Behind the force of a thunderous alley-oop, the Wilmington College men's basketball team rode the ripple effects to the Third Round of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament with the 91-62 victory over Ohio Northern Tuesday.

With the Fightin' Quakers holding a one-point lead, junior Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) took a lob from junior Taylor Wellman (Norwood, OH/Norwood) and slammed it home over an unsuspecting Ohio Northern player. As the crowd erupted and stay whipped in a frenzy, WC scored 16 of the next 20 points to open up a 13-point lead. Wilmington's run finally concluded at 30-12 as the home team took a 19-point advantage into the half.

"It was a really inspiring play," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "I thought we had a bunch of inspiring plays on both ends of the court. The thing I like most about our game tonight was how we shared the basketball. We kept it moving; 19 assists is a fantastic number. If we can do that we have a chance to be real special in this tournament."

Twelve different players recorded an assist as Wilmington shot 63.8 percent from the field, including an astonishing 70.4 percent in the first half. Freshman Tre Stennett (Mount Vernon, OH/Westerville Central) dished out a team-high four assists, while Heard added three.

While it was Heard that provided the jumpstart to the run, junior Jordan Berlin (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) provided the substance. He connected on all four of his three-pointers during the aforementioned run and finished with a career-high tying 22 points.

"It's nice to have another weapon," said Hunt. "We know Jordan can shoot the basketball; he hasn't shot it great, but we watch him in practice hitting four, five, six in a row on a daily basis. It doesn't surprise me that Jordan put up big numbers."

Senior Brandon Candella (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Heard finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Wilmington (14-12) travels to Marietta, the second seed in the tournament, 7:30 p.m. Thursday.