Yogi Oliff sank two free throws with 1.8 seconds lift to lift WashU to an overtime win, Saturday against Illinois College. (Photo: Primo Greenway)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	OT	Final
Illinois College (24-5)	36	22	9	67
WashU (20-7)	26	32	10	68

Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer

CLAYTON, MO — The Washington University men’s basketball team won a heart-stopping NCAA Tournament second round game and advanced to the Division III Sweet 16, Saturday night, when it knocked off Illinois College, 68-67.

WashU trailed in the final seconds, until sophomore Yogi Oliff was fouled while grabbing an offensive rebound with 1.8 seconds left. The 6-foot-3 guard then stepped to the free throw line and sank both shots to give the Bears the lead.

Illinois College inbounded the ball and attempted a desperation heave, but the shot went wide and WashU was able to walk off the floor with the win.

This is the ninth time WashU has advanced to the D3 Sweet 16. The last time was in 2020, when the entire tournament was halted after the second round due to covid.

This year, the Bears will move on to play Trine University in the third round. That game will be on Friday, March 8 at a site yet to be determined.

Sophomore Calvin Kapral registered a double-double to lead the Bears, netting 18 points and pulling down 10 boards to go with two blocks. Oliff also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while junior Kyle Beedon scored 14 points and pulled down four rebounds. Junior Hayden Doyle scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out a game-high six assists.

The Bears erased a 10-point halftime deficit en route to overtime and the win.

The teams opened the game with balanced scoring as the lead changed 11 times and was tied four times.

The first tie of the game was at the 15:56 mark as an IC layup knotted it at eight points apiece. The Blueboys’ Jake Mazrimas drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to go up 15-8 with 13:46 on the clock. The Bears answered with three-straight 3-pointers, first from first-year Ryan Cohen followed by Beedon and then Kapral for a 17-15 edge midway through the first half.

IC tied things up at 17 and then took a two-point lead, but an Oliff offensive putback tied it again at 19. Sophomore Will Grudzinski followed with a longball to give WashU a 22-19 lead with 7:20 on the clock.

A Jahkeis Tippett steal led to a Josh Harris 3-pointer to tie the game and start an 8-0 IC run to put the Blueboys up 27-22 with 4:23 remaining in the first.

Kapral put in a layup to cut it to three points before the Blueboys went on another 8-0 run to take an 11-point, 35-24 lead with 1:40 left. First-year Jake Davis hit the final WashU bucket of the half to make it a nine-point game and IC’s Harris hit the front end of a pair of free throws to make it a 36-26 game at the half.

Down 12 three minutes into the second half, WashU went on an 8-0 run behind a 3-pointer from Beedon, a layup from Oliff and a longball from Davis, making it a 42-38 game.

The Bears used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 44 with 11:33 on the clock. Kapral hit a pair of free throws, followed by a steal and layup from Oliff and a steal from Doyle to a layup for Oliff.

A 3-pointer from Kapral at the 10:03 mark and a 3-pointer from Davis at 8:18 put the Bears ahead, 50-48, for the first time since the first half.

In the final eight minutes of the second half, the teams exchanged baskets with neither team holding more than a two-point lead. Beedon tied things up at 58 apiece with 33 seconds remaining and the Bears forced an IC turnover with 16 seconds to force overtime.

The Blueboys opened overtime with three-straight points but Beedon quickly tied things up with a 3-pointer to make it 61-61. IC went up again by two following a jumper from Harris but Beedon did it again with another 3-pointer, giving the Bears a 66-65 lead with 30 seconds left on the clock.

With 20 seconds remaining, Harris netted a pair of free throws from the Blueboys.

With 1.8 seconds remaining, Oliff was fouled and converted both free throws. IC tried a long pass to get a quick shot but the Bears defense thwarted those efforts to hang on to the win.

Bears take the lead on Yogi Oliff free throws. 1.8 seconds left. #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/BL01tai8bJ

— Hilltopper: Washington University Basketball Blog (@HilltopperBlog) March 3, 2024

WashU edged the Blueboys 47-43 on the boards and forced 10 IC turnovers.

The Bears finished 100 percent at the free throw line, hitting 6-for-6. They went 25-for-76 (32.9%) and 12-for-36 (33.3%) from 3-point range.

https://twitter.com/WASHUBears/status/1764121884881199216

Illinois College 67

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
04	Harris,Josh	*	41	11-22	4-6	4-6	2-4	6	1	2	3	0	1	30
35	Mazrimas,Jake	*	43	7-21	5-9	0-1	2-10	12	0	1	2	0	1	19
12	Tippett,Jahkeis	*	40	3-7	1-2	0-0	1-1	2	1	1	1	0	2	7
14	Ritzel,Buzz	*	43	2-11	1-5	1-1	2-6	8	1	4	0	1	0	6
05	Daboin,Nestor	*	33	1-2	0-0	0-0	1-6	7	3	0	2	0	0	2
23	Thompson,Matt		11	1-2	0-1	0-0	0-2	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
20	Robinson,Austin		8	0-0	0-0	1-2	1-1	2	1	0	1	0	0	1
40	Doss,Seth		5	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	2	0	1	0	0	0
01	Lenhardt,Ty		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	225	25-65	11-23	6-10	10-33	43	9	8	10	1	4	67

WashU 68

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
34	Kapral, Calvin	*	29	6-16	2-2	4-4	4-6	10	3	0	2	2	0	18
24	Beedon, Kyle	*	34	5-15	4-9	0-0	1-3	4	3	1	1	0	0	14
10	Oliff, Yogi	*	34	4-10	0-3	2-2	6-6	12	1	2	1	0	1	10
04	Doyle, Hayden	*	40	4-14	1-6	0-0	0-5	5	1	6	0	0	3	9
32	Grudzinski, Will	*	36	2-9	2-9	0-0	0-5	5	1	5	2	0	0	6
15	Davis, Jake		15	3-4	2-2	0-0	1-4	5	1	0	1	0	0	8
11	Cohen, Ryan		7	1-3	1-3	0-0	1-1	2	1	1	0	0	1	3
22	Lawton, Emmett		18	0-4	0-2	0-0	0-2	2	2	0	1	0	0	0
25	Chiphe, Jabari		12	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	225	25-76	12-36	6-6	14-33	47	13	16	8	2	5	68

2023-24 WashU Bears Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location
March 8, 2024	6:30 p.m.	Road	Trine University	Angola, Ind.