AUBURN — The basketball gods give, and the basketball gods take away.

One week ago, Central Maine Community College nearly tore the roof off Kirk Hall with Justin Cocroft’s buzzer-beater against New Hampshire Tech.

Wednesday night, the fickle fingers of fate were connected to the hand of Southern Maine Community College shooter Jose Nouchanthavong.

Nouchanthavong’s spinning 15-footer from the right wing caught nothing but net at the horn, vaulting the Seawolves to a wild 72-70 win over the Mustangs.

“We drew up a play, but the play wasn’t there,” Nouchanthavong said. “I got a screen. I saw three seconds and I threw it up there. I didn’t even see it go in.”

That’s because he was promptly buried at the bottom of a rugby scrum made up of about two dozen SMCC players, students and fans in the far corner of the gym.

Nouchanthavong scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half to rally SMCC (10-3 overall, 7-1 Yankee Conference) from a 12-point deficit.

“Jose was having an unbelievable game, so we wanted to run a ball screen and then let him make a read. We had a big kid underneath,” SMCC coach Matt Richards said. “Dave (Gonyea, CMCC coach) switched (the defender) so then he does spin, dribble, fall-away jumper and it goes in. Just the way I drew it up.”

Samson Oleyami twice tied the game for CMCC (9-6, 6-2) in the final minute, first with a steal and a transition lay-up, then on a slice to the basket with 10.1 seconds left.

The Seawolves immediately called timeout, a delay that was lengthened while security and both coaches dispersed a bipartisan crowd that had congregated along the baseline in anticipation of the final play.

“It’s an emotional game. At the end of the day that’s all I ask them to do is play hard,” Gonyea said. “I thought that was a good shot at the end; a good play at the end. We know how that feels.”

Oleyami led all scorers with 17 points for CMCC. Ismail Rios added 12 and Cocroft 11 for the Mustangs.

Chance Baldino scored 16 points in a reserve role to spark the Seawolves. Emmanuel Donalson chipped in nine points before fouling out with 2:48 remaining.

It was tied at 35 at the half.

Jon Amabile nailed a 3-pointer out of the break to give SMCC the lead before CMCC scored 15 unanswered points to seize tentative command. Cocroft canned a pair of 3-pointers and had eight points during the run.

“Early on when I took this job there were one or two blowouts, them to us. Other than that it’s always been down to the wire,” Richards said. “Kudos to them. They came out and smacked us in the mouth to start the half. I was kind of concerned that maybe our emotions would get the best of us and we would fold, but we recovered.”

Boldino’s 3-pointer capped a stretch of seven straight points to right the SMCC ship.

Later, another 7-0 run, punctuated by two Donalson hoops, put the Seawolves in front 64-63 with 5:15 to go.

“Heart. We had the heart,” Nouchanthavong said. “Everybody kept fighting. Nobody wanted to go home on the bus after a loss.”

Darrell Wilson’s baseline drive restored the CM advantage. After Jalen Lincoln hit the first of two free throws, Boldino knotted it at 66 with 3:29 left.

The next two minutes were a series of turnovers, tie-ups and misses from short range before two Tyheem Simon free throws gave the Seawolves an edge.

Sandwiched between the two Oleyami baskets, Alex Hartford’s hoop made it 70-68 SM with 37 seconds to play.

There were 13 lead changes and seven ties in all.

“They were great tonight. I can’t sit here and say CM didn’t deserve to win,” Richards said. “They did so many good things. I was fortunate to have the ball late and have my kid make a shot.”

“We kind of thought he would take the shot,” Gonyea said of Nouchanthavong. “We tried to deny him the ball. He’s a good player.”

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