January 11, 2007

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—Junior Taiwon Grooms (Landover, Md.) hit a go-ahead 15-foot jumper with 23 seconds left in regulation to catapult the St. Andrews Presbyterian College men’s basketball team to a 66-63 Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference victory over Belmont Abbey College on Thursday night in Harris Court.

The Knights shot a season-high 54.0-percent (27-for-50) from the field to pick up their first CVAC win of the season. SAPC maintains a 4-9 overall and 1-5 conference ledger while the Crusaders fell to 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the CVAC.

The Abbey took the largest lead of the first half early, jumping out to an 8-1 lead in the first two minutes. St. Andrews quickly erased the deficit and tied everything at 11-11. After going back-and-forth, a junior Marcus Hoke (Charlotte, N.C.) three-pointer with 12 minutes left put St. Andrews seemingly into the lead for the rest of the opening period. However, the Crusaders rallied from a late six-point deficit with a 7-0 run to end the half. A junior Ric Marczenko (Victoria, Australia) jumper with two seconds left capped the charge to send BAC into the intermission with a slim 32-31 lead.

The two teams remained close out of the locker room as both team could not pull out to more than a four-point advantage for the first eight minutes of the second half. The game featured 11 total lead changes and six ties.

A sophomore Charles Phillips (Decatur, Ga.) layup midway through the final stanza gave St. Andrews a 54-47 lead but an 11-2 Abbey run propelled the Crusaders back into the lead. BAC continued to lead 63-60 with 2:30 showing on the clock but a junior Bradley Hippolyte (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 3-pointer tied the contest at 63 apiece with 90 seconds left.

The Crusaders missed a potential go-ahead shot and then after a SAPC time out, Grooms hit the clutch pull-up jumper on the left wing with 23 ticks remaining. Belmont Abbey was looking to take the last shot of the game but a traveling call with five seconds left put the ball back into the Knights hands. The Crusaders quickly fouled and Grooms hit the first of two free throws. The second attempt from the charity stripe just missed and the Abbey grabbed the loose ball but a last second heave from half-court was off mark giving SAPC the slim three-point victory.

St. Andrews held a 36-25 rebounding advantage but 10 Abbey steals on 19 SAPC turnovers kept BAC alive.

Grooms added eight rebounds to go along with his 14 points. Hippolyte scored a season-high 11 points including a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc. Hoke scored all nine of his points on a trio of bombs from downtown. Sophomore Keith Josey was the third Knights player in double-digits with 10 points. Freshman Justin Brauda (Monroe, N.C.) dished out a team-high four assists. Sohphomore Charles Phillips (Decatur, Ga.) also tallied a season-highs of eight points and eight rebounds.

Senior Anthony Bell ( Columbia, S.C.) led all scorers with 15 points for the Crusaders. Senior Brooks Beard (Gastonia, N.C.) followed with 13 points. Both Bell and Beard hit three shots from deep. Sophomore Deonte Murphy (Cleveland, Ohio) added 10 points to go along with his game-high eight helpers and five steals. Bell had a team-high six boards.

St. Andrews will go for two straight conference wins when they visit CVAC rival Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, N.C.) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. while Belmont Abbey entertains league foe Coker College at the same time.