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| St. Vincent had little answer for Quincy Jones, who shot 8-for-13 from the floor on his way to 18 points. Westminster (Pa.) athletics photo by Alex DiVitto |
Westminster (Pa.) handed St. Vincent its first loss of the season, Randolph-Macon survived on the road, Mass-Boston won on a miraculous finish and it’s a logjam at the top of the NJAC.
Behind terrific individual performances by sophomores Trey DePietro and Quincy Jones, Westminster (Pa.) largely controlled previously unbeaten St. Vincent in a 90-80 Presidents’ Athletic Conference win. Westminster improved to 8-9 overall and 6-7 in the PAC. Saint Vincent fell to 17-1 overall and 12-1 in the league. DePietro led five Westminster players in double figures Saturday with a game-high 20 points. He scored 12 in the second half. DePietro went 7-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line and finished with nine rebounds and a season-high four blocked shots. Jones scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and added seven rebounds.
Dev Ostrowski knocked down a three-pointer 38 seconds into the game to give St. Vincent an early 3-2 lead, but DePietro’s layup with a minute and three seconds elapsed put Westminster up for good. Westminster’s first half lead swelled to as many as 20, 33-13, when Hergenrother hit a three-pointer with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. The Titans carried a 15-point lead, 47-32, into the break.
Trinity (Conn.) defeated conference rival Wesleyan 79-77 in overtime on Saturday to remain the last unbeaten team standing in Division III men’s basketball for the season. The No. 5-ranked Bantams remained undefeated by beating Wesleyan in overtime, 79-77. Trinity had two chances to win the game in regulation, but missed twice in the final five seconds of the second half after Sam Pohlman had tied the game for the Cardinals with 19 seconds left. Wesleyan got off only five shots in the overtime, but trailed 79-76 when going to the line with one second left in the extra session. Pohlman hit the first and missed the second, Wesleyan got the offensive rebound, but could not get off a potential game-tying shot. Ben Callahan-Gold led the Bantams (18-0, 4-0 NESCAC) with 25 points, shooting 4-for-12 from 3-point range. Wesleyan missed only three free throws in 25 attempts, including the intentional miss in the final second of the game.
Cortez Garland finished with a game-high 25 points while Nate Tucker recorded a career-best 20-point day and Fred Garland added 20 points as well as No. 7 Trine won 85-70 at Hope. The FLying Dutch (12-5, 4-2 MIAA) had no answer for the trio, as they combined to shoot 27-for-35 from the field (77%) for the game. Meanwhile, Trine (16-1, 6-0 MIAA) held Hope to 38% from the floor.
Randolph-Macon was held to its lowest point total in six weeks, but the No. 11 Yellow Jackets got just enough and gutted out a 61-59 win on the road at Ferrum. After a 3-pointer by Tahli Oden put the Panthers up 51-47 with 10:43 left in the second half, Randolph-Macon (14-3, 7-1 ODAC) scored the next 11 points over the next six-plus minutes. to take a 58-51 lead. Bryant Wall and Jikari Johnson responded with back-to-back dunks and Wall added a jumper to allow Ferrum (13-5, 4-5) to retake the lead. But Daniel Mbangue answered with an ook shot and Keishawn Pulley Jr. hit one of two free throws to put R-MC up by four. Wall hit a layup with under a minute left, but missed the and-one. Macon missed a shot to secure the lead on its end of the floor with 7.4 seconds left and Wall had a look from deep that hit off the rim at the buzzer. It’s Ferrum’s fourth loss in five games.
Fifth-year Ryan Clements scored a game-high 15 points, while senior Adam Brazil added 14 points, to lead No. 1 Hampden-Sydney to a 69-52 road win at Shenandoah. SU trailed 34-27 at halftime, but scored the first 13 points of the second half to lead 40-34 before H-SC took control with a 21-5 run and won going away. H-SC is on its finest start to a season since 2002-03, when the Tigers started 22-0 en route to a 28-4 campaign that included an NCAA Tournament Final Four appearance.
Jesse Hafemeister scored a career-high 38 points as No. 20 Catholic got past Wilkes on the road 85-78 in the opener of the second half of the Landmark Conference schedule. The Cardinals (15-2, 9-1) led by 10 at three separate instances in the final 5:36 and held on for a seven-point win despite Wilkes trimming the deficit to four with 1:40 to play. Hafemeister’s 38 included a stretch where he made three of four free throws after Trent Fisher of Wilkes (13-4, 6-4) was assessed a double-technical and ejected from the game after arguing a foul call.
Trailing Eastern Connecticut by four points with nine seconds to play, Mass-Boston looked to be on its way to a defeat. That was until Manny Zayas and Hector Perez combined to score five points in the final three seconds to steal an improbable 72-71 victory. Eastern Connecticut (4-14, 1-8 Little East) was up 66-57 with under two minutes to play before the Beacons (5-13, 4-5) charged back. Manny Zayas hit a three-pointer to get the Beacons within striking distance, trailing 69-67 with 17 seconds to play. The Warriors, though, all but iced the game, knocking down a pair of free throws to stretch their lead to four. A Zayas three with three seconds left to play appeared to be cosmetic, cutting the lead to 71-70. The inbound pass, however, was broken up by Fidendi Francois, who had the awareness to throw the ball to Perez. With the game in his hands, Perez delivered, knocking down the midrange jumper to seal the 72-71 win. Zayas led all scorers with 31 points on 9-for-13 shooting from three-point range.
Unreal indeed! This is a must-watch! #d3hoops
— D3hoops/Patrick Coleman (@d3hoops) January 20, 2024
York (Pa.) snapped Hood’s winning streak as the Spartans defeated the No. 21 Blazers, 69-62. Trailing by nine, Hood scored the next seven points, trimming York’s lead to three at 61-58 with 2:09 left. Chris Miers drilled a huge three with 1:41 left to push the lead back to six. The teams traded free throws as York led 66-60 with Kai Cipalla stepping to the line with 20 seconds left. He made one. After York got a stop, Rowe capped a big day with two free throws to push the lead to nine with seven seconds left. Jayden Rowe scored a game-high 24 points and added nine rebounds for the Spartans.
No. 18 UW-Whitewater snapped its three-game losing streak, as Delvin Barnstable and Trevon Chislom scored 17 points apiece and Miles Barnstable added 16 in a 78-74 victory at UW-River Falls. The Warhawks had to hold on as River Falls (10-7. 4-2 WIAC) went on a 7-0 run to get the score 78-74 in the final minute, but the Falcons could only get off one shot in the final 24 seconds. UW-Whitewater improved to 13-4, 3-3 in the league.
Redlands finished getting through the first half of its SCIAC schedule and saw its new year continue to be a struggle as the Bulldogs fell on a last-second shot, 76-75 in the Super Tents at La Verne. Redlands is 3-4 since the calendar turned to 2024, and is 11-6 overall, 3-5 in SCIAC play. Redlands left 73-69 with 30 seconds to play, but the Leopards (5-11, 2-6) got a layup from Dahmaj Warren to cut the lead to one. Robert Power then missed two free throws for Redlands with 18 seconds left, La Verne rebounded, and after a timeout, Logen Howard rattled home a fallaway jumper on the baseline with .8 seconds left to clinch the victory.
Maryville got the season split in the series with Belhaven, defeating the Blazers 81-72 at home. Maryville (12-5, 4-1 College Conference of the South) led by 19, 73-54, with 5:18 to play before Belhaven went on an 18-4 run to make it a five-point game with under a minute. to play. But Reed Kemp and RJ Simmons hit their foul shots to keep the Blazers (11-6, 3-2) at bay. Kemp finished with a game-high 20 points for the Scots.
Ja’Zere Noel scored 35 points and added 11 rebounds as Rowan rolled past William Paterson 112-79. The Profs (13-5, 7-4) remain one game behind TCNJ and Stockton, who are tied for first in the NJAC standings. Five teams are within one game of each other, at either 8-3 or 7-4 in conference play. TCNJ remained on top by beating New Jersey City 72-59 behind 17 points from David Alexandre, while Stockton lost 78-65 at Ramapo.