No. 2 Marlins Upset 92-91 in Opener to Wesley

DOVER, Del.—The No. 2 ranked Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball team fell in its season opener in the final seconds 92-91 to Wesley College Sunday.

The Marlins took an early lead when Khory Moore hit the first basket of the game and would not surrender that lead until the final minute when the Wolverines went up 90-89.

Following a 9-2 run to open the game with all nine points coming from Moore, the Marlins took their first double-digit lead five minutes into the game. The Wolverines would come as close as 43-34 with six minutes to go in the first half, before the Marlins took a 59-44 lead into the halftime break. Both Moore and junior Justin Watson had double-digits points in the first period as JW Lawson put up 25 points in the half to keep the Wolverines within reaching distance.

The Marlins started the second half strong taking their biggest lead of the game at 63-44 as Watson knocked down a jumper with 18:14 to play.

The Wolverines stormed back, making it a 10-point game with 15 minutes to play, but the Marlins would not give up their double-digit lead until five minutes remained in the game. Anthony Bowers would tie the game at 88 with 2:31 to play for the Wolverines.

Junior Kendric Washington gave the Marlins the lead again, 89-88 on a made free throw, but the Marlins put Bowers back at the charity stripe on the next possession. He knocked down the pair to give Wesley its first lead of the game with 47 seconds to go.

Virginia Wesleyan called a timeout to set up a final play. Jones ended up with the ball and hit a floater along the baseline to put the Marlins up one with 11 seconds to go.

Rasahn Brinkley would make a layup for Wesley after grabbing an offensive rebound with two seconds left to decide the outcome.

Lawson led all scorers and rebounders, posting 33 points and 11 boards, including eight offensive rebounds for Wesley (1-0) while Brinkley came off the bench for 17 points.

Four Marlins had double-digit point totals at the end of the contest, with Watson leading the team with 20. First-year Keijon Honore had 17 points in his debut, while Moore added 15, along with 9 rebounds tying Washington for the team lead. Jones had 12 points to go with nine assists on the day.

Virginia Wesleyan (0-1) will host the Marlin Tip-Off Tournament starting November 20 at 5 p.m. against the Milwaukee School of Engineering.