After trailing by 13 points at halftime, the Charger men’s basketball team rebounded with a strong second half to force overtime but ultimately fell 84-73 to Midland Saturday.
The Warriors held the lead for all but a few possessions in the first half, but the Chargers kept the score within single digits through 16 minutes of play. At the five-minute mark, Midland used a 14-3 run to push their lead to double figures and take a 48-35 lead at halftime.
Kyle Boerhave paced the Cliff in the opening 20 minutes with 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and 5-for-5 from the free throw line. The Warriors had three players in double-digits with Bo Sandquist tallying 19 points on five 3-pointers.
BC set the tone at the start of the second half, as they cut the deficit to five with back-to-back treys from Sammy Green followed by a Boerhave dunk. The Chargers tied the game at 55-all off an 8-0 run with two BC triples and a Boerhave 2-point bucket at the 12-minute mark.
Neither team led by more than four points over the remaining 12 minutes, with the score tying four times and the lead changing hands twice. With 13 seconds left, Jake Rueschhoff put the Warriors ahead 69-67 with only 13 seconds remaining. After a BC timeout, Jaden Kleinhesselink came off a Boerhave ball screen to a wide-open lane, tying the game 69-69 with a layup forcing overtime.
Midland outscored BC 15-4 in the overtime period on 2-for-4 shooting and 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The Chargers went cold in the final five minutes, going 1-for-8 from the field and 0-5 from deep.
Boerhave just missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds on 6-for-8 shooting. Kleinhesselink added 17 points, three rebounds and three assists. Conner Groves scored 11 points and grabbed six boards.
Laurence Merritt poured in 29 points to lead the Warriors. Sandquist added 24 points with six 3-pointers and Rueschhoff added 17 points.
The Chargers fall to 6-6 on the season and 4-2 in the GPAC. BC hosts Ottawa next Friday at 3:00 p.m. in the Newman Flanagan Center.
