Kaleb Lowery's offensive rebound and put back at the buzzer forced overtime, but Menlo proved the better in the extra period as The Master's lost to the Oaks 85-77 in a GSAC game Thursday in Atherton.
Menlo out-scored The Master's 20-12 in the extra five minutes to come away with the eight-point win.
With eight seconds to play and the Mustangs down 65-63,
Jordan Caruso went the length of the court, drove to the basket but missed the layup. That's when
Kaleb Lowery grabbed the rebound and put up the shot at the buzzer that tied the game and sent it to overtime.
"It was a monster rebound by Kaleb to give us a chance," said Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "Menlo made three tough contested 3's at the end of the shot clock throughout the game that were all daggers."
TMU led at the half 35-29, behind
Kamrin Oriol's 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3-of-5 from behind the arc). But Menlo scored the first nine points of the second half to take the lead. TMU fought their way back to grab a lead of four on three different occasions in the later moments of the half before Lowery's heroics at the end.
The Oaks shot over 55% from the field in the second half and held The Master's to 40% and only one 3-pointer.
Five Mustangs scored in double figures, led by Oriol's 18. Caruso finished with 15, and Lowery added 12 and a team-high 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.
Christian Sweazie and
Victor Ohia Obioha also scored 12 points apiece.
"I thought we competed well to be in a tough conference game on the road," Starr said. "Obviously very disappointed for the guys that we could not get it done."
The Master's will continue their Northern California road trip on Saturday as they take on the Warriors of William Jessup University, a team, like the Mustangs, that received votes in the most recent NAIA Top 25 poll. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
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