Box Score
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Senior
Courtney Nelson's (Newark, N.J./Bloomfield Tech) basket with 1.1 seconds to play gave the William Paterson men's basketball team (4-1) a dramatic 71-69 victory at Hunter (1-3) Nov. 29.
The Pioneers engineered two comebacks during the game, both after trailing by eight points. Hunter opened up the game with a 13-5 lead, but William Paterson would keep cutting away at the spread and eventually capture its first lead of the game, 24-23, with 5:29 left in the first period. The Pioneers would hold on to the one-point lead heading into the intermission, 33-32.
Hunter came out soft to start the second half, allowing the Pioneers to build up an eight-point lead of their own, but a 13-2 run would recapture the advantage for the Hawks, and after six quick points form Frantz Millien, Hunter was up 64-56 with 3:51 left on the clock.
The Pioneers scored seven straight points thanks to single free throws by
Shaun Canty (Englewood, N.J./Paramus Catholic) and
Tim Lucas (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge), a
Joseph Ellis (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) three-point play and a
Bobby Dunn (Garwood, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) basket, for a one-point game (64-63, 2:54). Two Hunter free throws and an Ellis jumper were followed by a Hawk three-pointer, giving Hunter a four-point edge (69-65, 2:02), but William Paterson answered with another Ellis field goal and two Nelson free throws, knotting the score at 69-69 with 38 seconds remaining. Hunter then had a chance to close things out or head to overtime, but a rushed shot attempt from senior guard Emiljano Kinaj clanked off the rim and into the hands of WP junior guard
Manny Perrotte (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), who found Nelson cutting to the lane for a bucket and a foul with 1.1 ticks on the clock. The Hawks called their final timeout prior to the free-throw attempt, a shot Nelson missed, but Hunter was unable to get a shot off before the final horn.
Ellis scored a team-best 17 points, while Nelson had 13 tallies and sophomore
Gabriel Paul (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) posted 12 points and seven rebounds. Perrotte contributed 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Dunn added seven rebounds and three steals.
For the Hawks, Kinaj scored 12 points and had six assists, and senior forward Maka Thomas shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and made both his free throw attempts for 10 points. Millien led all players with his 23 points and 13 rebounds.
William Paterson will begin New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) action Saturday, Dec. 6, at home against Rowan at 1:00 p.m.
