CLEVELAND, Ga.— Playing its first of three Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) games this week, the Montreat men's basketball team took on the Truett McConnell University Bears Tuesday night in Cleveland, Ga. After falling behind by 21 points early in the second half, the Cavaliers made a late charge and forced overtime, where they ultimately tipped the contest in their favor, 83-81. With the dramatic comeback win, the Cavs improved to 14-9 (12-8 AAC) on the season.
 
Elochukwu Eze dunked home the opening bucket of the contest 17 seconds in, but it was the Bears who led almost wire-to-wire in the first half. The Cavaliers struggled on the offensive end of the floor through 6:16 as the visitors started just 2-for-10 from the field with a trio of turnovers. Because of the early Montreat shooting woes, TMU held an 11-5 edge over six minutes into the game.
 
Tyler Murray provided a spark off the bench and sank a pair of jumpers to pull the Cavs within two points at 15-13, but the hosts responded with an 8-0 run to seize the game's first double-digit lead midway through the half, 25-15.
 
Jarden Maze, who led all scorers with 16 points in the initial half of action, took over the Montreat offense to keep the Cavaliers close for a while. The Sandersville, Ga. native scored 12 of his team's 16 points over 5:04; however, Truett McConnell proved too efficient to slow down on the offensive end, and the Bears surged ahead of Montreat by 15 points late in the period (48-33).
 
The Cavaliers entered the night ranked 13^th in the NAIA in 3-pointers made per game (10.0), but Michael Erbeck's triple in the waning seconds of the first half was the visitors' lone longball of the frame (1-13 3-pt FG; 7.7 percent). As a result, the Bears took a 48-36 lead into halftime.
 
TMU outshot the Cavs in all three phases in the opening 20 minutes of play, converting at a 53.6-percent clip from the floor (15-28 FG), a 5-for-12 clip (41.7 percent) from beyond the arc and an 86.7-percent clip (13-15 FT) from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Montreat worked its way from a slow shooting start up to 41.7 percent overall (15-36 FG). The Cavaliers did hold an 8-0 advantage in points off turnovers at the break to make up for some of the shooting disparity. Maze added four rebounds to go along with his 16 first-half points.
 
Truett McConnell (10-14, 8-12 AAC) was the aggressor early in the second half, and it significantly expanded its lead a little over six minutes into the second frame. Behind a series of buckets in the paint and strong defensive possessions, the Bears opened up their edge out to 21 points (63-42) with 13:44 remaining in regulation.
 
An old coaching adage for a team that's trailing by a significant margin is that you can't erase the entire deficit at once. Montreat didn't need that advice Tuesday night, as the Cavaliers answered with an 18-1 run over 4:48 to get right back into the ballgame.
 
The rally started with a pair of 3-pointers off the right hands of Jamiel Wright and Murray. Maze then scored 10 of the next 12 Cavalier points during the run to cut the Montreat deficit down to four at 64-60 with 8:43 left in regulation. Six minutes later, Maze drilled a 3-point basket to hand the Cavs a 74-73 lead, their first since the opening bucket of the night.
 
Needing a 2-pointer to potentially force overtime, Truett McConnell hit a running jumper to tie the score at 75 with just seven seconds left. Montreat had two cracks at the rim on the final possession of regulation, but neither shot fell as the two sides proceeded to an extra period of basketball.
 
With defense a high priority, both teams struggled to find a rhythm from the floor in overtime. Montreat and TMU each took five shots in the extra frame, but only the Cavaliers found the bottom of the basket.
 
After trading free throws early, Maze jab-stepped his way to a 3-point bucket at the top of the key, putting the visitors ahead by four (81-77) with 72 seconds remaining. The Bears answered with three free throws of their own, but Erbeck made a pair at the line with 12 seconds left, and Eze blocked TMU's potential game-tying shot to seal the victory for the Cavaliers, 83-81. The win marked Montreat's first road victory (1-4) and its third overtime triumph (3-1) since the calendar turned to 2023.
 
"The resilience of this team tonight was incredible—top to bottom, everyone who came into the game contributed in a positive way," said head coach Anthony Barringer. "TMU shot the cover off the ball in the first half, but we were able to weather the storm and continued to do what we do best: guard."
 
Montreat ended the night with a slightly higher overall shooting percentage (38.2 percent; 29-76 FG) than its counterpart (37.1 percent; 23-62 FG), although the Bears still owned a better mark from beyond the arc at 26.9 percent (7-26 3-pt FG) versus the Cavs' 21.4 percent (6-28 3-pt FG). TMU also made 28 of its 36 free-throw tries (77.8 percent), while the Cavaliers went 19-for-25 at the line (76.0 percent). Not only did the visitors win the rebounding battle (47-44), but they also scored more points in the paint (38-30), scored more points off turnovers (17-7) and scored more bench points (52-26).
 
Maze scored 34 of the Cavs' 52 bench points, his Cavalier career-high, and he led all players in both scoring and rebounding (10) for his fourth double-double of the season. Wright added 11 points and tied for a team-high with three assists, and Eze notched a career-high five blocks.
 
"What a win! I'm so proud of these guys. They made plays tonight when we needed plays to be made," Barringer noted.
 
The Montreat men's basketball team now hosts the Johnson University (Tenn.) Royals in a home AAC matchup this Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside McAlister Gymnasium.