Wesley Wins ECAC Holiday Festival
Rudy Thomas
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Wesley College's Rudy Thomas (Milton, Del./Millsboro) was named the Most Outstanding Player after leading the Wolverines to the ECAC Holiday Festival Championship with an 86-80 win over Ramapo.
Jairo Cruz scored to pull the Roadrunners (9-3) to within a point, 16-15, with 10:24 left in the first half. Wesley (7-4), however, went on a 12-2 run fueled by five points from Quayshun Morris (Salem, N.J./Salem) for a 28-17 lead with 6:54 left and the Wolverines went into the break ahead 44-36.
Ramapo fought back in the second half and tied the score at 49-49 lead after a basket by Davian Plunkett with 15:56 left in the game. Just 15 seconds later, the Roadrunners took a two-point lead on a score by LaQuan Peterkin. Alphonzo Wright (Dover, Del./Polytech) quickly erased the Wolverines' deficit with a three, but Ramapo scored the next eight points for a 59-52 lead with 12:23 left in the game.
Momentum swung again, however, and Wesley scored seven consecutive points, tying the score on a field goal by Paul Reynolds (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) with 10:38 to go. The game continued to see saw until a free throw by Wright broke a 64-64 tie with seven minutes left.
Wesley held the lead for the next five minutes, but Plunkett scored with 2:12 remaining to knot the score at 78-78. Kevin Johnson (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) drilled a three with 1:47 to go to get the lead back for Wesley, who hit their free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
Johnson led the Wolverines with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 from long distance. Reynolds had a solid all-around effort with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Both Thomas and Wright added 13 points.
For the second straight day, the bench powered Wesley's win. The reserves outscored Ramapo's bench 37-10. Overall, Wesley's bench outscored it's opponent's bench 72-13 in the two wins.
Plunkett led all players with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Andre Kenny had 14 points, six assists and five steals before fouling out. A.J. LoRusso notched 11 points and eight assists, but also fouled out. Peterkin had 11 points and Isaiah Lynch gave the Roadrunners five players in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Wesley will travel to Hood on Wednesday, January 6 for an 8:00 PM tipoff. The game will be played at Fort Detrick, so all fans must have valid identification (driver's license or passport ONLY, no school ID) to enter the military base.
