AMHERST, Mass. -- Wesleyan freshman Nicky Johnson scored nine of his 13 points in the third overtime while senior Sam Peek netted six of his career-high 37 to lead the Cardinals to a 94-85 triple-overtime victory over the Amherst College men's basketball team in LeFrak Gym Monday night. 

Amherst senior Garrett Day paced the Mammoths (8-2), ranked #20 in the latest D3hoops poll, with 32 points, while Michael Schretter had 13, but it was not enough as they suffered their second straight defeat after opening the season with eight consecutive victories. Amherst is at Middlebury Friday (Jan. 7) for a 7 p.m. tip-off in what will be its conference opener. Wesleyan (12-1) heads to Tufts for a 7 p.m. tilt Friday. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Johnson scored the first four points of the third extra session, giving the visitors a 79-75 advantage. He tapped the opening tip-off to himself, driving the lane for an easy lay-up and a two-point lead. Peek then drained his fourth three-pointer of the contest for an 82-75 Cardinal lead with 3:46 remaining.
• A Will Phelan steal led to a Canin Reynolds lay-up off a pass from Day that cut the Cardinal lead to 82-79, but Johnson responded with his only trey of the game to restore the Wesleyan lead to six. A pair of Reynolds free throws with 1:43 remaining brought the Mammoths back within five at 86-81, but 40 seconds later Peek drained his final three-pointer for an 89-81 advantage with 63 seconds left. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• The back-and-forth struggle produced nine lead changes and nine ties over the course of 55 minutes. Wesleyan's largest lead was 10 at 14-4 early in the first half. The Mammoths largest lead was four points late in the second half after Day poured in a ceiling-scraping three-pointer for a 61-57 advantage with 2:10 to go.
• Gabe Ravetz had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists for Wesleyan. Preston Maccoux added 13 points and 5 rebounds.
• Reynolds had 10 points, 4 rebounds and a team-high 5 assists for Amherst. Schretter's 13 points came on 6 of 13 shooting from the floor.