Pioneers Win on Buzzer Beater

Justin Wallace (Mount Vernon/Mt. St. Michael) grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in as the buzzer sounded to lift Alfred State to a 77-76 victory over Wells. The Pioneers rallied from a ten-point, 47-37, halftime deficit.

The Express hit seven 3-pointers in the 1st half en route to their 47-37 halftime lead. The Pioneers kept chipping away at the lead and finally took their first lead of the 2nd half 67-66 with just over five minutes remaining in the contest. The Express grabbed back the lead but Tommy Hutson (Brooklyn/Susan McKinney) tied it up at 74-74 with 1:07 remaining.

Jordan Bishop hit a spinning fall away jumper, his only basket of the game, with 13.7 remaining to give Wells a 76-74 lead. After timeouts by both teams the Pioneers brought the ball down and Wallace was fouled with five seconds remaining. He made the first but the second fell off the rim, Alfred State missed their first attempt for the win but Wallace grabbed the rebound and got the game-winning shot off before the buzzer to send the Pioneers to their first victory of the season.

Tyler Elliott (Perry) and Adam Fezza (Southhampton) each had 15 points to lead the Pioneers offense while Hutson finished with 14. Wallace had eight points.

Jordan Jean led Wells with 19 points (15 for 18 from the foul line) on the day. Darius Smith finished with 13, Chris Courtney with 12, and MJ Williams with 10. The Express hit 27 of their 34 foul shots in the contest.

Alfred State shot 52% (26 for 50) from the field, 50% (6 for 12) from three, and 73.1% (19 for 26) from the foul line.  They held a slight 35 to 31 rebounding advantage but had to overcome 15 turnovers and 24 fouls.

Wells (0-4) shot 37.7% (20 for 53) from the field, 37.5% (9 for 24) from three, and 79.4% (27 for 34) from the foul line.

The victory was the first for the men's basketball team over a NCAA DIII program in the college's transition to the NCAA.

Alfred State will look to build on the victory on Wednesday when they travel to Penn College for a 7 p.m. tip-off with the Wildcats.