MADISON, WISC. - Three weeks after suffering a heartbreaking loss on a half-court buzzer beater, the Madison College men's basketball team avenged an earlier loss to NJCAA Division II Wilbur Wright College with an 82-79 victory at H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium on Wednesday. To do so, the WolfPack had to rally from a 14-point second half deficit to earn back-to-back North Central Community College Conference wins after dropping two straight. 

Neither team led by more than five points throughout the entire first half, which featured four ties and six lead changes. With a 38-33 edge coming out of the break, Wilbur Wright College (14-11, 6-5) used an early 12-2 run to reach its biggest lead of the day at 52-38 just three-and-a-half minutes into the second half. Sophomore Jezzriah Burton turned the tide with a three-pointer on the very next possession that triggered a massive WolfPack surge. An 18-6 burst over the next four minutes brought the score to an even 56-56. Madison College was still unable to get over the hump as they alternated between ties and small deficit until putting forth one final kick to the finish. Trailing 66-61, the 'Pack rattled off 11 consecutive points to gain the lead for good, doing so on a Sean Suchomel triple. However, WWC wasn't done and battled back to within a basket twice in the game's final minute. Suchomel stepped to the stripe with his team up 81-79 and four seconds remaining, and proceeded to make 1 of 2 attempts to reach the final score. His miss on the second attempt was tipped around by a pair Rams players before freshman Kye Burcham hustled in the force the ball out of bounds off of Wilbur Wright, effectively preventing the visitors from having any final chance to repeat history with last-second heave.



Tyree Young and Suchomel tied for team-high honors with 16 points. Young, a sophomore from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, scored have from the free throw line with an 8 for 8 effort, while Suchomel, a freshman, was 5 for 9 overall with two 3-pointers and 4 of 6 at the free throw line. Young had a team-leading four assists, and Suchomel matched Deshawn Black for the team lead in rebounds with nine, tying a career-best effort on the glass. The former high school teammates from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, each missed out on a double-double by a single rebound. It would have been the first career double-double for Suchomel. Black, who had 11 points, would have earned his second double-double.

Freshman Marcus Riser came off the bench to score 12 points and end a string of five consecutive games scoring in single-figures. The Racine, Wisconsin, native also grabbed five rebounds to help the WolfPack improve to 14-4 all-time against Wilbur Wright, including a perfect 9-0 record in games played in Madison.

Madison College finished 26 for 54 (48.1%) with five 3-pointers, but did a significant amount of damage at the free throw line with a 25 for 33 performance that was plus-six in the make category than WWC. 

Up Next:

Madison College (15-9, 5-6) will play its regular season home finale on Saturday, February 10 against Harper College (4-22, 2-9). The WolfPack will once again be out for revenge, having lost 81-79 in overtime last month to give the Hawks one of their two N4C wins. The two teams are separated by a single game in the all-time series, with Madison College boasting an 11-10 record. However, the home team in the series has just six wins in 18 true home-road situations. Tip off at H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium is set for 3:00 p.m.

Saturday's doubleheader and regular season finale will also be Sophomore Day and Play4Kay Pink Day. Interim coach Bill Kegler and the men's program will honor it's three-member Class of 2018 prior to the start of the game. They will also be wearing pink and accepting donations, in coordination with the Madison College women's basketball team, to help the fight against cancer through the Play4Kay Cancer Fund.

The game will be streamed live at MadisonCollege.TV, as well as via the Madison College Athletics Facebook and YouTube pages.

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