Men's Basketball Wins MVC Opener on Buzzer Beater

Photo Taken by Emily Garver

Men’s basketball won its first Missouri Valley Conference game 99-97 in dramatic fashion against the Illinois State Redbirds.  

The Curb Event Center was electric as the Bruins had possession with nine seconds left in overtime.  

Graduate guard Carter Whitt got the ball, dribbled around trying to find an open shot and threw up a fadeaway shot as the buzzer went off.  

The shot went in, leaving Illinois State stunned.  

Both teams started the game with momentum, running up and down the court in a head-to-head matchup for most of the first half.  

The Bruins made nine shots in a row and ended the first half with 8 three pointers.  

Belmont began to pull away at the end of the first half with help from Graduate guard Brody Peebles and junior Isaiah Walker.  

The teams went into the locker room with the Bruins leading 54-45.  

Junior Tyler Lundblade opened the second half with a three and ended the game with 15 points.  

The game went back and forth for the rest of the game as Illinois State closed in on the Bruins lead.  

There were 13 ties and 21 lead changes throughout the game.  

The game was tied with just a few seconds left when sophomore Brigham Rogers got fouled. 

Rogers missed both free throws sending the game into overtime.  

Overtime was much like the rest of the game as the teams went shot for shot.  

With overtime running down, Whitt knocked the ball free out of bounds.  

The officials gave Belmont possession, leading to Whitt’s game winning shot.  

“It wasn’t necessarily the shot I wanted to take but with one second left, I had to take it. It came off, it felt good,” said Whitt.  

Junior Isaiah Walker had a career-high 24 points.  

“I just had to make some plays in a row to get us going and thankfully I did that. It brought us back in the game and gave us some momentum because it felt like they had all the momentum at one point,” said Walker.  

Senior Jonathan Pierre had 19 points and nine rebounds.  

Peebles had 14 points and Whitt had a career high eight rebounds. 

Belmont will be back in the Curb on Saturday to play Middle Tennessee at 2:30 p.m.  

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This article was written by Bree Fabbie