SILVER CITY, N.M. – 1.1 seconds. It doesn't sound like much, but it was plenty of time for Westminster College to pull off the improbable game-winning shot Saturday night against the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team. After the Mustangs had worked their way back into the contest, the Griffins went to Jordan Pryor and he hit a three-quarter court shot that just missed the hanging rafters and banked in at the buzzer to send Westminster to the 74-71 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory.

The shot left everyone stunned – including the winning team. A few hours earlier when the game started, no one could have predicted this type of ending, especially how WC (13-8, 9-8 RMAC) started the game.

With 13:46 left in the first half, the Griffins had built their largest lead of the night of 12, 20-8. Still down eight, WNMU (1-21, 1-16 RMAC) worked their way back with junior Brandon Tanter (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep) hitting a three-pointer. Senior Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver) added a jumper and after a Tanter free throw, senior Makhtar Fall (Morocco/Ecole Al Jabr) completed a fastbreak with authority slamming it home to tie the game at 24.

The Girffins ended up regaining the lead and took a 41-37 lead into halftime.

Freshman Willie McCray (Clovis, NM/Clovis/Westwind Prep Academy ) put the Mustangs in front for the first time at the 12:35 mark of the second half when he converted a fastbreak layup and a 51-49 advantage.

Kesler and McCray added five more foul shots to all of a sudden give WNMU their biggest lead of the night at seven, 56-49, with 11:36 to go in the game. McCray had a several minute stretch in the second half where he was leaving Griffin defenders still looking for him.

With the crowd feeling the comeback, the Griffins didn't panic. They slowly worked back going on a 10-2 run to regain the lead at 59-58 at the 7:05 mark. Zerrion Payton was posting steal after steal for WC as he collected four steals in the game, turning them into fastbreak buckets.

The teams then continued to trade leads down the stretch with the lead getting no higher than two until the final shot.

With the Griffins holding a 69-67 lead with a minute to play, the Mustangs turned to McCray. He once again blew past several defenders and hit a layup with 43 seconds left to tie the game again at 69.

Casey Evans countered for the Griffins, as the shot clock was down to one when Payton found him near the baseline and he hit the jumper to move WC back in front by two, 71-69, with 11 seconds to play.

McCray was ready to answer the call once again as he took the ball into traffic and hit a difficult layup with just two seconds to play and even the game at 71.

WC tried to do a quick in-bounds out of the made shot, but the ball was knocked out of bounds leaving 1.1 seconds. The Griffins called timeout and setup the winning shot for Pryor that left everyone stunned.

Both teams shot well in the thrilling back-and-forth affair with WC making 26-58 (45) to 23-53 (43) for WNMU. WC made 7-22 (32) from three, while WNMU made 5-18 (28). Both teams shot a lot of foul shots with WC making 15-16 (94) and WNMU 20-26 (77).

Kesler posted a big game pouring in 19 points to pace the Mustangs. He connected on three three-pointers. McCray added 17 points, junior Emery Range (Grand Rapids, MI/Willow Canyon) with 11 and freshman Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air ) tallied 10. Freshman Carter Aby (San Tan Valley, AZ/Combs) pulled down a team-high five rebounds and added two blocks.

Payton was a force on defense and led the Griffins and all-scorers going for 22 points. He also added seven assists and four steals. Brandon Warr chipped in 16 points and Evans added 13.

The game featured nine ties and six lead changes.

WNMU will hit the road this coming week when they will play at Colorado Christian on Friday beginning at 7 p.m.