GROVE CITY — Cody Fleeger got some validation Monday night for all of his hard work and effort with the Grove City College men's basketball team.

Not that he needed it.

The Butler graduate and Wolverine sophomore guard-forward sank a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining Monday night, giving his team a 71-68 victory at Bethany.

The bucket marked Fleeger's only points of the game as Grove City won its sixth in a row and swept Bethany in the regular season for the first time since 2000.

"Cody Fleeger earned that shot. It was no fluke," GCC coach Steve Lamie said. "He prepared himself for that moment."

Largely because of his defensive ability, Fleeger averaged 25 minutes off the bench as a freshman last season. He started seven games and averaged 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest.

The 6-foot-1 Fleeger entered his sophomore year fulling expecting to crack the starting lineup.

But Luke Tomaselli returned from an injury that sidelined him last year and Joe McCoy, a fifth-year senior, decided to come back for his final year of eligibility.

That left Fleeger in the role of sixth man.

And he's flourishing at it.

"Whatever's needed, I do," Fleeger said. "Whether it's grab a key rebound, hit a 3-pointer or just guard a guy. Hustle and defense are what I like to provide."

Fleeger is averaging 21.5 miutes per game off the bench — by far the most of any Wolverine non-starter — and has hit 10 3-pointers, generated 18 assistsand averages 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Those seem like modest numbers for a guy who was MVP of Butler's last WPIAL playoff team in 2007-08.

"I get on the floor here because of my defense," Fleeger said. "If you can't play defense, you can't play in this system.

"This is one of the closest teams I've ever been on. We're so team-oriented and that's why we're winning."

The win over Bethany gave Grove City a 14-7 overall record, including 8-2 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. The Wolverines are leading the conference.

Lamie has enjoyed eight winning seasons and three PAC titles in his 12-year reign as Grove City coach.

"Cody brings intensity into the game when he comes in," Lamie said. "He does everything right and he knows what to do when the ball is in his hands.

"I look for him to develop into more of an offensive threat in the next couple of years. Right now, he's handling his role extremely well for us."

Fleeger's work ethic in practice has elevated the Wolverines as well.

"Most kids come out of high school and don't know know how to work toward reaching college-level intensity on the court," Lamie said. "Cody's had no problems in that regard.

"In fact, he's one of three guys (joining McCoy and 1,000-point scorer Andy O'Keefe) who are work-out fanatics. Cody takes more than 100 shots every day in practice. That's why he was ready for that moment at Bethany.

"The work ethic of those three has permeated through the rest of the team. Now I have eight or nine guys like that. You can't measure that type of impact," Lamie added.

The trey against Bethany was the first game-winning shot of Fleeger's collegiate career.

"Yeah, I guess that's my highlight so far," he said. "Our point guard (Pine-Richland graduate Brett Matson) was supposed to drive and dish it out to the right corner, but that guy was covered.

"I was the first open guy he saw, so I got the ball."

And made the shot.

Fleeger plans to make a lot more.

"I plan to be a starter next year," he said. "We're graduating a few guys. But we've got the pieces in place to play for a while longer this year."