DIVISION III-AA ROUNDUP : Free Throw in Overtime Gives Troy the Edge Over Savanna

Jim Faletta’s free throw with 36 seconds left in overtime proved the difference Tuesday night as visiting Troy edged Savanna, 65-64, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Division III-AA playoffs.

Faletta hit the front end of a one-and-one situation but missed the second. Savanna’s Jeremy Lyche missed from underneath--the Rebels’ last shot of their season--with five seconds left.

Troy (11-14), which has saved its best basketball for the playoffs, Friday night will play Ganesha, which beat MiraCosta.

“Was that a great game or what?” Troy Coach T.J. Hardeman asked rhetorically. “We got untracked after Sunny Hills beat us by nine thousand points. We went to hard-nosed, straight man-to-man defense, and they really responded.”

Troy took the game’s biggest lead at 56-50 with 4 minutes 44 seconds left to play behind the three-point shooting of guard Chris Inman. Savanna (17-10) came back with nine consecutive points, taking a 59-56 lead on Andy Trumpour’s basket with 1:25 remaining.

Randy Abbott scored off an offensive rebound and followed with a 12-footer from the key with five seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Inman finished with 19 points and Abbott 16 for Troy. Trumpour and Marlon Watson each had 15 points for Savanna.