A moment of relief turned into a sluggish finish as the Riverland men’s basketball team lost to Minnesota West 89-77 in overtime in Riverland Gym Saturday.

RCC’s A.J. Kortz hit a 23-foot three-pointer from the left wing to force overtime with eight seconds left of regulation, but the Blue Devils (5-12 overall, 0-3 MCAC) would only hit one more field goal in an extra period that was dominated by Minnesota West (5-10 overall, 1-2 MCAC).

“We stopped running any one of our sets (in OT),” RCC head coach Dan Swift said. “We had a lot of one on one and then when we didn’t get a foul, there was one of our guys there and three of there’s so it was one and done.”

RCC’s Danny DeWitz, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, scored on a drive to the hoop to make it 78-77 Blue Jays with 3:52 left in the game but that was the last time the Blue Devils scored as West hit 9-of-10 free throws in the extra session.

“Our offense gets stagnant at times and we’ve got to work to create shots,” Swift said.

Kortz’s game-tying three in regulation came shortly after Jason Simmons hit two free throws to make it 75-72 with 33 seconds left. West’s Dan Stryzinski missed the front end of a one-and-one to set up Kortz’s bomb.

In regulation, RCC blew two big leads as they led 47-36 with 17 minutes left in the first half. West mounted a 13-2 run that lasted just over two minutes to erase that lead.

“When we started running in transition. That’s our game. One, two, three passes and a quick look,” Swift said. “But for about two minutes we didn’t play with that intensity and that let them back in it.”

The Blue Devils rattled off eight straight points on three-pointers by Derek Hahn and Jesse Hogin to take a 58-51 lead with 10:06 left in regulation, but once again, the Blue Jays responded with a run of their own, scoring 10 straight.

RCC’s biggest problem was ball control as it had 25 turnovers on the night.

“There were some passes where their defender is standing right in between the guy they’re trying to throw it to and they don’t recognize that’s not the pass to make,” Swift said.

West 34 41 14 — 89

Riverland 40 35 2 — 77

Riverland scoring: Danny DeWitz, 17; Jason Simmons, 14; A.J. Kortz, 13; Chris Moragne, 9; Derek Hahn, 9; Spencer Monson, 6; Jesse Hogin, 6; Brian Voigt, 3; field goals: 40 percent (26-for-64); three-pointers: 30 percent (7-for-23); free throws: 69 percent (20-for-36); rebounds: 36 (Moragne, 10); turnovers: 25

West scoring: Dan Stryzinski, 21; Cory Lesnar, 19; Aaron Delany, 16; Jordan Buddenhagen, 11; Stevie Statz, 9; Josh VanDuyn, 4; John Jones, 4; Devon Harrell, 3; Bailey Ellison, 2; field goals: 42 percent (30-for-71); three-pointers: 18 percent (2-for-11); free throws: 90 percent (27-for-30); rebounds: 43 (Lesnar, 11); turnovers: 18