PRESCOTT, Ariz. – It took 10 extra minutes of basketball for the Yavapai College men's basketball team to taste victory on Wednesday night as the Roughriders defeated the South Mountain Community College Cougars 94-89 in double overtime to improve to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play on the season. 

In addition, with their seventh win of the season on Wednesday night, the Roughriders have already matched last year's win total in 2023-24 in just 12 games played. 

"We showed great fight tonight," Head Coach Kevon Davis said. "Our ability to stick together paid off for us in the second half and overtime periods."

While the latter moments of Wednesday night's contest went the way of the Roughriders, the first half was one to forget for YC as it found itself in a 21-7 deficit with just under 10 to play and eventually went into the locker room at halftime with a 14-point deficit at 39-25. 

In fact, South Mountain held a double-digit lead for a majority of the second half while the Roughriders struggled to find their footing on the comeback trail. 

With just over nine minutes left to play, freshman guard Nadir Myers nailed a three-pointer to trim the deficit to single digits at 53-46 in favor of South Mountain. Two minutes later, Myers was at it once more, this time hitting another shot from downtown to cut the South Mountain lead to 57-52 with six and a half minutes left to play. 

After Myers cut the deficit to five, YC kept within striking distance and trailed by six or less points until the final minute of the game. 

With drama building in the air, YC took over possession with 30 seconds left to play while trailing by two. That's when sophomore guard Ray Glasgow drove to the basket and got his shot to fall to tie things up at 70-70 with 20 seconds to go, YC's first time not trailing since the first five minutes of the contest. 

The teams each made singular free throws on their respective possessions and YC found itself with possession with 6.6 left to play in regulation. Despite the advantage, YC missed the potential game-winning shot and sent the contest into overtime, giving the home fans free basketball. 

Halfway into the first overtime period, YC and SMCC were tied at 74-74 with the Roughriders inbounding the basketball while the shot clock had just two seconds left on it. That's all freshman guard Isaac Gonzalez needed as he caught the inbounds pass and buried a clutch three-pointer to give YC the advantage. 

Gonzalez's three, coupled with some clutch free throws from Glasgow down the stretch, appeared to be the fuel needed to propel the Roughriders to victory, however, South Mountain knocked down a three-pointer as time expired in the first overtime period to tie the game at 81-81 and send wild affair into a second overtime period. 

Back to even for the third time on the night, YC would not waste another opportunity and scored the first seven points of double overtime to take a commanding 88-81 lead. From there, the Roughriders knocked down six of their next eight free-throw attempts to clinch the 94-89 victory in thrilling fashion. 

Glasgow, who seemingly scored at will in the closing minutes, led all YC scorers with 34 while sophomore guard Tym Richardson had 21, Myers had 14 and Gonzalez finished with 12. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Friday at home where they will take on the Arizona Western College Matadors with gametime set for 7:30 p.m.