DOVER, Del.--The Hood College men's basketball team (9-8, 5-4 CAC) came all the way back from an 18-point second-half deficit to take the lead with 1:27 left, but a three-pointer by Rudy Thomas with seven seconds to go proved to be the difference as Wesley College (12-6, 8-1 CAC) escaped with a 68-67 Capital Athletic Conference win Saturday.

Hood got off to a good start, racing out to an 11-4 lead within the first 2:29. The Wolverines ripped off 10 unanswered points over the next four minutes, capped by a pair of free throws by Darrell Johnson. Wesley would not surrender that lead the rest of the period and took a 12-point advantage into the break.

The Wolverines extended their lead to 18, 46-28, within the first 5:29 of the second stanza. Hood slowly started to mount a comeback and trimmed the deficit to four with 8:11 to go on a triple by Jordan Diggs off a feed from Luis Cotto. A pair of free throws by Justin Stone on Hood's next possession drew the Blazers within two, 51-49.

Later in the half, after watching the Wolverines go back up by seven, Cameron Cook buried a clutch three-pointer with 3:45 to go in regulation to make it a two-point game, 58-56. Cook then forced a turnover by Paul Reynolds and Brenden Straughn converted the layup in transition at the other end to tie the game at 58-58 with 3:17 showing on the clock. But Reynolds grabbed the lead back for Wesley when he got a layup to go and drew the foul at the other end.

Hood wasn't done yet and it was Cook again who stepped up and drained another trey to tie the contest at 63-63 at the 1:59 mark. Cook's jumper in the paint on Hood's next series gave the Blazers their first lead since early in the first half. Wesley had an aswer again however as Kevin Johnson put back a miss by Reynolds at the other end to regain the lead for the Wolverines.

Hood called a 30-second timeout with 1:04 left and on the inbounds, Tyler Snoots laid one in with 40 ticks left to make it 67-65 Hood. Darrell Johnson grabbed his own miss on the offensive glass and the Wolverines kicked the ball out to Thomas on the perimeter who drilled his first three-pointer of the contest and 24th of the season to make it 68-67 Wesley.

Hood called a timeout to try and set up the game-winning basket. The Wolverines countered with a timeout of their own after seeing how the Blazers came out. Once the ball was inbounded, the Blazers put the ball in Straughn's hands, but his three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark and the Wolverines emerged victorious.

Snoots finished with his 11th career double-double with 18 points and 11 boards to lead four Blazer starters in double figures. Cook and Straughn pumped in 13 apiece while Stone had 12. Cook also picked off a career-best four steals.

Reynolds poured in a game-high 20 points for the Wolverines, who remained in a first-place tie with St. Mary's College (Md.) atop the league standings.

Hood remains in fifth place in the conference and hosts the first-place Seahawks Wednesday at 8 p.m.