January 8, 2007

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.— Junior Taiwon Grooms’ (Landover, Md.) only missed shot in the second half came on a last second drive to the basket that would have sent the game into overtime, but the layup rattled out and visiting Limestone College escaped with a 60-58 CVAC victory over St. Andrews Presbyterian College on Monday night in Harris Court.

The Saints improved to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in the CVAC while the Knights fell to 3-9 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

After Limestone scored on the opening possession of the game, a Grooms three-pointer on the ensuing play provided St. Andrews with the lead for the rest of the first half. The Knights pulled out to a 20-8 lead midway through the first. However, Limestone chipped away at the deficit behind five three-pointers to only trail by one, 28-27, at halftime.

Freshman Justin Brauda (Monroe, N.C.) led the Knights into the locker room scoring all 10 of his points in the first half.

The Saints kept the momentum out of the intermission and took a 43-36 lead with 13 minutes to go behind a 16-9 run to start the half. Limestone increased its advantage to nine points, 43-52, with seven minutes left but St. Andrews rallied back and tied everything at 54-54 with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes.

The two teams split the next four points and a junior Marques Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) trey with 79 ticks left on the clock propelled the Saints into the lead for good. After a missed opportunity by both teams, an offensive rebound by senior Richard Stone (Williamsburg, Va.) led to a sophomore Keith Josey (Suffolk, Va.) layup out of a timeout to pull the Knights to within one, 59-58, with 12 seconds left.

Williams converted on one of two attempts from the charity strip to extend Limestone’s slim lead to two. However, after the missed second free throw went out of bounds St. Andrews had one last shot. Grooms, who had the hot hand going 5-for-5 in the second half heading into the final possession, was given the last opportunity. After getting the ball outside the arc, Grooms drove down the lane and put a good shot that just missed and Limestone grabbed the loose ball rebound as time expired.

St. Andrews shot 46.8-percent (22-of-47) from the field but only 46.7% (7-of-15) from the free throw line. Limestone was held to 20-for-52 (38.5%) shooting while both teams grabbed 33 rebounds.

Grooms finished with a team-high 18 points. Stone bucketed 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Sophomore Andre Coleman (Clermont, Fla.) led all scorers with 24 points including six 3-pointers. Williams totaled 11 points while senior Shawn Poppie (Cresent City, Ill.) and junior John Prioleau (Charleston, S.C.) each added eight points. Poppie dished out a game-high seven assists while senior Terrell Smith (West Columbia, S.C.) made a game-high five steals.

St. Andrews will host CVAC rival Belmont Abbey College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.