Wilmington College' men's basketball team came out on the short end of 79-76 decision at Thomas More College Tuesday (Nov. 25) that saw19 ties or lead changes.

         The Fightin' Quakers held a narrow advantage most of the second half but were unable to pull away as their record fell to 1-3 for the season with the loss while Thomas More captured its second victory against a pair of defeats.

         Senior R.J. Leppert (Liberty Twp./Lakota East) lead Wilmington's offensive effort with 21 points as sophomore Law Williams (Dayton, OH/Thurgood Marshall) netted 14 and senior Jonathan Bibbs (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) came off the bench to add 17 points.

         In the game's waning minutes, Wilmington fought back from a 76-71 deficit — TMC's largest lead of the second half — when senior Dwight Johnson (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) landed a two-pointer with 57 seconds to play. Williams tied the game at 76 with a three-point jumper assisted by Leppert with 13 seconds on the clock.

         But Jalen Clark, Thomas More's leading scorer with 24 points, sealed the victory for the Saints when he hit a three-point shot at the five-second mark. Wilmington set up a play during the subsequent time-out but was unable to extend the match-up when Johnson's three-point attempt at the buzzer missed.

         Wilmington took a 42-40 lead into the locker room at halftime as Leppert scored a dozen and Bibbs 11 to lead the Quakers first half effort. While the Saints shot a blazing 61 percent from the floor, including 22 points in the paint, in the opening half, they committed 10 fouls, upon which WC threw in 12 of 14 attempts from the line.

         In the second half, the Fightin' Quakers took a five-point lead at the 16:10 mark on sophomore John Righter's (Pataskala, OH/Licking Heights) successful three-pointer. Bibb's layup at the 11:57 mark gave WC is largest lead at 57-50, but Thomas more chipped away until they tied the game 62-62 in Clark's three-point shot with 8:39 on the clock.

         Wilmington repeatedly fought back to regain its slight lead but the Saints captured their first lead of the half at 4:31. Leppert's three-pointer briefly returned the lead to WC but TMC went on a six-point run that gave the Saints the advantage until Johnson tied the game 76-76, setting up the final minute of drama on the hard court and Clark's game-winning shot.

         The Fightin' Quakers will return from Thanksgiving break to open its Ohio Athletic Conference campaign Dec. 3 at Capital.