TIFFIN --  Six successful free throw attempts off the hands of Tamal Watkins with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game, sealed a 69-62 win for the Heidelberg University men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon. 

The Student Princes (6-9, 4-4 OAC) knocked off Muskingum University (7-8, 2-6) in what was truly was a back-and-forth affair that featured a eight tied scores and six lead changes. 

Watkins led The Berg in scoring with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Watkins also grabbed three rebounds and handed out two assists. Emmanuel Perdue added 15 points on 50% shooting. Perdue helped his own case with four rebounds and three assists. 

Dylan Woods led the team with seven rebounds and added a game-high four assists. Primarily on defensive duties this afternoon, Josh Dixon chipped in four points, three rebounds, and a steal. Dixn helped hold the conference's leading scorer to a contested 8-of-24 from the floor. 

A brief 10-4 run across 3:10 of action established an eight point lead for the Student Princes at 17-9. Across the run, HU connected on a pair of 3-pointers, one each from Dylan Woods and Curt Jacobs. Layups from Logan West-Holmes and Emmanuel Perdue balanced out the team's offense during the spell. 

From there, the Muskies fought their way back into the game, kicking off an even back-and-forth affair for the remainder of the first half. The lone difference at the break was a pair of Muskingum free throws with just 2.9 seconds remaining that set the score to 32-30 in favor of the visitors. 

Heidelberg held a slight advantage shooting the ball in the first 20 minutes as they converted on 13 field goals, compared to 10 from Muskingum. MU's advantage came courtesy of nine successful free throws, while Heidelberg did not find their way to the stripe in the first half. 

Out of the half, Muskingum scored the first basket, before The Berg embarked on a 10-2 run. Emmanuel Perdue found quite a bit of space over the run, working in a jumper and then back-to-back 3-pointers that forced Muskingum into a timeout. 

The Student Princes' efforts kept up as the team built out their largest advantage of the game at 52-43. A Nakhi Taylor 3-pointer from the corner ignited the crowd and forced the Muskies into another timeout. 

From the Taylor bucket, Muskingum slowly chipped their way back into the game. Across an eight minute spell, Heidelberg was outscored 16-10, enabling the Muskies an opportunity to overcome their 62-59 deficit with 1:25 remaining. 

With 39 seconds remaining in the game, Muskingum was desperate to foul, and sent Tamal Watkins to the line for six attempts. Watkins cashed in on all six tries, capping off the 69-62 win for the Student Princes. 

Heidelberg had advantages in numerous categories on the day including rebounds (37-35), assists (12-7), steals (7-6) and shooting percentage (42%-24%). 

For the Muskies, Marcus Dempsey scored 29 points and added seven boards. 

At halftime, the Heidelberg Cheerleading team put on their annual junior cheer performance, cheering alongside numerous youth from the surrounding communities. A photo of the group can be found @BergAthletics on Twitter. 

The Student Princes will play their next three games on the road starting this Wednesday at Capital University. Tipoff in Bexley is scheduled for 7 p.m.