Mounties Rally in Final Seconds to Beat Cheyney 84-83 in Season Finale

CHEYNEY – Joe Marshall hit the game-winning layup with 12 seconds left and senior Thomas Moore scored a game-high 23 points to rally Mansfield to an 84-83 win over Cheyney in the season finale for both teams Wednesday evening in Cope Hall.

Mansfield rallied from double-digit deficits three times over the course of the game and trailed 81-76 with just under four minutes to play.

Brad Williams made the front-end of a one-and-one with 2:43 to go to cut the lead to 81-77 before Moore drilled a must-have 3-pointer to close the gap to one point at 81-80 with just over two minutes remaining.

Two free throws by Cheyney's Rafiq Marshall 30 seconds later give the Wolves an 83-80 advantage.

Mansfield's Eric Lewis Jr. made it a one-point game with a reverse layup with 90 seconds to go and Lewis blocked a Cheyney layup with under 20 second on the clock before Marshall scored the winning points.

Cheyney had one final chance with two seconds to play but couldn't get off the shot before time expired.

It was a huge win for the Mountaineers who trailed by 11 points with just over seven minutes to play, marking the third time in the game they had rallied form more than 10 points down.

Mansfield held Cheyney to without a field goal for the final 3:38 of play in snapping a six-game losing-streak.

Moore, playing in the final game of his career, scored 17 of his points in the second half twice sparking Mansfield rallies.

Matt Tamanosky had 17 points with Williams adding 15 points. Marshall recorded a double-double adding a game-high 12 rebounds to his 10 points.

Eugene Lett led five Cheyney players in double-figures with 15 points.

Mansfield ends the season with a 6-21 overall record and 4-18 in the PSAC East.