Sophomore center Calvin Kapral goes up for a shot during Friday’s NCAA Tournament regional first round game at the WashU Field House. (Photo: Primo Greenway)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	OT	Final
Wisconsin Lutheran (24-5)	30	30	8	68
WashU (19-7)	35	25	11	71

Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer

CLAYTON, MO — The Washington University men’s basketball team outlasted Wisconsin Lutheran in a 71-68 overtime thriller, Friday night, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Regionals at the WashU Field House.

The Bears outscored the Warriors 11-8 in overtime, with the deciding points coming on free throws by junior Hayden Doyle.

WashU led by as many as 13 points midway through the second half, but saw its lead dwindle to two points with six minutes to play, before Wisconsin Lutheran tied the score with four and a half minutes to go.

The Bears regained the lead on a three-pointer by Kyle Beedon at the four minute mark and held that lead until Wisconsin Lutheran’s Jacob Stoltz hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left that sent the game into overtime.

In overtime, the game went back-and-forth, before WashU’s Emmett Lawton made a jumper with 46 seconds left that gave the Bears the lead for good at 67-65. The Warriors had two chances to tie the score or potentially take the lead, but they missed a shot and a pair of free throws, which gave WashU the ball back with less than 20 seconds to go.

The visitors were forced to foul Doyle, who made two free throws to put the Bears up by four. Stoltz hit another huge three with nine seconds to go to pull Wisconsin Lutheran within a point.

But with almost no time left on the clock, the Warriors were forced to foul Doyle again. He made both free throws again to put the Bears up by three.

Wisconsin Lutheran could have tied the game with a three, but WashU never let them get into position to attempt that final three. So the clock ran out with the Bears ahead in a highly contested NCAA Tournament first round game.

Beedon led the Bears with 17 points, which included five three-pointers. Teammate Calvin Kapral also scored 17 points. He also added six rebounds and four blocked shots.

Doyle had 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists, but he also had six turnovers and only made three of the 14 shots he took. Sophomore Yogi Oliff scored five points, dished out five assists, and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

Wisconsin Lutheran’s Stoltz led all scorers with 24 points.

Friday’s win lifted WashU’s season record to 19-7 and helped the team advance to the tournament second round and regional finals, which will be played Saturday night at the WashU Field House.

The Bears will host Illinois College, which won the evening’s other game, 59-57, on a last-second buzzer beater against Dubuque.

Illinois College is 24-4 on the season and earned its bid into the NCAA Tournament by winning the Midwest Conference championship.

Tip off for Saturday’s regional final is set for 6:50 p.m.

Wisconsin Lutheran 68

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
02	Stoltz,Jacob	*	42	10-20	3-9	1-4	1-7	8	3	1	1	1	1	24
20	Goetz,Grayson	*	45	6-17	0-3	0-2	1-5	6	4	5	3	1	2	12
04	Vos,AJ	*	37	5-11	1-5	0-0	1-10	11	4	0	0	2	1	11
01	Hefle,Jacob	*	35	3-8	3-8	0-0	0-6	6	1	0	0	0	2	9
33	Broeckel,Ryan	*	45	2-13	0-3	3-8	7-2	9	4	1	2	1	2	7
03	Hill,Dom		12	1-3	1-1	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	2	0	0	3
34	Lubbers,Ben		9	1-1	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	1	0	0	2
21	Luebke,Nathaniel		0+	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	225	28-73	8-29	4-14	10-32	42	17	7	9	5	8	68

WashU 71

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
24	Beedon, Kyle	*	36	6-10	5-8	0-0	1-4	5	2	2	2	1	1	17
34	Kapral, Calvin	*	27	6-11	0-0	5-7	4-2	6	5	0	1	4	0	17
04	Doyle, Hayden	*	39	3-14	2-7	5-8	0-4	4	0	4	6	0	1	13
32	Grudzinski, Will	*	37	2-11	1-6	3-4	0-8	8	0	2	2	0	0	8
10	Oliff, Yogi	*	29	2-9	1-3	0-0	4-12	16	5	5	1	0	0	5
22	Lawton, Emmett		22	3-6	0-2	0-0	2-4	6	0	1	0	0	2	6
11	Cohen, Ryan		9	1-3	1-2	0-0	0-1	1	0	1	0	0	0	3
15	Davis, Jake		18	1-3	0-1	0-1	2-2	4	2	0	1	1	0	2
25	Chiphe, Jabari		8	0-3	0-1	0-0	2-1	3	2	0	1	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
	Totals	–	225	24-70	10-30	13-20	15-38	53	16	15	16	6	4	71

2023-24 WashU Bears Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location
March 2, 2024	6:50 p.m.	Home	Illinois College	WashU Field House