Wyche FT gives Saint Peter's CIT title, 62-61 over A&M-CC

Apr 1, 2017, 05:17 am

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Quadir Welton had a double-double and Trevis Wyche made the winning free throw with less than a second remaining and Saint Peter's won the CIT championship with a 62-61 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night.

Cavon Baker scored 15 points to lead the Peacocks (23-13). Welton, the CollegeInsider.com Tournament MVP, had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

"A lot of emotion. I'm very happy right now," Welton, the newphew of former NBA standout Rasheed Wallace, said. "We've been doing it all season. I'm happy for my team, happy for our school."

Saint Peter's trailed most of the game had its biggest lead, 60-55, after Chazz Patterson made two free throws with 1:01 to play. Cole Martinez made it a two-point game with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 14.5 seconds left. After Bake made 1 of 2 free throws, Martinez was fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt with three seconds left and he calmly tied the game.

The Peacocks threw the ball into the front court and called a time out. On the inbounds play from in front of their bench, they went over the top to Baker, who drove toward the basket from the left wing and was fouled as he went up for the shot with .9 to play. After his first free throw rolled in, he missed the second on purpose

Rashawn Thomas had 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Islanders (24-12) and Kareem South had 11 points.

The Islanders got off to a quick start, using a 9-0 run to go up 11-3 less than five minutes into the game. Baker and Antwon Portley had back-to-back 3s to make it a two-point game. Elijah Cook answered with five straight and after a Saint Peter's basket Thomas scored seven straight to make it 23-11 with 7:51 to go.

Welton sparked a 15-0 run, scoring the first six points, with a 3-pointer by Samuel Idowu putting Saint Peter's ahead 26-23 with 1:44 left. Ehab Amin tied it with a 3-pointer and Joseph Kilgore put the Islanders on top 28-26 at the break.

The Islanders surged ahead by eight with 13:40 to go but Saint Peter's quickly erased that and the game was tight down the stretch.

Saint Peter's, which lost in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals, won by four points at Albany, New York, and four at Texas State, before beating Furman by 26 at home in the semifinals on Wednesday, before returning to Texas.