Courtesy of Wesley College Sports Information

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. - Wesley College claimed the 2010 ECAC Men's Basketball Holiday Festival championship with an 86-80 win over Ramapo College. In a highly competitive bracket which included the No. 22 nationally-ranked Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth, Wesley would claim the title. Using the efforts of Most Outstanding Player Rudy Thomas, the Wolverines would jump out to an eight point lead at halftime.

Ramapo fought back in the second half and tied the score at 49-49 lead after a basket by Davian Plunkett with 15:56 left in the game.  Just 15 seconds later, the Roadrunners took a two-point lead on a score by LaQuan Peterkin.  Alphonzo Wright quickly erased the Wolverines' deficit with a three, but Ramapo scored the next eight points for a 59-52 lead with 12:23 left in the game.

Momentum swung again, however, and Wesley scored seven consecutive points, tying the score on a field goal by Paul Reynolds  with 10:38 to go.  The game continued to see saw until a free throw by Wright broke a 64-64 tie with seven minutes left. 

Wesley held the lead for the next five minutes, but Plunkett scored with 2:12 remaining to knot the score at 78-78.  Kevin Johnson drilled a three with 1:47 to go to get the lead back for Wesley, who hit their free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

Johnson led the Wolverines with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 from long distance.  Reynolds had a solid all-around effort with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.  Both Thomas and Wright added 13 points.

For the second straight day, the bench powered Wesley's win.  The reserves outscored Ramapo's bench 37-10.  Overall, Wesley's bench outscored it's opponent's bench 72-13 in the two wins.

Davian Plunkett of Ramapo led all scorers pouring in 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Most Outstanding Player Rudy Thomas and Steve Bamford, ECAC