NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The third-seeded Westminster men's basketball team came back to win, 68-66, in thrilling fashion over sixth-seeded Thiel in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Quarterfinals at home Tuesday evening.
"We just had to make shots and rebound the basketball," said head coach
Kevin Siroki. "It's survive and advance right now."
Westminster (17-8) overcame a 16-point first-half deficit to punch its ticket to the PAC Semifinals following a last-second, game-winning jumper by sophomore
Reese Leone (Beloit, OH / West Branch).
"It feels good winning and I hit a big shot at the end," said Leone. "We set a high ball screen and I work on that after and before practice every day. Those are times where it pays off. It feels good."
The Titans, down by 14 at halftime, kept battling and continued to chip away at Thiel's (8-16) lead. Westminster tied the game at 66 following a layup by junior
Tyler James (Youngstown, OH / Warren JFK) with 25 seconds left. Leone made the game-winning steal which set up his game-winner when Thiel had possession with seven seconds left.
Senior
Josh Hutcherson (Uniontown, OH / Uniontown Lake) registered the fifth double-double of his career with a career-high 23 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
"We knew it was going to be a close one," said Hutcherson. "Once you get to the tournament, anyone can win. After the first half, we knew we had to get stops. One bucket at a time."
Leone added, "Just stick to the game plan, do what we do and come out the second half and chip away at it and we did."
Also scoring in double-digits for Westminster were Leone with 13 points and junior
Tyler James (Youngstown, OH / Warren JFK) with 11. James added a game- and career-high six blocks. Senior
Anthony Ritter (North Lima, OH / South Range) dished out a game-high four assists, while sophomore
Andrew Clark (New Middletown, OH / Springfield Local) added seven boards.
The Titans will head to second-seeded Chatham on Thursday, Feb. 24 in the PAC Semifinals. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
