Master’s Prevails in 2 Overtimes

Mel Hankinson, basketball coach at The Master’s College, spoke. Forward Emeka Okenwa listened.

Okenwa, a 6-foot-8 junior from Owerri, Nigeria, had just missed a free throw that would have given the Mustangs a victory over Bethany in regulation play of a first-round game of the NAIA District III regional Tuesday night, but Hankinson didn’t let Okenwa get down on himself.

“I told him, ‘That’s fine,’ ” Hankinson said. “We made our run to get back in the game, and now we have them right where we want them.”

Hankinson’s words of encouragement seemed to do the trick. Okenwa led Master’s to a 65-61 victory in double overtime.

The victory was the seventh in a row and the 13th in the last 14 games for the Mustangs (19-9), who will play Westmont in a second-round game at Whittier College at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Okenwa scored nine of his game-high 25 points in the two overtime periods, including four of the Mustangs’ six points in the second overtime.

“They did a great job getting the ball to (Okenwa),” said Bethany Coach John Block, who played in the NBA from 1966-76. “We were able to keep him under control for most of the game, but he is awfully strong.”

David Humphreys (seven points, 10 assists) hit a pair of free throws with five seconds left in the second overtime to ice the victory.

Master’s trailed, 42-32, with 12 minutes 14 seconds left in regulation.

“I’m really proud of the way we came back, “ Hankinson said. “I told the guys afterward that I think it’s good that we were forced to play in this type of game in the first round of the playoffs. If you blow a team out in the first round, you tend to get a false sense of security.”

Master’s, which had defeated Bethany (15-17) twice during the regular season, took a 58-56 lead with one minute left in the first overtime on a pair of free throws by Okenwa.

But Terry Bennett’s three-point shot form the right corner gave the Bruins a 59-58 lead with 52 seconds left.

Rogerio Soares missed a three-point shot for Master’s, but the ball went out of bounds off a Bethany player.

The ball was inbounded to Okenwa and he was fouled with 32 seconds left. Okenwa, who had a game-high 14 rebounds, missed the first free throw but made the second, and when Clint Ladine’s desperation three-point shot was short as time expired, the game went into the second overtime.

Bennett led Bethany with 16 points and District III scoring leader Joe Woods had 14 points before fouling out with 1:07 left in the first overtime.