EXPRESS FALL IN FINAL MINUTE TO YORK

Saratoga Springs, NY–  The Wells men's basketball team relinquished a 17 point halftime lead falling to York College, 95-92, in the second game of the Skidmore Hilton Garden Inn Invitational on Friday evening at Skidmore. The Express fall to 4-3 on the season while York improves to 3-4. The win marks the 300th victory for York's head coach Ronald St. John.

After trailing 51-34, York came out strong in the second half and would take its first lead of the game, 87-86,  on a three point play from Marcel Esonwune with 3:10 to play.  The Cardinals would extend their lead to 90-86 on a 3-pointer from David Simon with 2:39 left.  Wells was able to tie the game, 90-90, on a pair of free-throws by Darrell Bullock. On the ensuing Cardinal possession, Keith Thornton grabbed an offensive rebound and made the put-back with 19 seconds remaining to give York a 92-90 lead securing the victory.

Wells was led by Juan Paulino, who scored 31 points on 13-for-15 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with four blocks. Bullock had 20 points and nine assists while Greg Jones added 18 points and seven assists for the Express.

Nick Hamilton-Lopez hit eight 3-pointers and scored a game-high 33 points while Esonwune finished with 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead York.  Omari Phillips chipped in with 14 points and Ryan Exum had 13 points to go with nine assists and five steals.

Both teams shot extremely well from beyond the arc with Wells shooting 41.7% and York shooting 47.8% while outscoring the Express in the paint, 52-50.

Wells will take on host Skidmore College in the consolation game on Saturday at 1:00 pm.