SALISBURY, Md. – The Wesley College men's basketball team won its tenth-straight game and took over first place in the Capital Athletic Conference with a 70-64 victory over Salisbury University on Wednesday night. Winners of 12 of their last 13 games, the Wolverines improve to 15-4 overall and 5-1 in the CAC.
Paul Reynolds, who scored 10 of the team's last 14 points, finished with a game-high 20 points. Quincy Pettiford added 16 points while David Langan was a rebound short of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Wesley, who has now won 13 straight games against Salisbury, took command early on by scoring 14 unanswered points to take an early 18-8 lead. Pettiford started the run with a trey and Reynolds finished it with back-to-back buckets while the Wolverines held Salisbury without a point for four minutes and 26 seconds.
A layup by Chris Viqueira ended the run and Salisbury slowly chipped away at the lead thanks to nine first half points Trent Epps. The Sea Gulls got as close as 30-26 on a bucket by Kyle Savercool with 3:36 left, but Wesley closed out the first half on 10-4 run.
Rasheed Carter (six points, six rebounds) answered back by converting on a three-point play the old-fashioned way and following an SU bucket, Pettiford scored five-straight points on a tip-in and a trifecta on a fastbreak. That prompted a Salisbury timeout and after a Sea Gull bucket, Langan banged down low to record a layup just before the buzzer, giving Wesley a 40-30 lead going into the break.
The second half started much like the first as the teams traded buckets for the first couple minutes. But, after Reynolds picked up two quick fouls to get four on the night, the Wolverines were forced to take him out of the game and Salisbury took advantage. With Reynolds on the bench, the Sea Gulls scored 11 straight points and held Wesley scoreless for four minutes and 27 seconds, just one second longer than its own drought in the first half.
Up just 46-45, Pettiford hit a trey with 12:50 left in regulation to stop the bleeding and putting Wesley back on top by four. Once again the teams would trade several scores, but with Reynolds back in the game, he twice scored when Wesley was leading by a single point.
Salisbury (12-5, 3-1 CAC) eventually tied the game at 64 with 2:11 remaining on a layup by Epps, but Pettiford hit a pair of free throws to put Wesley back on top by two. After holding the Gulls, Wesley committed a turnover but Eric Selby drew a charge to give the Wolverines back the ball.
A long pass from the endline by Pettiford to Reynolds led to a layup with 18 seconds left and Langan hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
Viqueira recorded a team-high 18 points for the Sea Gulls.
The Wolverines return to action Saturday, January26, when they travel to Marymount (Va.) for a 4 pm CAC tipoff.