Men's Basketball Wins Over Defending NEAC Champs

The Wells College men's basketball team came from behind and defeated visiting Lancaster Bible College 74-68 on Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Schwartz Athletic Center. Wells outscored Lancaster Bible 39-28 in the second half to earn the victory and remain tied for first in the North Eastern Athletic Conference North Division.

Wells is 12-6 overall and 9-2 in the NEAC. Lancaster Bible, defending conference champions, fell to 7-10 overall and 7-5 in the conference.

The game featured five lead changes, but just one in the second half. Lancaster Bible led 40-35 at halftime, but Wells scored the first seven points of the second half and never trailed again.

The game was tied 68-68 with under two minutes left, and Rich Ross made a jumper to give the Express a two-point lead. A stop at the defensive end for Wells, and a layup for Vaughndell Brantley as the shot clock expired with 26 seconds left built the advantage to four points. Lancaster Bible missed another field-goal attempt and Rich Ross got the rebound and made two free throws to account for the final score.

Ross led Wells with 31 points. He had a team-best nine rebounds and was 6-for-11 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. Chris Courtney added 19 points.

The Express defense held Lancaster Bible to just 35.5 percent shooting from the field.

Wells continues a stretch of home games Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a NEAC contest against Keuka College.