Last-Second Basket Lifts Men's Basketball To Road Victory

The Wells College men's basketball team came back from a 13-point second-half deficit and won 74-72 in non-conference action Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 18 at Alfred State. Chris Courtney's basket with six-tenths of a second left was the game-winner for Wells, which improved its record to 9-4 on the season. Alfred State is 6-9.

Wells trailed 42-31 at halftime and Alfred State maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the first eight minutes of the second half.

The Express increased its defensive efforts and went on a 10-1 run to get within a single possession. During the stretch, Wells held Alfred State scoreless for a span of four minutes.

After a 3-point basket by Chris Courtney with 8:53 left, Wells trailed 57-54. Another 3 from Courtney later in the half pulled Wells to within 60-59, and a layup and free throw by Rich Ross gave the Express its first lead of the second half at 62-60 with 5:31 remaining.

The teams exchanged the lead four times over the last four minutes, with a 3-pointer from Ross and back-to-back free throws by Courtney giving Wells a 72-69 advantage in the final minute. Alfred State responded with a game-tying 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds remaining. On the next Wells possession, Anthony Nesci penetrated the defense and kicked a pass to Courtney for a 16-foot jumper near the foul line with six-tenths of a second left for the winning basket.

Ross scored 31 points to lead Wells and added 10 rebounds. It was the fourth game this year that Ross has scored 30 points or more and his third double-double of the year. Courtney scored 20 points. The duo did most of its damage in the second half, where Ross had 21 and Courtney scored 15. Nesci had six assists, including the setup on the game-winning basket. James Feocco had three steals.

Wells returns to North Eastern Athletic Conference action this weekend with road games Saturday at Penn State-Abington and Sunday at Bryn Athyn College.