DOVER, Del. – Behind a career-high 24 points from sophomore Quincy Pettiford, the Wesley College men's basketball team won its ninth-straight game, rallying to beat No. 9 St. Mary's 68-54, in Capital Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Wentworth Gymnasium.  The Wolverines (14-4, 4-1 CAC) have now won 11 of their last 12 games while the Seahawks fall to 14-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.

A Concord High graduate, Pettiford shot 7-of-13 from the field and made 6-of-9 from behind-the-arc and 4-of-6 from the line, while also grabbing six rebounds. His six threes were the most by a Wesley player since Rashawn Johnson made eight in a CAC Semifinal against Mary Washington on February 26, 2009.

The Wolverines finished the game outshooting the Seahawks by narrow, 40.7% to 37.9% margin, however, Wesley managed to pull away by making eight threes compared to just two for St. Mary's.  The Navy & White, behind double-doubles from Paul Reynolds and David Langan inside, also outrebounded the Seahawks, 50-33, and converted 19 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points.

Wesley's victory, it's second against a top-ten team this year, did not come easy as it trailed 27-14 with 9:40 left in the first half after a layup by Seahawks reserve Jeff Haus.  But, the Wolverines managed to close out the half on a 15-1 run with Anthony Bowers' trey with 43 seconds left in the period giving Wesley a 29-28 halftime lead. 

St. Mary's came out of the locker room strong and retook a five-point lead at 36-31 with 17:32 remaining in regulation.  A layup by Langan on the ensuing possession cut the deficit to three but then Pettiford hit back-to-back threes to give Wesley a 39-36 advantage with 16:30 left to play.

Reynolds then hit a pair of free throws, followed by a deep three as the shot clock expired to increase the lead to six.  St. Mary's sophomore Nick LaGuerre made a layup to cut the lead to four with 12:58 remaining, but that was as close as the Seahawks would get for the remainder of the contest. Four minutes later, Wesley extended the lead to double-digits and got the lead to as many as 19.

Aside from Pettiford, Wesley got 18 points and 13 rebounds from Langan (8-of-14 shooting) while Reynolds finished with an identical 13 rebounds to go with 11 points.  Anthony Bowers also provided a spark off the bench with nine points while Eric Selby dished out a career-high eight assists.

Donn Hill finished with 15 points, leading the Seahawks.    

Wesley will look to win its tenth-straight game when they travel across Route 13 to take on Salisbury (12-4, 3-0 CAC) on Wednesday, January 16 in a 7:30 pm start.