After letting an early lead slip away, Southland found itself down by six points with under three minutes to play. After a courageous comeback that set the tone for the rest of the game, the Rebel boys' basketball team finally came out on top -- two overtimes later -- by a count of 68-66.

Faced with the six-point deficit, Southland switched to man-to-man defense. This move paid off as they were able to get some stops and erase the Chatfield lead. They even had a chance to win with 12 seconds left, but a pass to the interior was stolen, sending both teams into extra time.

As a first overtime stretched into a second, the Rebels looked to be in trouble, losing starters Adam Nagele and Tim Schneider to fouls. That just meant that it was time for point guard Steve Snyder to step up. He nailed two treys, but his biggest play came just as it looked like the game might drag on for another period. With only three seconds remaining, Snyder was fouled and sent to the line, where he responded by hitting both to clinch it for the Rebels.

"We didn't play very well in a lot of areas," said Southland head coach Greg Storey, "but we did make up for it by shooting well."

Southland was 9-17 from three-point range, rebounding from a 2-23 three-point performance last Thursday in a loss to Kingsland.

Chatfield was led by 27 points from Cole DeLaura in a losing cause.

Southland got 15 points from Nagele before he fouled out, as well as 14 apiece from Snyder and Dan Bakker.

The Rebels improve to 12-10 overall and 8-8 in Three Rivers Conference play. They will meet St. Charles, the second-ranked team in Class AA, in their final conference game Friday night in Adams.

Boxscore:

Southland13141114412--68

Chatfield8171512410--66

SOUTHLAND (68) -- Steve Snyder 14, Adam Nagele 15, Tim Schneider 8, Dan Bakker 14, Greg Retterath 7, Scott Gilles 7, Chad Wilson 3.