On Monday night, the Mansfield Mountaineers men’s basketball team traveled to Dominican University of New York for a non-conference road clash. The Chargers narrowly escaped with a hard-fought 92-88 overtime victory.

The Ali brothers were the standout performers of the game, scoring a combined total of 48 points. Saraj Ali set a career high with 26 points and grabbed another double-double with ten rebounds. Idris Ali contributed 22 points and five rebounds. Both brothers are Loyalsock graduates.

Manir Waller also had an impressive game, picking up his first double-double of the season by scoring 16 points and earning 13 rebounds on the night. Dominican started strong, taking an early lead of 21-11 on their home court before Mansfield took over with a dominant offensive output of 20-5 over the next eight minutes. This put them in commanding lead of 31-26 with just five minutes remaining in the first half.

At halftime, Dominican held a narrow lead of just one point, but Mansfield owned the momentum after their dominance in the paint with 28 points. The Ali brothers combined to score 19 of these first half points.

The second half was full of close calls as both teams traded leads multiple times before finally settling into a tightly contested battle that ended in overtime at a final score of 92-88 in favor of Mansfield. Saraj Ali scored six out seven crucial points to tie things up at 67 and help secure victory for his teammates.