JOLIET, Ill. – With a trip to the CCAC championship game on the line, the Olivet Nazarene University men's basketball let a double-digit lead slip away late to fall 72-69 to top-seeded St. Francis (Ill.) in the CCAC Tournament Semifinal Thursday evening.

The semifinal loss snaps a six-game win streak and eliminates the Tigers from the CCAC Tournament. St. Francis will move on to host Governors State in the conference title game Saturday.

The Tigers shook off a slow start and got themselves back into the game behind the marksmanship of freshman guard Tyler Curl, who was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and at the free-throw line in scoring 12 first-half points. And when he knocked down back-to-back triples with a minute remaining in the opening period, ONU led by double figures at 36-26.

The Fighting Saints (24-5) closed the first with three free throws and opened the second with a layup to knock the ONU lead to five. But three consecutive baskets from Eli Edwards sparked a 10-5 scoring stretch, capped off by a breakaway dunk from Daniel Murphy, put the Tigers back up by double digits.

A pair of Caleb Corro free throws maintained the 10-point lead at 50-40 with 13:42 remaining, but the Tigers started to lose their rhythm when USF found its shooting touch. After Edwards scored a layup to make it 52-45, ONU would go ice cold from the floor, suffering a nearly seven-minute scoring drought.

This allowed the Fighting Saints to come roaring back, piecing together an 8-0 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes. Tyler Curl snapped the drought with a layup to put the Tigers back in front 54-53, but that was the last lead ONU would grab as USF quickly reclaimed it and ran away with the game.

Edwards led the Tigers with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also brought down a team-high eight rebounds. Curl finished with 18 points. Caleb Corro had a dozen. Andrew Bennett led the bench unit with nine points.

The Tigers finish the season with a 16-14 overall record.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu