EXPRESS BATTLE BACK TO TOP FIGHTING TIGERS

EXPRESS BATTLE BACK TO TOP FIGHTING TIGERS

COBLESKILL, N.Y. – The Wells College men's basketball team battled back from a 19-point second half deficit to top the SUNY Cobleskill Fighting Tigers 56-53 on Saturday afternoon at Iorio Gymnasium in Cobleskill, N.Y. With the victory the Express improve to 8-11 (5-4 NEAC), while the Fighting Tigers fall to 1-17 (1-7 NEAC).

Dave Foltz (Auburn, N.Y.) led all scorers with a game high 23 points to go along with six rebounds and six steals, while EJ Taylor (Tampa Bay, Fla.) added 15 points and six rebounds to pace the Express.

Trailing 36-17 early in the second half, the Express defense would hold the Fighting Tigers to just six points over a span of 15-minutes. Five straight points by Andre Sawyers (Bronx, N.Y.) trimmed the lead to 14 (36-22) with 16:46 to play. The Express continued to stay hot from the floor, buckets by Corey Lewis (Plattsburg, N.Y.) and Foltz along with a lay-up from Taylor and a jumper by Sawyers cut the lead to eight (38-30) with 11:07 to play.

Cobleskill extended their lead back to 12 with 8:25 to go but, two free throws by Terry Harrison (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and three straight 3-pointers, including back-to-back treys from Foltz, gave Wells their first lead of the game (45-44) since a 5-3 lead early in the first half.

Both teams squared up at 50-50 with 1:01 to play, but Harrison finished a lay-up and Taylor hit two free throws to take a 54-50 lead with 19-seconds to play. Brendan Doherty hit a 3-pointer to pull Cobleskill within one (54-53) but, the Fighting Tigers fouled Taylor on the ensuing inbounds and he hit both free-throws with six seconds remaining to seal the victory for Wells.

Doherty led the Fighting Tigers with 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists while Tarik Payton added 12 points for Cobleskill.

After shooting 22.2 percent from the floor in the first half, including 0-11 from behind the arc, the Express responded in the second shooting 45.8 percent from the field while finishing 14-18 from the foul line.

It was truly a tail of two halves as Cobleskill shot 41.2 percent from the floor in the first half but would come out flat in the second shooting just 29.2 percent (7-24).

Wells will look to carry their momentum into tomorrow's game against NEAC rival SUNY IT at 1 p.m. in Utica, N.Y., while the Fighting Tigers will look to bounce back against NEAC opponent Keuka College at 12 p.m. in Cobleskill, N.Y.