COLUMBIA, S.C. - CIU men's basketball pulled out a nail-biter in their final contest before Thanksgiving break, defeating Bluefield (Va.) 91-88 in overtime on Tuesday. It took a Ram's second-half comeback and heroics from Skyler McKinney to get the win as CIU moves to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC). Bluefield is now 3-4 on the year and 3-2 in the conference. 

The Rams led by as much as 27-13 in the early going and held a 33-27 lead at the break, thanks to 11 first-half points from Darrian Oates. Bluefield came racing back in the second half, taking a 47-46 lead on a triple with 12:06 left to play. The school from Virginia extended that advantage all the way out to 66-54 at the 5:46 mark. CIU hung around, however, outscoring Bluefield 9-1 in the final two minutes of regulation. The scoring run was capped off by a layup from Skyler McKinney, who scored off a well-run out-of-bounds set to tie the game at 76-76 as time expired. Solid free throw shooting from CIU in overtime ultimately pushed the Rams past Bluefield for their third conference win of the season. 

WATCH: Skyler McKinney sends the game into overtime:

Oates led the Rams in scoring with a season-high of 22 on 9-of-15 shooting. McKinney was just as impressive, with 21 points going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Jalen Brinson continues to stuff the stat sheet picking up 16 points, five assists, and four rebounds on the night. The Rams got a sizable contribution from underclassmen Christian Howard with 15 points on 70% shooting with six boards. 

Hear from Head Coach Tony Stockman and Skyler McKinney postgame: 

Up Next: CIU will head to Kingsport, Tenn., to take on Washington Adventist (Md.) at NAIA "The Show" on Friday, Nov. 25, at 2:30 PM.