Garrett Rallies to Down Wolfpack 87-86

YOUNGWOOD, Pa. - Although Jakir Hampton scored 34 points, the Westmoreland County Community College men's basketball club team couldn't hold off a furious second-half rally, as the Garrett College Freshmen Team came back to post an 87-86 win Friday night.

Hampton had a huge first half, which propelled the Wolfpack (1-2) to a 51-29 lead at the break. He rifled in 25 points, including six three-pointers, while Mohamed Conde drained a pair of threes and scored eight and Jason Pierre came off the bench to hit for seven in lifting Westmoreland to the big lead.

Another Conde three kept the Wolfpack lead at 58-36 with 16 minutes to play, but the Lakers began slowly chipping into their deficit. The visitors had it under 15 by the midway point of the half and trimmed it to three points with four minutes remaining. They took their first lead of the half on a trey with 1:40 left and then pushed their lead to 85-82 before Hampton knotted the score with a three with 1:14 to go.

After Westmoreland got a stop, a foul put Noah Raynor-Savage on the line and his free throw gave the Wolfpack the lead with 37 seconds to play. On the other end, Garrett's Antonio Marr got to the rim and finished for an 87-86 Laker lead with 21 seconds showing. The Wolfpack's final shot at the buzzer was off the mark and Garrett escaped with the narrowest of wins.

Hampton had a huge night overall, going 12-of-14 from the floor for his 34 points and also passed out five assists. Joel LoNigro scored 14 points in the contest and also handed out five assists while making three steals and Conde chipped in with 12 points, while Brandon Baird grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

The Wolfpack will be back in action on Sunday with a road trip to Garrett to face off with the Lakers varsity team in a 1 pm tip-off.