MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Middle Tennessee men's basketball (22-12) season ended on Tuesday night in the National Invitation Tournament first round against Chattanooga (25-9), 109-103, in triple overtime.

Jestin Porter sent the game to its first media timeout with a game-tying 3-pointer, and Torey Alston pushed MTSU to an 11-9 lead with a basket in the lane after that. Kamari Lands knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, but the Mocs kept it close.

Camryn Weston controlled the Blue Raider offense for the next segment of the game, scoring 14 consecutive points for his team as they took a 31-20 lead midway through the first half.

The Blue Raider offense then ran through Essam Mostafa to end the first half, as he scored 10 points in the final six and a half minutes and MTSU led 48-43 going into the locker room. Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, with Chattanooga pouring in 67% from the field and the Blue Raiders shooting 59%.

The second half got off and running with a Porter 3-pointer, but the Mocs roared back with a 10-0 run to retake the lead. Layups by Porter, Weston and Mostafa put the Blue Raiders on top again, 57-53, and the first five minutes of the second half rolled off the clock.

When the ball was inbounded after the under-12 timeout, the score read 64-64. Chattanooga won the ensuing segment and stretched its lead to a game-high seven until the Blue Raiders fought back in the final minutes. Porter drained another 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one heading into the final media timeout.

With 10.5 seconds left in regulation and the Blue Raiders down two, head coach Nick McDevitt called a timeout. Weston drove the lane, got fouled, and made two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining to knot the game at 84. The Mocs couldn't get a shot off in time, and the game headed to overtime.

In the overtime period, Chattanooga was at the line with 38.1 seconds left and a tie game. The Mocs missed both free throws, and the Blue Raiders ended up with the ball and called a timeout with 12.2 seconds on the clock. Weston's jumper from the left side missed, and double OT began in Murphy Center.

Mostafa knocked in a game-tying 3-pointer with eight seconds left, and the Blue Raiders didn't allow the Mocs to get a shot off in time again, sending the game to a third overtime period.

Chattanooga then outscored MTSU 10-4 in the third overtime to win the game and advance to the second round of the NIT.

By the Numbers
5 – Tuesday's game was the fifth 3OT game in program history.
14 – Mostafa notched his 14^th double-double of the season with 30 points and 16 rebounds.
30 – Mostafa's 30 points ties his career high, which he previously set on March 6 against Liberty.
31 – Weston's 31 points is a new career high.
103 – MTSU broke Chattanooga opponent highs for points allowed (103) as well as field goals made (38) and tied the Mocs opponent high for points in the first quarter with 48.

Blue Raider Notes
A couple of NIT records were broken on Tuesday, including rebounds in a game (Mostafa, 16) and minutes played (Porter, 51; Mostafa, 48; Weston, 45). Weston (31) and Mostafa (30) are now second and third, respectively, in points in a single NIT game as a Blue Raider.

Head Coach Nick McDevitt:
"Congratulations to Coach Earl and his team for moving on in the NIT. What a great college basketball game. I told our team I was really proud of how we played, how hard we played. Our team looked excited to play. So were they. At some point, when it's late, somebody's going to get beat. The margin in a lot of games is thin – that one was razor thin. A call that could've gone this way, a shot that they made. I thought Essam was terrific. I thought Cam Weston was great. Obviously, him fouling out and not being out there down the stretch, when we had run a lot of things with the ball in his hands down the stretch, hurt. It looked like we weren't in the same offensive rhythm that we were before that. It just came down to a couple of plays."