DALLAS, Texas – The 15^th-ranked St. Edward's Men's Basketball team bested Dallas Baptist, 92-85 in overtime Monday evening at the Burg Center to move into sole possession of first place in the Heartland Conference.
 
"This was the first time all year we have had to play after a loss," head coach Andre Cook said. "I was interested to see how we would respond. We have great leadership and a close-knit group. They answered how I expected they would."
 
St. Edward's (13-1, 5-1 HC) opened the game on a 13-8 run in the first eight minutes. FRANKIE MGBOLU had four points during the run and TREY LINDSEY chipped in with a three-point play. ETHAN GILBERT made a huge play off of the bench, stealing the ball and feeding QUINTON LILLEY for a fast-break layup to cap off the run with 12:08 left in the half.
 
Dallas Baptist (9-5, 3-3 HC) fought back with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 19-15 lead with 8:20 remaining.
 
In a back-and-forth affair, the game would be tied six times in the first half, which included a 31-31 score at the break. Mgbolu lead the way for the Hilltoppers with 12 first-half points. Six of those came in the half's final two minutes.
 
In the second half, neither team could build more than a five-point lead, as they stayed close with six lead changes. With under a minute to play, Lindsey made another three-point play to put St. Edward's ahead by three with 47 seconds left in regulation. Myles Johnson's layup with 19 seconds left to cut the Hilltopper lead to one. RAMIR BURTON split a pair of free throws to put the visitors up by two. After two free throws from Shannon Lilley with 13 seconds left tied the game, Mgbolu's jumper at the buzzer was off the mark and the two teams headed to overtime.
 
In St. Edward's first overtime game of the season, the Hilltoppers got three free throws from Gramlich to retake the lead after Dallas Baptist opened the extra period with a layup. Gramlich would can a three-pointer, along with JAE RICKETTS' trey off of the bench to build an 80-75 lead 3:15 left. St. Edward's would ice the game down the stretch, going 12-for-14 from the charity stripe. Gramlich totaled 12 points in the overtime.
 
"It was your typical Heartland Conference game," Cook stated. "It was close the entire way and it came down to a few possessions. Winning on the road is hard to do and our guys did it against a very good team in overtime."
 
Gramlich led all scorers with 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. Both Burton and Mgbolu ended the night with 17 points, while Lindsey added 10 points. Lilley had four points and a game-high 11 rebounds in a reserve effort. Mgbolu led all players with six assists and three steals.
 
St. Edward's will continue on the road when they travel to take on Texas A&M-International Thursday evening. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Kinesiology and Convocation Building. Live video and stats will be available on the Dustdevil Athletic Website.