3:18 to play in overtime -- a scoreless span of nearly 5 and a half minutes.

"Kevin hit that 3 to put us up five and the place went nuts," USF guard Austin Leisure recalled. He came off the bench to dish out five assists. "We just fed off of that crowd energy after that."

IWU slashed the deficit to just three in a hurry on the Troyer free throws, an Ethan Hussey turnover and two Will Hubertz free throws with 2:50 to play. Soto scored at 2:19 for a 76-71 USF lead, but Troyer answered with a two at 1:57. Austin Leisure turned the ball over, but Soto stole it back from Spencer Harris. Soto scored with 17 seconds left, a difficult reverse layup despite the looming defensive presence of Coverstone, but Hubertz buried a quick 3-pointer to keep the Wilcats' chances very much alive. Bloom was fouled and made both free throws. Harris got off a 3-pointer from the wing, a decent look that didn't drop, and IWU didn't another shot away before the final buzzer which ushered a floor charge from USF fans.

Behind six, USF coach Jeff Rekeweg put the Cougars in a zone defense and IWU tried to pull USF out of it with passing around the perimeter.

"We went to a smaller lineup, so we had to go zone," Rekeweg explained. "We had to go with another perimeter shooter and there was no way we could guard 'em man-to-man, so we went to a zone we've worked on about 10 minutes all year. The guys did a good job, moved well and rebounded out of it. We had to make a stop and get a score. When you go to zone it's gonna run time off the clock so we made a stop and got the score.

"There were a couple of possessions we came up with the loose ball and won about every hustle play," Rekeweg emphasized.

Ethan Hussey ignited the comeback when he lofted in a running jumper driving the lane at 1:52 cutting the IWU lead to four, 67-63. Then the freshman guard stole a pass from Spencer Harris and made the clutch layup despite getting bodied as he drove in for the score with 1:13 to play. Hubertz missed a 3-point try with 43 seconds to play, Soto secured the rebound, but Hussey missed a 3-pointer from the corner. Soto grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Coverstone. After an IWU timeout, Soto calmly nailed both free throws (double bonus) to create a deadlock at 67 with 20 seconds to play.

IWU patiently worked the ball around, then got it to Coverstone, who was guarded by Sawyer-Davis. Coverstone backed Sawyer-Davis down in the block and scored as Sawyer-Davis was knocked to the floor. Officials ruled the 6-foot-9 Columbia City H.S. grad for a charge with 0.7 showing on the clock. Hussey tried a long pass, but it was stolen by Hetrick at mid-court as time expired.

Whew!

"We really played hard and put ourselves in position to win the game with our mentality and played really hard, but I don't know that we've ever won a game where we've shot 34 percent from the field," Rekeweg continued. "We did such a great job on the offensive boards. Matt Edmonds five offensive rebounds, Brad Sneary played 17 minutes and grabbed two. We had a 17-4 advantage on the offensive boards."

"I was really pleased with everybody's attitude, whether they were in the game or on the bench," Rekeweg continued. "Q (Qadr Owens) struggled and yet when he was on the bench, he was pointing out things and stayed involved in the game."

Sawyer-Davis posted a season-best scoring effort, but he said all the Cougars were motivated for the re-match.

"I think everybody was motivated after playin' them the first time and gettin' beat the way we did," Sawyer-Davis said. "We wanted to come out and prove ourselves because a lot of people were pickin' them to run away with the conference. We had three possessions in a row where we didn't really get into anything and when we switched our defense up, that's what herlped us because we don't usually play a zone.

"I didn't think we had the game won 'til I heard that final buzzer because you saw how they came back. They can shoot the ball and you can never relax."

Coverstone led IWU with a double-double -- 23 points and 12 rebounds. Hubertz finished with 15, Hetrick and Troyer 14 apiece for IWU, which had won 17 of its last 18 games.

The two teams were deadlocked at 38 after one half and at 67 at the end of regulation after scoring 29 apiece in the second half.

The Cougars only led twice in the second half, 40-38 at 19:24 after a Joey Kosiarek steal and layup, and 44-43 at 16:34 on a Sawyer-Davis bucket. Coverstone scored at 16:23 and the Wildcats led or were tied during the rest of regulation. The 67-61 advantage was the largest in the second half.

USF vaulted out to a 10-3 lead with 16:52 to play in the first half, and grabbed another 7-point lead at 19-12 on a Sawyer-Davis 3-pointer at 13:28. IWU outscored USF 14-4 to open a 26-23 lead at 8:21. After IWU took its second four-point lead of the half at 38-34 with 1:53 to play, the Cougars clawed back to tie the score at 38 on an Owens free throw with six seconds to play.

USF resumes play at Grace on Saturday at 3 p.m.