FRANKLIN, Mass. – November 23, 2021 – Dean College senior Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) hit a jumper with 1.8 seconds left in overtime to propel the Bulldogs to a 77-75 victory over Worcester State Tuesday evening.

Dean improves to 5-1. The Bulldogs begin Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Dec. 1 at Regis. Worcester State drops to 3-4. The Lancers host Rhode Island College on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Two Sampeck free throws with a minute left in overtime, after a technical foul was issued to the Lancers, put the Bulldogs on top 75-69. Worcester State came back to tie the score with a pair of free throws by Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) and four points from Marcus McCarthy (East Providence, R.I.) with 11 seconds to play. Dean took the ball down into the offensive end where Sampeck found space at the elbow and knocked down the eventual game-winner. The Lancers had a tough look at a trey at the buzzer, but senior Traijan Powell (Sierra Vista, Ariz.) made a defensive stop.

Sampeck finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-14 shooting. Junior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) just missed a double-double with 20 points on 10-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Powell added 13 points, while senior Winston Bryan (Greensboro, N.C.) chipped in with 10.

Worcester State was led by McCarthy who poured in 20 points in nearly 39 minutes off the bench. Junior Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.) scored 18 points and added four assists. Chris Cardoso (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) notched his 1000th career point and finished with 13 in the game.

The Bulldogs opened the game on a 20-3 scoring run in the first 7+ minutes of action. The visitors slowly chipped away, eventually cutting the deficit to four with a Dion trey at 1:39, but a Blair jumper and a Powell three-pointer sent the Bulldogs to halftime on top 38-29. Blair was 6-6 for 12 points in the first 20 minutes.

Late in the second half, Powell made his third three-pointer of the game to put Dean in front, 63-54, with 6:04 on the clock. Dion and Cardoso then took over for the Lancers, bringing them all the way back to a 64-64 tie with 1:38 to play in regulation. Neither team could find the bottom of the bucket the rest of the way, sending the game into overtime.

Dean shot 50.8% from the floor and held Worcester State to 36.5% shooting.