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Late Arrington Free Throws Lift Builders Over St. Paul's 63-61

Late Arrington Free Throws Lift Builders Over St. Paul's 63-61
Posted: Dec 11, 2008

NEWPORT NEWS, VA. - Junior Jason Arrington hit two free throws with five-tenths of a second left as the Apprentice School pulled out a 63-61 victory over St. Paul's College on Thursday night.

The first half saw nine lead changes as the NCAA Division II Tigers traded buckets with the Builders before outscoring the hosts 12-3 in a five minute span to take a 25-17 lead on a tip-in from Michael Thornton with 5:31 left. Apprentice School (6-2) chipped the deficit down to 29-28 with 2:15 left in the half on a pair of Fred Spratley foul shots.  St. Paul's outscored the Builders 11-2 to close the half to lead 40-30 on an Anthony Wynn layup with 15 seconds left in the half.

In a wild second half that also saw nine lead changes and five ties, the Builders took their first lead of the half at 46-44 on an Eric Joe jumper with 11:24 left.  From there neither team had no more than a three-point advantage.

A pair of Eric Ruffin free throws with 1:46 left to tie the game for the ninth time at 59-all.  Wynn, who was the game-high scorer for St. Paul's with 30 points, hit a jumper off a feed from George Leseur gave the Tigers a 61-59 lead with 32 seconds left.  A missed jumper was stuck back in by Spratley with five seconds left to tie the game at 61-all. 

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Arrington stole the ball from Kendrick Williams and was fouled with five-tenths of a second.  He hit both foul shots to give the Builders the final margin.  A last-ditch inbounds pass was deflected out of bounds to end the game.

Ruffin was the leading scorer for the Builders with 16 points, while Spratley added 14 and a team-high nine rebounds.  Arrington chipped in 12 points and a team-high seven assists and Joe had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Things do not get easier for the Builders as NCAA Division II Francis Marion University is next on the schedule Saturday at 2 pm.  The Patriots are 5-0 and is 3-0 against the Builders.

APPRENTICE SCHOOL 63, ST. PAUL'S 61

ST. PAUL'S (2-4): WYNN,Anthony 12-18 6-8 30; WILLIAMS,Kedrick 4-10 2-3 11;  THORNTON,Michael 4-8 0-0 8; LESEUR,George 1-7 2-2 5; POITILLO,Quanta 1-1 1-2 3; RASOULL,Ibn-Saed 0-3 2-2 2; DABNEY,Jermaine 1-5 0-0 2; Day,Jerome 0-0 0-0 0; JOHNSON,Kwame 0-0 0-0 0; WILLIAMS,Derrick 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 13-17 61.

APPRENTICE SCHOOL (6-2): Eric Ruffin 6-14 4-7 16; Fred Spratley 4-9 6-6 14; Jason  Arrington 4-9 3-4 12; Eric Joe 5-14 1-2 11; Stanford Johnson 2-5 0-0 4; Trevor Jones 1-3  1-2 4; Thomas Scott 1-2 0-0 2; Joseph Lyons 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 15-21 63.

Halftime-St. Paul's 40-30.  3-point goals--St. Paul's 2-13 (LESEUR,George 1-4; WILLIAMS,Kedrick 1-3; DABNEY,Jermaine 0-4; WILLIAMS,Derrick 0-2), Apprentice School 2-9 (Trevor Jones 1-1; Jason Arrington 1-4; Thomas Scott 0-1; Joseph Lyons 0-1; Fred Spratley 0-2). Fouled out--St. Paul's-None, Apprentice School-None. Rebounds--St. Paul's 34 (THORNTON,Michael 11), Apprentice School 36 (Fred Spratley 9). Assists--St. Paul's 14 (LESEUR,George 4), Apprentice School 17 (Jason Arrington 7). Total fouls--St. Paul's 17, Apprentice School 15. Technical fouls--St. Paul's-THORNTON,Michael, Apprentice School-None.