The Mansfield Mountaineers men’s basketball team faced off against Dominican University of New York in a thrilling non-conference game on Monday night. The Chargers barely escaped with a 92-88 overtime victory, as the Ali brothers combined for 48 points. Saraj Ali set a new career high with 26 points and added ten rebounds to his impressive performance. Idris Ali also scored 22 points and grabbed five rebounds, both of whom are Loyalsock graduates.
The early going was dominated by Dominican, who took an early 21-11 lead on their home court. However, Mansfield made a comeback over the next eight minutes with a dominant offensive output of 20-5 to take the lead at 31-26 with five minutes left in the half. Idris Ali contributed seven points during the run.
At halftime, the Chargers clung to a narrow 36-35 advantage, but Mansfield had momentum after their dominance in the paint, where they scored 28 points. The Ali brothers combined to score 19 of Mansfield’s first half points.
The second half saw another hard-fought battle between the two teams, with six lead changes in the first five minutes. Despite this, Dominican held onto a slight advantage at 52-48 with ten minutes remaining. It wasn’t until Saraj Ali scored six of the next seven points that Mansfield evened up the score at 67 and forced overtime.