The Culver-Stockton College men's basketball team made the plays when they needed it down the stretch to hold off Central Methodist University and pick up a 77-71 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory Tuesday afternoon at Charles Field House.

The Wildcats trailed 35-30 at the intermission but opened the second half with a 9-2 run to to take a 39-37 lead with 16:47 remaining in the game.

From that point, neither team led by more than three points until the Eagles grabbed a 59-55 advantage with 7:21 to play in the game.

C-SC answered with an 8-0 run over the next two and half minutes to go up 63-59, a lead they would never relinquish.

A basket by CMU's Trey Sinegal pulled the Eagle to within 69-68 with 92 seconds remaining; however, Connor Davis split a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left, and Tai Walters-Whitaker drained two free throws with 34 seconds left to up the C-SC lead to 74-68.

The Eagles' Trevon Smith was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws with 10 seconds remaining and trailing 74-71, but C-SC's Seth Larson made two free throws with eight seconds left and Gabe Cox made one of two free ones with five-tenths of a second left to seal the victory.

Larson had monster game for the Wildcats, registering a double-double with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Larson was 8-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-5 from distance.

Robert Fry II complemented Larson's effort with 23 points of his own, going 9-for-18 from the floor.Fry also had a team high four assists.

The Wildcat defense forced 16 Eagle turnovers, scoring 18 points off those miscues. C-SC had just six turnovers in the game.

The Wildcats, who improve to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, is slated to travel to Oskaloosa, Iowa, next Wednesday, Nov. 29, to face William Penn University. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.