Men's Basketball Rallies for Stunning 89-88 Win at Richard Stockton to Remain Undefeated

(box score)

An 11-point deficit in the last five minutes was no problem to overcome for Widener, which rallied for an 89-88 victory at Richard Stockton in Galloway, NJ to keep its perfect record intact.

Down 83-72 with 5:03 remaining, Widener (4-0) used a 14-2 run to take an 86-85 lead with 51 seconds left. Senior Brian Smith (Baltimore, MD) scored seven points in that spurt and junior Rob McPherson (Bowie, MD) netted five.

Smith delivered a key 3-pointer with 1:36 left to pull Widener within 85-84. Smith then forced a turnover and junior Lamar Jackson (Philadelphia, PA) missed a 3-pointer, but McPherson was there for a huge offensive rebound and a put-back layup for the 86-85 cushion.

Jackson hit 1-of-2 from the line with 16 seconds left to give the Pride an 87-85 lead. Diandre Brown was fouled by McPherson looking to tie the game for the Ospreys and was sent to the line. He missed both free throws, but Salaam Yusuff hauled in an offensive rebound with seven seconds left.

Richard Stockton (1-3) had another chance to tie, but Brown was called for a foul with two seconds remaining. Senior Perry Wright (Severn, MD) canned two free throws to give Widener an 89-85 margin before Brown drilled an innocuous 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Smith ended with 21 points off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting over 24 minutes and Jackson added 20 points. McPherson's clutch basket gave him 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting with 14 rebounds and Wright, the Most Valuable Player of last weekend's Widener Tip-Off Classic, ended with 14 points.

Rich Suhr scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead five players in double figures for the Ospreys. Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds, Pat Kelly scored 16 points, Bill McDonough poured in 14 points and Kevin Johnson added 11.

Widener shot 50 percent (32-of-64) from the floor and canned 11 three-pointers in a game which featured 11 lead changes. Richard Stockton shot 53 percent (31-of-59) from the field, but could not overcome 25 turnovers.

The Pride are off to their best start since the 2007-08 team opened 8-0, a run that also included a road victory over the Ospreys.

Widener on Saturday plays Cabrini at 2:15 pm on the campus of Neumann University as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Aston, PA.

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