Box Score Atlanta, Ga.---In a grueling triple overtime battle, Jerrel Joye leads the Clark Atlanta University Panthers to their first win of the season with a 95-91 victory over Carver College at Epps Gymnasium Monday.
Joye, who recorded his season-high 26 points, hit 8-of-16 shots from the field and connected on 10-of 12 free throws. The Panthers paced themselves to a 33-22 halftime lead behind the starting five who combined for 31 of the team's 33 first period points. But the Cougars orchestrated a run of their own in the second half and took their first lead, 49-47, at the 7:50 mark on a basket by Sean Stringfellow. With a series of lead changes down the stretch, Joye knocked down two free throws that gave the Panthers a slight advantage, but Joshua Davis' basket with two seconds remaining knotted the game at 60 and sent it into the first overtime.
Carver led by as many as three points in the first overtime period and had a two point advantage with 13.6 seconds remaining. With time running out, CAU Glyndelle Poole's put back extended the game into double-overtime. The Panthers could not find any consistency in the second overtime as they once again faced a three-point deficit. Carver's Joe Comer knocked down two critical free throws with 23 seconds on the clock that lifted the Cougars by two points. Once again CAU's last minute heroics this time by Joye pushed the game into a third overtime period as his fade away jumper found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded.
It was a different scenerio in the final overtime period as the Panthers showed much more poise behind the hot shooting of freshman guard James Arnold whose three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining gave CAU a 92-88 advantage and sealed its first win.
Arnold finished with a season-high 20 points and six rebounds followed by Poole and Kevin James who chipped in 15 and 12 points respectively. Off the bench, Dwayne Bingham recorded his first double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Comer topped the Cougars with a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds.
Next, the Panthers (1-6) will travel to face Shorter University Dec. 29th, before entering conference play Jan. 3rd, against LeMoyne Owen College at 8 p.m.
