A putback by Quincy James, Jr., with 5.7 seconds remaining was the difference maker as the Central Christian men's basketball team topped Westminster College, 90-88, on Tuesday evening at the Ferneau Center.

James, who was an efficient 8-for-11 from the field with 18 points and nine rebounds, was crucial on the defensive end one play earlier as he blocked the go-ahead attempt by the Blue Jays.

Raheem Brizendine led five Central Christian players with 22 points. Trey Palmer added 15 points, while Chris Woods and Tristan Brand added 10 points each for the Saints, who improved to 5-3 overall.

Both teams had their feel-good moments with the lead in the first half. Westminster jumped out on top,15-6, to start the game before Central Christian put together a 27-10 run over the middle 10 minutes of the half to go up by nine.

The Saints held a 47-38 advantage at the break and led by as many as 11 after scoring the first basket of the second half.

Westminster chipped away at the deficit through the first seven minutes of the second half and took the lead at 57-56 with 13:04 remaining. The Saints quickly regained control and pushed their advantage back up to eight with eight minutes to go.

The Blue Jays took advantage of a series of turnovers and missed layups in the closing minutes to tie the score at 88-apiece. Westminster got the ball inside on their final possession, but James came up with the block on Ben Eberlin's attempt to give the Saints the ball with 29 seconds left to play.

Brizendine drove to the basket and missed the go-ahead attempt before James corralled the miss out of the air and laid it in. Westminster dribbled down the court and launched a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that was off the mark.

Westminster's Brennan Jeffries led all scorers with a game-high 25 points. Eberlin finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, followed by Aaron Poage and Kaden Eirhart with 13 points each.

Despite shooting just 28 percent (5-for-18) from behind the arc, the Saints shot 50 percent from the field. They had 12 steals and forced 19 turnovers out of the Blue Jays.

Central Christian returns to action this weekend when they travel to Ankeny, Iowa, to face Kuyper College and Trinity Bible College in the Faith Classic. All games will be streamed live at https://fbbceagles.com/multimedia/livebroadcast.