(WILMINGTON Ohio) – The Wilmington College men's basketball team used a last second three-pointer to send the game to overtime before outlasting the Muskingum University Fighting Muskies in an 87-83 thriller Wednesday night in Hermann Court.
The Quakers earned their second overtime win of the season to move to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).
The game was tied at 7-7 early in the first half with 14:17 remaining. A 9-2 Quakers run ensued that was fueled by five points from Ben Golan to give Wilmington a 16-9 lead. The Muskies would come right back and tie the game at 21-21 with 9:03 left in the first half.
Neither team would take a large advantage as the game was tied 31-31 with just two minutes to go in the half. The Quakers exploded for eight points in the final two minutes to take the momentum and a 39-33 lead into the locker room. The run was started by an old fashioned three-point play from Obed Achirem and a Carson Miles three-pointer before a late Domenic Farley basket capped off the rally.
The Quakers would continue to roll in the second half, extending their lead to 43-33 after buckets from Achirem and Farley early in the half. The Quakers lead would grow to 11 at 50-39 with 16:17 to play. An 11-2 run ensued for Muskingum to cut the lead to two at 52-50 with 12:04 to play. The Quakers would get the lead back to six at 56-50, but the Muskies would explode for a 14-4 rally to take a 64-60 lead with 6:25 remaining in the second half.
Each team would scratch and claw their way through the remainder of the half until it was tied at 73-73 with under a minute left in regulation. The Muskies originally were called for an offensive foul after a missed Quaker three, but upon further review it was overturned and a layup that went in counted and the free throw was good to give Muskingum a 76-73 lead with just 12 seconds to play.
The Quakers were fouled until they went to the line for a one-and-one. Miles missed the free throw and Wilmington was bailed out as the Muskies batted the ball out of bounds to keep possession with the Quakers with three seconds to play. With just half a second to go, the Quakers had one final shot. Off an inbounds pass from Obed Achirem under the basket, he found Rashid Chisholm in the right corner who nailed the three to tie the game at 76-76 and send the game to overtime.
Wilmington used six Jayden Lewis points to take an 82-78 lead in overtime with 1:53 to play. After a three-point play from Muskingum, the lead was cut to 82-81 with 1:34 remaining. The Quakers used a key Muskingum turnover with six seconds left to seal the game at the free throw line and win 87-83.
Notables
- Six Quakers scored in double-digits with Carson Miles leading the way with a season-high 13 points.
- Obed Achirem and Jayden Lewis scored 12 points, Rashid Chisholm scored 11, and Domenic Farley and Matthew Dugue each added 10 for Wilmington.
- Achirem led the team with eight rebounds.
- Miles tied for the game-high with four assists and led the game with four steals.
- Gavin Heimlich blocked a career-high and game-high six shots, while Chisholm blocked four.
- The Quakers shot 44.2% (34-77) from the field and 40.9% (9-22) from the three-point line in the game.
- They had a season-high 10 blocks with all of them coming from Heimlich and Chisholm.
What's Up Next
Wilmington travels to Berea, Ohio to battle the Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets at 2:00 P.M. Saturday afternoon.
