After his team surrendered the game-tying basket with 2.3 seconds remaining in overtime, head coach Scott Allen was unsure what to expect in overtime.
But following the game's extra five minutes, he had to be happy.
The Spartans knocked off the Santa Clara Broncos, an NCAA Division 1 school, 108-100 on Tuesday night (Sept. 6) at the 91原创 Events Centre in men's basketball action.
"I was pleasantly surprised with how we played in overtime," Allen said. "We could have gone the other way after that shot."
Santa Clara's Kevin Foster nailed the three-pointer from 15 feet beyond the arc to force the extra session.
"I was really proud of the guys, how we took control of the game and the fifth-year guys really stepped up and made some big buckets at the end."
Calvin Westbrook, with 32 points, and Kyle Coston, with 29 points and 14 rebounds, help the Spartans to their first win of the pre-season.
The Spartans were deadly from beyond the arc in the second half and overtime, hitting eight of their 18 attempts in the final 25 minutes.
Coston (5-for-12) and Westbrook (4-for-6) led the way.
Foster led the Broncos 鈥 the school which NBA player Steve Nash attended in the mid-1990s 鈥 with 23 points.
鈥淚 saw signs of good things to come and some great leadership,鈥 Allen said. 鈥淪ome of the players were really positive today, which was a real big step from last year. Every game we play now, we鈥檙e getting more comfortable. It鈥檚 a hard offence to run but we鈥檝e got the capabilities I think to use it to get back to national stage.鈥
Trinity Western made it to the CIS national championship game, before falling short in the final.