Box Score St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC) in a 71-68 overtime thriller on Friday evening in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in the WashU Field House.
 
In addition to the win, junior Hayden Doyle became the 26^th player in men's basketball program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
 
Doyle finished with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists while the Bears were led by 17-point performances from junior Kyle Beedon and sophomore Calvin Kapral. Kapral also had six rebounds and a game-high four blocks while Beedon pulled down five rebounds and had two assists. Sophomore Yogi Oliff pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds and had five assists.
 
WashU started out hot, going on a 10-0 run in the opening two minutes. Doyle started the run with a 3-pointer and sophomore Will Grudzinski followed with another longball. Kapral put in back-to-back layups to make it a 10-0 game for the Bears.
 
The Warriors put their first points on the board at the 16:59 mark with a 3-pointer from Jacob Stoltz.
 
After WLC brought it down to a six-point gap, twice, a three-pointer from Beedon at the 12:16 mark made it a 16-7 game. Another longball from Beedon at 10:45 put the Bears up by double-figures again, 19-9. Beedon continued his hot streak with another shot from distance at the 9:08 mark to put WashU up 22-9.
 
With the Bears up by 10, the Warriors put together an 8-2 run to cut the Bears' lead to 30-26 with 3:30 remaining in the first half. WashU extended the lead back to seven points, twice, and a layup from WLC's Ryan Broeckel sent the Bears into the locker room with a 35-30 edge.
 
A 3-pointer from Stoltz at 17:40 of the second half made it a 3-point game, 36-33, but the Bears went on to score 10-straight for a 13-pointe, 46-33 lead with 13:36 on the clock.
 
Doyle started the run with a jumper and followed it up with a 3-pointer. First-year Jake Davis put in a layup and first-year Ryan Cohen drilled a shot from distance.
 
With the Bears up 11 points, WLC went on a 6-0 run to make it a 51-46 game midway through the half. A jumper from AJ Vos at the 7:34 mark made it a three-point, 53-50 game.
 
The Warriors ultimately tied the game following a six-point run, making it a 56-56 game with 4:36 on the clock.
 
Beedon broke the tie with a 3-pointer, but WLC hit a pair of free throws a minute later. Doyle netted the front end of a pair of free throws with 18 seconds remaining but a jumper from Stolz with 11 second son the clock knotted things up at 60 apiece, forcing the game into overtime.
 
The Warriors took their first lead of the game in the opening minute of overtime with a jumper from Stoltz. Oliff quickly followed with a bucket to tie the game again at 62 with 4:04 on the clock.
 
Stoltz hit a free throw and Grayson Goetz netted a jumper at 2:28 to make it a 65-62 game.
 
Coming out of a timeout, Beedon drilled a longball to tie things at 65 with 1:57 remaining. First-year Emmett Lawton hit the go-ahead basket with 46 seconds and Doyle converted a pair of free throws to put the Bears ahead 69-65 with 15 seconds remaining.
 
Stoltz hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game but Doyle closed out the game with a pair of free throws to hold onto the 71-68 win.
 
The Bears out-rebounded WLC 53-42, shot 24-for-70 (34.3%) with a 10-30 (33.3%) mark from 3-point range.
 
WashU takes on Illinois College tomorrow at 6:50 p.m. in the second round of the tournament.