Wesson Powers Eagles to Win Over Mustangs in Final Minute

CONWAY, Ark. (1/21/26) – The Williams Baptist University men's basketball team overcame an eight-point deficit in the final minute to take down Central Baptist on the road 80-79 inside A.R. Reddin Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

Deion Wesson scored the game-winning bucket with one second remaining on the clock.  He led all scorers with 36 points on the night.  Benjamin Noonan followed with 16 points off the bench.  Aseem Luckey posted 12 points, and Jesse Washington finished with 11.  Luckey posted a double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds.

As a team, WBU went 28-for-61 (45.9 percent) from the floor on offense, while CBC shot 44.4 percent from the field.  Williams won the rebound battle 42-36, and scored 25 second chance points.

CBC began the game on a heater, knocking down five three-pointers to go up 15-8 at the first media timeout.  The Eagles responded with a 9-0 run capped off by a Wesson trey to give WBU an 18-17 lead with 10:54 left in the first half.  

The Mustangs tied the game at 27 with 4:11 left in the period, but the Eagles responded with a six-point swing to go up 33-27 behind four points from Benjamin Noonan.  Williams went into the locker room ahead 37-34.

The two teams traded baskets for most of the second half as neither team led by more than eight.  After a free throw from Wesson put the Eagles ahead by three, CBC rallied with a 14-3 run to take a 79-71 lead with 1:19 left on the clock.

Jesse Washington drained a three with 52 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to five.  The Eagles defense forced a ten-second violation on the other end to allow Deion Wesson to score a layup and make it a three-point game.

After a foul, CBC missed a free throw to allow Wesson to grab the rebound and score on the other end to cut the Mustang lead to one.  CBC missed two more free throws after an intentional foul, and Wesson capped off the nine-point last minute swing with a layup.  The Eagles defended for the final second to clinch the dramatic victory.

Wesson scored six points in the final minute to clinch the win.

The win moves WBU to 15-2 overall and 5-1 in American Midwest Conference play.  Next, the Eagles will return home to host Hannibal-LaGrange on Friday, Jan. 23.  Tipoff against the Trojans is set for 5 p.m. inside the Southerland-Mabee Center.