Valdosta State guard Sidney Harris (2) has a shot blocked by a Christian Brothers defender during the first half of Saturday night’s game in Valdosta. The Blazers fell 80-79 in overtime.

The Valdosta State men’s basketball team fell in dramatic fashion Saturday night, falling to the Christian Brothers Buccaneers 80-79 in overtime.

The Blazers overcame three double-digit deficits to force the game into the overtime session, which saw both teams go back-and-forth, exchanging blows like two heavyweight boxers.

With VSU trailing by two points with less than a second remaining, Josh Sparks stood at the free throw line with a chance to send the game into a second overtime period. The junior forward needed to make back-to-back free throws. Sparks drilled the first attempt, but left the second free throw short.

Following the miss, the remaining 0.5 seconds ran off the clock, which sent several Buccaneer players into celebration, while several Blazers fell to the floor.

“We played really hard and really well tonight,” Valdosta State head coach Mike Helfer said. “We just didn’t get a critical stop here and there, and we just missed a few easy ones. Christian Brothers played a great game and they deserved to win, but if we would have won, then we deserved to win. It was just a game between two great basketball teams.”

Tristan Steele led the way for the Blazers, recording 28 points on the night, 26 of which came in the second half and overtime session. Sidney Harris added 16 points in the loss.

“I was very proud of the way (Tristan) played,” Helfer said. “He made some shots and you kind of expect that out of a senior guard that has been around this league a little bit.”

For Christian Brothers, five players scored in double figures, with Scott Dennis leading the way with 22 points.

VSU’s third and final comeback of the night was started late in the fourth quarter, with the Blazers trailing 67-57. Harris started the run by converting a free throw. Harris followed that up with a fast break layup. Steele then drilled a 3-pointer, which came off a Sparks steal, to cut the deficit back down to four, 67-63.

Following a Christian Brothers basket, the Blazers kept the comeback going, using a Harris layup to cut the score to 69-65. From there, Sparks forced another Buccaneer turnover, which led to a Michael Panaggio layup, making the score 69-67 with 35 seconds to play.

Coming out of a timeout with 17.5 seconds remaining, the Blazers put the ball back into Steele’s hands. The senior guard made it count, scoring the game-tying basket with 7.5 seconds remaining.

Following Steele’s basket, the Blazer defense was suffocating, forcing a turnover and pushing the game into overtime.

“It has just been the nature of my teams over the years, that we scrap and claw until the very end,” Helfer said. “And, our guys did that tonight. I was very proud of our kids’ effort.”

In the overtime session, the two teams exchanged baskets across the opening minutes. With the score tied at 74-74, the Buccaneers regained the lead using a Michael Drake 3-pointer. From there, Will Alston nailed back-to-back free throws to bring the Blazers within one-point, 77-76.

Christian Brothers re-extended the lead back to three points behind two free throws from Harry Green, but the Blazers didn’t panic, using two more Alston free throws to bring the game back to one, 79-78, with 11.1 seconds remaining. Christian Brothers added to its lead with a free throw from Dennis, which led to Sparks’ final chance with less than a second remaining.

Valdosta State finished the night shooting 46 percent from the floor, while Christian Brothers finished the night shooting 50 percent. In the overtime session, the Blazers were just 1 of 6 from the floor, but were 8 of 10 from the charity stripe.

The Blazers led early in the game, claiming a 6-5 lead behind back-to-back layups from Sparks. From there, CBU used a commanding 10-0 run to build a 15-6 lead with 12:56 to play.

Despite the run by the Buccaneers, the Blazers refused to go away, using a 12-4 run to bring the deficit to one, 19-18.

On the following possession, the Blazers regained the lead off a Jacquan Nobles 3-pointer, which made the score 21-19. Following Nobles’ long ball, the two teams swapped the lead on the following three consecutive possessions.

After Christian Brothers extended its lead to 26-23, Panaggio knotted the game back up with a 3-pointer. Following VSU’s equalizer, Christian Brothers finished the half on a 6-0 run, to claim a 32-26 advantage.

In the opening half, fouls were hard to come by, as each team was charged with just one foul team foul.

“Our guys are starting to understand that we can be a good team,” Helfer said. “We have our inefficiencies, but we have to overcome them.”

Christian Brothers came out strong in the second half, building another double-digit lead. The Buccaneers’ hot shooting in the minutes following halftime sprouted them a 48-36 lead. Much like the first half, the Blazers refused to go away, using an 11-5 run to close within a single possession. Steele led the charge for VSU, recording five of the Blazer points.

After back-to-back free throws by CBU, Steele was back at it again, nailing a wide-open 3-pointer, which brought the score to 52-50 with 9:34 remaining.

Christian Brothers re-built a double-digit lead, using a Michael Drake 3-pointer with 3:17 remaining to take a 67-57 lead.

From there, the Blazers started their third and final comeback.