DENVER—Chase Hallam missed a potential game-winning shot when his short running jumper in the lane banged off the backboard as the buzzer sounded.
That proved to be his last miss of the night.
Hallam scored 10 of his 22 points in overtime, connecting on five free throws and both of his shots from the field, including a 3-pointer, and Denver went on to beat Florida International 79-70 on Saturday.
“I thought I had the game-winner, and since I didn’t hit that, I had to make up for it,” Hallam said, breaking into a smile.
To be sure, he had plenty of help.
Chris Udofia added a career-high 21 points, including a pair of crucial overtime layups, helping Denver (9-9, 5-0 Sun Belt) outscore Florida International 14-5 in the extra period. Brian Stafford added 15 points and Travis Hallam had 12 in Denver’s seventh consecutive victory overall.
Udofia also had 12 rebounds and Hallam grabbed 10 boards, giving each a double-double. It was the first time Denver had two players with double-doubles in a game since Jan. 28, 2006, when Yemi Nicholson and DaShawn Walker pulled it off against Troy.
“Two double-doubles at the University of Denver, that doesn’t happen too often,” Denver coach Joe Scott said. “The thing about Chase was he was really good in the overtime. Chris was really good the entire time he was out there. Obviously, I like where we’re at right now and it’s something we can continue to build off.”
Phil Gary led Florida International (8-9, 3-2) with 22 points.
Gary’s layup pulled the Panthers within 64-63 with 25.2 seconds remaining. Stafford made one of two free throws before Eric Frederick, off a feed from Gary, put in a layup to tie it at 65 with 7 seconds remaining. Hallam then drove the lane as time ran down but his shot hit the backboard too hard and bounced away, sending the game into overtime.
But it was nearly all Denver from that point on.
“I think our team kind of ran out of gas,” Florida International coach Isiah Thomas said. “You’ve got to give Denver credit for doing some good things and we made a couple of mistakes defensively.
“It’s disappointing simply because the things we needed to do to win the basketball game we were able to do, with the exception of making free throws. Any time you go 20 of 36 from the foul line, you’re not going to win games. That was the deciding factor.”
