Westmont Men’s Basketball squeaked out a huge road victory over 18th-ranked William Jessup by a score of 75-74.
Olisa Nwachie led Westmont with 24 points, including a made free throw with 5.7 seconds remaining for the game-winning point.
Matt Ramon’s defense against Jessup’s Keith Phillips was key to the win. Phillips, who was averaging 21.1 points per game, was held him to 14 on the evening.
“Matt guarded the toughest guy in the league and held him to seven points below his average,” coach John Moore sai. “Keith Phillips is a really special player and Matt Ramon caused him a lot of problems tonight.”
With the game tied 74-74 with 2:21 left, scoring came to a halt. Both teams struggled to hold on to the ball and neither would hit a field goal for the remainder of the game. Westmont turned the ball over with 37 seconds to play. Jessup missed a jumper and grabbed the offensive board with 21 seconds left.
As both teams came back to the floor after a timeout, Jessup inbounded the ball into a Westmont zone-trap defense. Desean Scott sprinted to assist Gyse Hulsebosh in trapping a Jessup player by the side line. Jessup stepped out of bounds and turned the ball over to Westmont.
Westmont’s Kyle Scalmanini drove to the baseline and dished the ball to Nwachie who was fouled on the way up and would narrowly miss the layup with 5.7 seconds remaining.
Nwachie missed his first free throw, but gathered himself and buried the second to put Westmont up by one.
Jessup broke the Westmont press and had an open look at three to win the game, but came up short.
Westmont is 13-6 and 7-4 in the GSAC while Jessup is 16-7, 7-4.