Men's Basketball | 1/22/2014 11:07:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Five Methodist players scored in double figures and the men's basketball team held on down the stretch to earn an 80-73 win in overtime against William Peace on Wednesday evening at the Riddle Center.
 
Bryan Hockaday and Desmond Parker each scored a team-high 18 points, Desmond Parker chipped in 16, Keith Corbett added 15 and T.J. Gill came off the bench to score 11 as MU won its second overtime contest in as many tries.
 
Holding a 65-59 lead following a three-pointer by Gill with 4:20 on the clock, MU (6-10, 4-2 USA South) saw William Peace (5-9, 0-4 USA South) close regulation on a 10-4 run and have a shot to win the game in regulation. A layup by Shawn Shaffer at the 3:58 mark started WPU's run, and after a layup by Corbett pushed the lead back to six points (67-61) with 3:12 to play, Michael Wolf converted a three-point play at the 2:25 mark to make it a 67-64 game in favor of the Monarchs.
 
Corbett followed with another layup for a five-point advantage (69-64) before Bryson Gibson drained a three-pointer with 1:37 left that made it a two-point edge for Methodist. Back-to-back misses by MU gave the ball back to WPU with a chance to tie, and Gibson hit a short jumper with 48 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 69-69. Methodist had a chance to take a lead when Parker broke free on an inbounds play with 31 seconds left, but his jumper rolled around the rim and Gibson grabbed the rebound for the Pacers setting up a final play for WPU. Jalen Vince got open for a potential game-winning three-pointer with four seconds left, but his attempt came up short and Corbett corralled the rebound and the game went into overtime.
 
In the extra session, Corbett and Gibson traded layups to start the period before Hilliard converted on a free throw, and Corbett scored inside again to give MU a 74-71 lead with 3:24 to play. Two free throws by Shaffer trimmed MU's lead to one point (74-73) at the 3:04 mark, but another bucket by Corbett and two free throws apiece from Hockaday and Hilliard provided the game-winning margin as WPU missed its final four shots from the field.
 
The Monarchs scored the first six points of the contest and held the lead until a three-point play by Gibson at the 8:48 mark gave WPU a 21-20 advantage. The Pacers took their largest lead of the game (three points) on a Gibson layup at the 6:18 mark that made it 25-22. MU answered with a quick 7-0 spurt to take a 29-25 lead on Parker's jumper at the 3:49 mark, but William Peace closed the half on a 9-4 run to take a 34-33 lead into the break.
 
For the game, the Monarchs shot 46.6 percent from the field (34-73), but hit just 1-of-8 three-pointers (.125) and 11-of-19 free throws (.579). William Peace shot 49.1 percent from the floor (28-57), 40.0 percent from beyond the arc (4-10) and 76.5 percent from the charity stripe (13-17). Methodist turned the ball over just 10 times, while forcing the Pacers into 17 turnovers, and MU also won the rebounding battle, 35-32.
 
Hockaday recorded his 10th double-double of the season by adding 11 rebounds to go with three assists. Hilliard added four assists without a turnover, Corbett picked up his third double-double with a game-high 14 rebounds, and he registered three assists and three blocked shots. Of Corbett's 16 points, 12 came in the second half and overtime.
 
Gibson led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, with 14 of his points coming after halftime. Shaffer added 13 points and four boards, and Tyquan Nolan chipped in a team-best six rebounds.
 
The Monarchs are back in action on Saturday when they host Greensboro at 4:00 pm.