CHICAGO, Ill. – North Park men's basketball lost a heartbreaker to Dominican University on Monday night, falling to the Stars in overtime, 89-86.

Scoring runs highlighted the first half of play. Junior center Phil Holmes, Jr. was the first to score for either team when he knocked down the first three-pointer of his Viking career in NPU's first possession. Following a layup by Dominican, senior guard Shamar Pumphrey and sophomore guard Lance Nelson each turned in a pair of layups before Holmes converted an and-one to put the Vikings up 10-2 with 17:21 on the clock. However, the Stars went on a 9-4 run in the next three minutes to force a one-possession game.

The Stars would go on to tie the game, 18-18, with 12:53 on the clock thanks to early quality three-point shooting and transition offense, finding the open man in the corner. North Park would go on another scoring run, accounting for 13 of the game's next 15 points on free throws and driving layups from Pumphrey, a driving layup by freshman guard DJ Wallace, and a three by Pumphrey to go up, 31-20, with 8:10 left in the half. Once more, though, Dominican would close the gap and found themselves in another one-possession game, 42-39, at halftime. 

In the first 20, North Park shot 16-32 (50%) but just 2-of-9 (22.2) from deep while finding 28 points in the paint. Dominican, who started the first half shooting well from deep, cooled off later in the half, making just 4-of-15 deep attempts (26.7%).

Both teams began the second half scoring by scoring in seemingly each alternating possession. Seven lead changes and eight tied scores eventually gave way to a 71-63 lead for North Park on driving layups by TJ Gardner and Davante Robinson and a turnaround jumper by Kenton Lei with 8:32 to go. Once more, Dominican worked its way back into the game on successful transition buckets, a handful of free throws, a three pointer by Dominic Crapia: 77-72 in favor of the Vikings with 4:25 to go.

Pumphrey, who shot well all game tonight, went one-on-one with his defender in the Vikings' next possession, pulling up after a crossover to find nothing but the bottom of the net, giving NPU a boost.

Following three missed shots and four turnovers between both teams, Dominican's Andre Bennett would lay one in to force another one-possession game under a minute to go: 79-76. With 55 seconds to go, North Park ran the shot clock down under to one second before a missed shot allowed Dominican's Jacob Riedl to bury a wing three, forcing overtime.

Through four minutes of overtime, the Stars built an 85-79 lead on layups and a pullup jumper by Joshua West. However, North Park found another burst on TJ Gardner's driving layup and a steal-to-layup off the inbounds pass from Nelson to narrow Dominican's lead to 85-83. A scrappy, chaotic layup in the paint made by Robert Taylor and a pair of missed free throws made it seem like the end was near. But, clutch once again, Nelson hit a deep three with two seconds to go to hope for a miracle, trailing 87-86.

The Stars' Joshua West made both of his foul shots and then both teams would call timeouts to determine the press and press break. Once play resumed, a halfcourt shot fell short, as the Vikings suffered an 89-86 OT loss.

Quick Hits:

• Pumphrey led the Vikings with a career high 22 points while tying his career highs with 8 rebounds and 6 steals
• 3 steals for Nelson, who added 13 points
• North Park shot 5-for-17 from deep (29.4%) and found themselves out-rebounded 45-40, including 18-13 on the offensive glass
• Four Stars in double figures: Reidl (18), West (17), Bennett (12), and Taylor (12)
• 22 assists for Dominican, 10 for NPU
• 39 points off the bench and 54 points in the paint for the Vikings

What's Next?
North Park (3-7, 1-3 CCIW) is back at home before Christmas, facing Hope College on Thursday, Dec. 21, back inside Carlson Tower and the NPU Gym. Tipoff is set for 7pm.

"The North Park Hoops Experience" by Gordon Edes