NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Maurice Commander hit a jump shot with a little under 10 seconds left to tie the game, and Roosevelt pulled away for a 75-68 overtime win over Holy Cross on Wednesday night in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest in Notre Dame, Ind.

Commander played 43 of the possible 45 minutes and finished with 19 points, but 12 of those came in a big second half for the recent transfer. The guard made a pair of free throws right after Holy Cross took its first lead of the second half with 2:21 remaining. He then calmly sank all three free throws with 1:11 left after he was fouled taking a 3-pointer with the Lakers trailing by four. He then capped it off with a strong drive to his right and settled for a mid-range jumper to tie the game.

Chima Nwosu took over the overtime for the Lakers by making all three of his shots and scoring six of his 12 points in the extra session. The junior attacked the rim hard in the overtime and came up with the layup that have Roosevelt (15-7, 12-2 CCAC) the lead for good then gave the Lakers a three-point cushion with another layup. Ayo Ajiboye was the only other Lakers player to score a field goal in overtime as Roosevelt made 4 of 5 from the floor and sank 6 of 8 free throws to secure the win down the stretch.

The Lakers came out with an intense fire defensively in the first half and built a 15-point lead by holding the Saints to just 9 of 24 from the field and 1 of 10 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes. Julio Montes II and Yuri Swinford did most of the early damage on offense, with 22 combined points while the rest of the team scored just nine points on 4 of 14 shooting.

All 12 of Montes' points came in that first half, but the first 20 minutes were just an appetizer for Swinford. The graduate student finished with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting and he made six of his seven free throws in the contest. He added just three rebounds, though, which Roosevelt guards helped offset with an aggression on the boards. Matt Myers didn't score but collected seven rebounds while Montes grabbed six boards, just the second time this season he's had more than three rebounds.

Nwosu, though, dominated the backboards as well with a team-best 10 rebounds, giving him the first double-double of his career. He and the rest of the Roosevelt frontcourt limited Holy Cross to just four offensive rebounds, notably keeping Tommy Snyder – the nation's leading offensive rebound – to just one second chance. The Lakers ended up winning the rebounding battle 37-31 and outscoring the Saints 42-22 on the interior.

The win combined with losses by Governors State and Trinity Christian on Wednesday secured the Lakers a spot in next month's CCAC Tournament. Roosevelt currently holds a one-game edge over a trio of teams for the top seed in the conference and maintains a three-game lead on the race to host at least one tournament game.  

Roosevelt is back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. when it hosts Trinity Christian at the Goodman Center.