Box Score RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Felician College men's basketball team withstood a furious last-second comeback attempt by Wilmington (Del.) University to earn a 78-77 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over the visiting Wildcats on Saturday afternoon at Job Gymnasium. Senior swingman Antoine Obery (Roselle, N.J./Abraham Clark) topped Felician with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Golden Falcon sophomore center Will Thompson (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Obery for a lay-up with three minutes, 43 seconds to play in regulation, giving Felician its largest lead of the day at 75-67. But the hosts were held without a field goal for the duration of the contest.
Wilmington (1-8, 1-3 CACC) cut its deficit to 77-74 on a driving lay-in by Herbert Dennis (Ridgely, Md./North Caroline) at the 1:41 mark. But Felician sandwiched two long possessions around a Wildcat turnover, and a free throw by Tajric Boggs (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) at 0:23 made it a four-point game. The lead appeared safe for Felician when Dennis missed a runner as time wound down, but a scramble under the basket put the ball back in the Wildcats' hands, and Andrew Corrigan (Newark, Del./Hodgson Vo-Tech) converted on a three-point play with 3.5 ticks showing on the clock.
Wilmington fouled with 1.7 seconds left to play. Felician missed on a pair of attempts, but Wilmington could not get a shot off after their rebound of the second try before the final buzzer sounded.
Each team placed four scorers in double figures. Boggs scored 15 points with four steals, and Ayotunde Oyeniyi (Lagos, Nigeria/Rock School [Fla.]) added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Golden Falcons (4-4, 2-2). Dennis led the Wildcats with 17 points and six assists and teammate Isiah Mason (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) (6-9 FG) scored 16 points
Wilmington led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Felician came back to tie things at 39-39 as time wound down. Obery then scored five points in the final two seconds of the period. Fouled while attempting a three-point field goal, he made the first two free-throw attempts, missed the third, corralled the long rebound, and nailed a fade-away three-pointer as time expired for a 44-39 Golden Falcon edge at intermission.
Felician survived missing 23 free throws and shooting 41 percent at the foul line. The teams combined for 49 personal fouls and 71 free-throw attempts.
Obery was honored in a brief pre-game ceremony for scoring his 1,000th career point on Dec. 1. He currently ranks sixth in Felician annals with 1,040 points.
