[Photo by Cassidy Pluta] 

SALEM, W. Va. (Dec. 2, 2017) — Waiting in the wings on defense, Salem University Tigers point guard Reggie Oliver keyed in on ball and man with less than a minute remaining in regulation, ready for his moment. 

Chowan University's Tim Hewett, driving to his left under duress by Ignacio Rodriguez's pressure defense, lost control of his dribble, giving Oliver the opportunity to pounce. In one motion, Oliver scooped up the ball while simultaneously spinning off the lunging Hewett. 

As Oliver raced passed half court, surveying the floor behind him, he spotted Chowan's Trevis Buckhanon in a full sprint and an angle to meet him at the rim, and teammate Malik Toppin trailing just behind that. Oliver and Toppin made eye contact for a fraction of a second, conveying all the information that needed to be passed. 

Oliver downshifted gears, slowing just enough to draw Buckhanon towards him before hitting Toppin with a no-look, behind-the-back pass in perfect stride for a rim-shaking dunk to bring the Tigers within three, trailing the Hawks 72-69. 

Toppin and Oliver delivered time and again for the Tigers down the stretch while their teammates filled in the gaps with key plays in the biggest moments as Salem University went on an 11-3 run in the final three minutes to send the game into overtime.

After an Oliver 3-pointer with a little over six minutes remaining tied the game at 64-64, the Hawks went on an 8-0 run capped off by a layup from Robert Grubbs for a 72-64 lead. 

Oliver answered with a 3-pointer off pass from Jordan Robinson, then stole the ball from Hewitt for his highlight pass to Toppin for the dunk. After both teams exchanged missed shots, Grubbs made one of two free-throw attempts. 

On the other end, Jordan Robinson patiently accepted the Hawks' hedging defense out of the pick-and-roll with Toppin, retreating just enough to create a passing lane for Malik on the dive, beating the weak-side rotation by half a step for the layup to bring the Tigers within two. 

After Hewitt and Oliver each hit a pair of free throws, Ignacio Rodriguez and Marko Tutunovic combined to steal the Hawks' baseline inbounds pass with Tutunovic drawing a foul and hitting both free throws to send the game into overtime. 

In overtime, Toppin and Oliver took control, combining to score 10 of the Tigers' 15 points for the 90-85 victory to improve to .500 on the season (3-3). 

Toppin lead the Tigers with 29 points and 12 rebounds, shooting an efficient 10-14 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free-throw line. Salem's big man ran controlled the glass, outran his counterparts down the floor and work in tandem with his guards in the pick-and-roll game, getting three consecutive dunks near the end of the first half. 

After scoring just five points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first half, Oliver exploded in the second, finishing with with 27 points, nine assists and four steals—aggressively attacking the seams of the defense to get into the paint and hitting big shot after big shot. 

Robinson stepped up as a secondary playmaker, spacing the floor with 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the 3-point line and moving the ball to the open man against Chowan University's defensive rotations. 

Tutunovic struggled offensively in just his second start at power forward, shooting just 2-for-9 for nine points with four turnovers, but competed defensively with 11 rebounds and five steals, hitting all four of his free throws, including the two that sent the game into overtime. 

Grubbs led the Hawks with 28 points and five assists, scoring from all three levels on the court (8-15 from the field, including 5-for-9 form the 3-point line and 7-for-12 from the free-throw line. Dino Muminovic had a double-double with 19 points and 18 rebounds while Hewitt also scored 19 points to go with seven assists and four steals. 

With Toppin and Oliver, Salem held a 30-16 advantage in points in the paint, and a 10-2 edge in fast break points—contributing to a 45.5 percent team shooting performance against, statistically, the best field goal percentage defense in Division II, having limited opponents to just 35.1 percent shooting prior to the game. 

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 4-3 on the season. The Tigers will travel for a game against Kentucky State University on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. before returning to host King University and Lincoln University on Dec. 9-10 at the Joe Manchin Tournament.