Battling Bishop men split two weekend buzzer beaters

Ferrum, VA - The men’s basketball team of North Carolina Wesleyan avenged a heartbreaking loss to Averett University earlier in the season on Friday night, downing the Cougars in overtime by a 93-91 score.  The Bishops, who lost to AU three weeks ago by one point, returned the favor when senior Lenny Hall (pictured) hit a buzzer-beating lay-up to seal the win. Unfortunately, Wesleyan (11-14, 4-8) lost in similar fashion on Saturday when Ferrum’s Jerrell Wade nailed a jumper with two seconds left in regulation to give the Panthers an 81-80 victory.

Against Averett, the Bishops led 39-33 at intermission only to see AU cut the gap quickly in the second half. The Cougars, in fact, went up by as many as eight points before the Bishops were able to mount a comeback of their own.

With less than a minute left in regulation, Averett held an 82-81 advantage, but a foul sent Careem Corbett to the charity stripe for two shots. He missed the first shot, but drained the second to tie the score at 82. Over the last 30 seconds of regulation, Averett had three shot attempts rim out, sending the game to overtime.

With about 30 seconds remaining in OT, Averett’s Ryan Frazier grabbed a rebound with the score tied 91-91. The Cougars (11-14, 5-7) ran the clock down, but a mishandled pass from Damien Brown allowed Trey Drake and the to take control with just a few seconds remaining. Drake dished the ball ahead to Hall, who converted the easy fast-break lay-up as the buzzer sounded.

Jarvis Cobb paced the Bishops with a team-high 22 points.  Jarmel Arrington and Corbett added 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Hall finished with 13.  Adam Coleman recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Ryan Frazier turned in a game-high 30 points for the Cougars.

Saturday’s game at Ferrum featured 12 ties and 21 lead changes.  Tied 32-32 at the break, the Panthers managed to forge a six-point lead at 77-71 with 3:18 remaining.  The Bishops, however, stormed back with baskets by Arrington, Coleman, and Cobb, making the score 79-78 with under two minutes left.

With both teams squandering valuable possessions over the next 90 seconds, Arrington was fouled after pulling down an offensive rebound with six ticks on the clock.  He calmly sank both free throws to give Wesleyan a one-point lead, setting stage for Wade’s heroics.

Arrington finished with 17 and Cobb 15 for the Bishops.  Hall and Lamont Stokes added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Ferrum was paced by Jon Godsey’s 21 points.  Wade and Keith Crump each netted 16.

Wesleyan finishes the regular season as the USA South’s #7 seed in next week’s conference tournament.  The Bishops, therefore, will travel back to 2nd-seeded Ferrum (14-11, 8-4) on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. re-match with the Panthers.

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