REDDING, Calif. - The men's team played an absolute classic against La Sierra in a game that can be defined as the tale of two halves.
The score does not do justice to how good of a game the Red Hawks and Golden Eagles played against each other.
Drey Ubas opened the night's scoring by hitting a deep three-pointer on the Red Hawk's second offensive possession.
However, it would be all Golden Eagles in the first half as they outscored Simpson 48-16.
Everything seemed to fall for the Golden Eagles as they shot 62.5% from the floor as a team compared to Simpson's 17.9%.
Simpson defenders could not find any answer for the Golden Eagles shooters as it seemed like they would be in for a long night.
Though it would be a long night of excitement as Simpson would flip the script in the second half.
An Early 7-3 run by the Golden Eagles coming out of the half would see LSU's lead grow to the biggest of the night at 36 points.
But Simpson would fight and scratch its way back into the game.
Akin Branco was a key contributor off the bench as he provided a spark for the Red Hawks offense.
With just over ten minutes left the Red Hawks faced a 28-point deficit.
A layup by Branco would ignite a crazy 44-12 Red Hawk run that started with a 15-0 run capped off by a three-pointer by
Trey Conrad.
Simpson shooters could do no wrong in the second half as they shot 46.3% from the floor and 45.5% from beyond the arc as a team.
Dre Ubas led the way in crunch time as he nailed four straight three-pointers within two minutes of play.
With less than thirty seconds Branco recovered a big defensive rebound that allowed Simpson to have one more shot at tying the game.
Ubas, who had the hot hand was given the opportunity to tie the game.
A huge shooting foul committed by LSU on Ubas's three-point shot allowed him to go to the line with the game on the line.
Ubas would drill all three free throws to tie the game at 71 and erase the 36-point deficit with 0.5 seconds remaining.
Simpson's defense showed grit as they forced 11 second-half turnovers and then flipped them for 23 points of its own.
Kevin Robello put the first points on the board for Simpson as he hit a big three-pointer to spoil a 5-0 LSU run to start the overtime period.
Conrad was a big part of the Red Hawks offense in the overtime period as he provided big layups and timely jumpers to keep Simpson within striking distance.
Down 87-89 with under thirty seconds of play set up a thrilling finish that put Simpson in a prime spot to complete the historic comeback.
But a big foul and technical foul committed by Simpson helped aid LSU in icing the game at 91-87.
The pendulum seemed to have swayed again but the Red Hawks found themselves on the wrong side of timely shooting.
Nevertheless, this was a game for the ages as the Red Hawks never gave up and showed a lot of heart as they battled back.
Ubas was the sharpshooter on the perimeter as he led the team with 21 points while shooting 6-13 from the floor and 6-10 from beyond the arc.
Conrad had quite the night as he followed close behind with 20 points to go along with eight rebounds.
Branco, played solid off the bench as he registered 18 points and three steals.
Robello would round out the double-digit scorers as he posted 15 points and three assists.
Garrett Steeufert provided the muscle in the paint as he recorded a team high 11 rebounds to go along with four assists.
Simpson will look to carry the second-half momentum into its next game as they hit the road on Wednesday to play Pacific Union College at 7:30 PM.
