Rams and Falcons Go Back and Forth, but Rams Pull Ahead at End in Hard-Fought One-Point Victory

Opening tipoff between the Rams (dark) and Falcons (white)

The Wilbur Wright Rams fight hard all game to take home their first win of the season on Nov. 8, as they improve to 1-2 on the year and 1-0 in conference play.

After playing two non-conference games to start the season, the Rams were back at Wright College for their third home game to start the season.

The Truman Falcons looked to make it a third straight loss for the Rams, but strong play down the stretch made all the difference for the Rams to get their first win of the season.

“It was an exciting game,” coach Thomas said after his team pulled out a 71-70 win, “I knew If I wasn’t careful, I would get caught up in the emotions of the game, so I tried to stay as even-keeled as possible and continue to teach and coach my boys throughout this rollercoaster of a game.”

Thomas also acknowledged the team's relentless fight that started early in the game, “they kept fighting the whole game, no matter what happened, a couple calls didn’t go our way, it didn’t matter we just stayed locked in.”

Rams setting up their offense in the first half

It was a quick start to the game for Rams guard Tim Odeyungbo, who scored six of the team's nine points and helped Wright get off to an early 9-5 lead with 15:57 remaining in the first half.

Odeyungbo continued his strong play the whole game and was the second-leading scorer with 16 points.

A few minutes of the game went by without any scoring, until Antwon Lampkin caught fire for the Falcons, nailing four 3-pointers in a span of five minutes that helped Truman take a 23-16 lead. Lampkin’s barrage of 3's led to a timeout from Wright.

Coming out of the timeout, Wright was able to take advantage of the size advantage they had over the Falcons and worked the ball into the post to their bigs David Lucas and Anthony Carty. Wright also did a good job adjusting to Truman's 3-point-centric offense, completely neutralizing the 3-point line.

After trading baskets, the Rams went on a 16-6 run to end the quarter to trail the Falcons 36-34 at the half.

Truman came out of the second half seemingly getting whatever baskets they wanted. They took an early 43-36 lead and had the Rams offense out of the game for a few minutes. Like Thomas has done in previous games he looked to his bench for a spark, and he got that spark from Don McCurdy and Javaris Stfort. McCurdy immediately came into the game and made two 3-pointers to make a one-point game. After scoring just one point in the first half, Stfort came through with 16 points for the Rams in the second half and was a major key in Wright taking the second-half momentum.

Don McCurdy 3-pointer in the second half

After a timeout in the second half, the Falcons began to find their offense again as they were back to making the 3-pointers that plagued the Rams in the first half. With 7:11 left in the second half, the Rams found themselves trailing 62-56. Wright was missing easy shots and was held scoreless for over five minutes. Defense was a key down the stretch for the Rams and was a key to keeping them in it.

Rams playing strong swarming defense late in the game

In the last two minutes of the game, Odeyungbo continued to play stellar basketball coming up with a steal, and a clutch contested 3 that gave Wright a 71-70 game with just 21.7 seconds left in the game.

With five seconds left in the game, Truman had an open 3 to win the game but it rimmed out and Wright was able to hold on for their first win of the season.