It was a dramatic, come from behind victory Saturday afternoon for the Wilmington College mens’ basketball team, as the Quakers defeated Heidelberg, 71-69, in their Ohio Athletic Conference opener at Fred Raizk Arena.
Trailing by seven with just more than 3:00 to play, the Quakers closed out the contest with a 10-1 run, enabling WC to break a four-game losing streak. The win gives the Quakers a 2-5 overall record, and the Student Princes fall to 1-6 on the season.
Wilmington High School graduate Jeffery Mansfield got the game-winning basket for WC, a field goal in the lane with 8 seconds remaining.
Mansfield tied his career high of 23 points (11 first half and 12 in the second half). DaeShawn Jackson scored 17 points for the Quakers, including nine in the second half.
Heidelberg bolted out to a double digit lead of 28-14 but Wilmington cut the margin to 36-32 at halftime. The Quakers came out of the locker room on fire to start the second half, scoring 11 unanswered points to grab a 43-36 advantage. The Student Princes did not fold the tent and later responded with a 13-0 run of their own putting Heidelberg back on top.
During the second half comeback, another Wilmington High School product, Matt Smith, was a key contributor for WC, as he knocked down a pair of three-point field goals.
Smith also was fouled in the closing seconds — shortly after Mansfield’s go-ahead basket — when teammate Payton Smith stole the Heidelberg in-bound pass, and connected on the front-end of a two shot foul for WC’s final point of the game.
The Quakers play at Ohio Northern Wednesday night, and go to Mount Union on Saturday in OAC action.
Prior to the tip-off the WC administration honored Terry Rupert, vice president for Athletic Administration/Director of Athletics, who will be retiring from his post at the end of the month.
Rupert has been the Wilmington College athletic director the past 23 years, and will transition into a full-time faculty position in the sports management program, a program Rupert started on the WC Campus.
SUMMARY
Dec 7, 2019
@Fred Raizk Arena
Wilmington 71 Heidelberg 69
H^36^33^^69
W^32^39^^71
(69) HEIDELBERG (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Watkins 3-0-1-7 Benson 8-0-0-16 Dixon 1-0-3-5 Woods 4-3-3-14 Arellano 1-1-0-3 Logsdon 0-0-0-0 Perdue 2-0-0-4 West-Holmes 0-0-0-0 Hohman 2-0-6-10 Watkins 5-0-0-10. TOTALS 26-4-13-69
(71) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Mansfield 8-3-4-23 Kanu 2-0-5-9 P. Smith 1-1-0-3 Jackson 7-2-1-17 Myers 2-0-2-6 Mullins 0-0-0-0 Mihalick 09-0-0-0 Horton 1-0-0-2 Todd 1-0-0-2 Dado 1-0-0-2 M. Smith 2-2-1-7. TOTALS 25-8-13-71
FIELD GOALS: H 26-57 (Benson 8-12) W 25-65 (Mansfield 8-15 Jackson 7-11)
3 PT FIELD GOALS: H 4-12 W 8-24 (Mansfield 3-5 M. Smith 2-4 Jackson 2-4)
FREE THROWS: H 13-16 (Hohman 6-6) W 13-20 (Kanu 5-6 Mansfield 4-7)
REBOUNDS: H-38 (Hohman 11 Benson 10) W-34 (Jackson 8 Mansfield 5 Kanu 4 M. Smith 3 P. Smith 3)
ASSISTS: H-12 W-11 (P. Smith 3 Mansfield 2 Jackson 2 Mullins 2)
STEALS: H-4 W-5 (Mansfield 2)
BLOCKED SHOTS: H-2 W-5 (Dado 2)
TURNOVERS: H-12 W-9
