CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Queens men's basketball defeated Mount Olive 89-87 via an overtime thriller Wednesday night in Ovens Athletic Center to secure a share of their first Conference Carolinas regular-season championship since 2002-03.

Leading Limestone (19-5,13-3 Conference Carolinas) by 1.5 games in the standings, the Royals (19-6, 15-2) can clinch the title outright with a home win on Saturday night when the Royals welcome rival Belmont Abbey for Senior Night. Queens defeated the Abbey (13-12, 8-9) 70-66 in their first meeting this season.

The loss muddles the tournament picture for the Trojans (13-12, 8-9), who are now tied with Abbey and Pfeiffer for sixth place in the final days of the season.

Celebrating Fan Appreciation night at The Oven, the Royals gave their fans something to cheer about jumping out to a nine-point lead on a pair of Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) free throws with 11:50 remaining in the half. Continuing to taking an aggressive approach on the offensive end, the Royals were in the penalty with over 10 minutes remaining in the half.

Shooting 51.7 percent, the Trojans rallied back with a15-6 run over the next three minutes – capped by a trifecta of Brandon Allen free throws -- to take their first lead of the game at 28-27.

With the game growing tighter, the Royals began finding their way to the line for easy points, converting 15-of-20 free throws to take a 40-38 lead into halftime.

The game remained close down the stretch with Mount Olive taking the lead near the nine-minute mark. The Trojans built a six-point lead capped by an Ewon Wright layup, but the Royals would not be denied, rallying back to tie the game on a pair of free throws after the Trojans' Derek Staton was called for a technical foul.

The lead changed hands several before Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, N.C., Ashbrook) hit a free throw with 5.4 seconds remaining in the second half to force it to overtime.

Overtime began with a thunderous dunk from Brandon Nichols (Fayetteville, N.C., Jack Britt). With the game knotted at 85, a Brent Evans (Beaufort, S.C., Battery Creek) steal led to Caleb Henderson fouling Hopkins followed by a technical foul by the Mount Olive bench. Hopkins made two-of-four free throws to put the Royals up 87-85. The Trojans answered with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 87 with 15 seconds remaining. After a Queens full time out, Sean Eads (Greenville, S.C., Eastside) took it to the hole, but was unable to finish at the rim. With an assembly of bodies scathing for the rebound, Evans was able to rise up and gather the board for a quick tip in with 4.6 seconds remaining. Without a timeout, the Trojans were unable to diagram a play and were held to a missed desperation shot from 35 feet.

Though picking up the win, the Royals allowed a season-high 87 points on 50-percent shooting (30-60). The Royals made up ground with 18 offensive boards that led to the team hitting 30 of their 41 free throws opposed to the Trojans' eight offensive boards and 19 made free throws.

Looking forward, the Royals are slated for 7:30 tipoff Saturday night; the game will feature a pregame tribute to senior Reggie Hopkins.