January 20, 2007

Boxscore

MISENHEIMER, N.C.—Junior forward Taiwon Grooms (Landover, Md.), who scored a career-high 33 points, hit two game-tying free throws with 4.4 seconds left in regulation and then hit the go-ahead bucket in overtime to lift visiting St. Andrews Presbyterian College to 106-101 upset victory over No. 18 nationally ranked Pfeiffer University on Saturday night.

“It was a great moment for St. Andrews,” said second year head coach Billy Lee. “We played against a really good ball club today. Pfeiffer is a very quick and talented team that I think our players showed a lot of heart and growth to play with them.”

Senior Richard Stone (Williamsburg, Va.) also posted a career-high with 30 points as the Knights won their fourth straight Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference game. SAPC maintains a 7-9 overall record and a 4-5 CVAC ledger. The Falcons, the nations leading scoring team in NCAA Division II, fell to 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the league.

“That was the most points we have scored since I’ve been here and it took every bit of it to win,” added Lee. “We seem to be playing better on the offensive end and playing a smarter game of basketball. It’s just a great team win. Activity does not always mean achievement but in the last four games we have had both activity and achievement.”

The first half saw six different lead changes before a Stone jumper with 4:03 on the clock provided St. Andrews with the largest advantage of seven points, 39-32. Pfeiffer ended the half with a 10-4 run to pull within one, 43-42, at halftime.

The Falcons continued to roll out of the locker room building the largest lead of the contest, 64-52, with 14 minutes to go by starting the second with a 22-9 run. The Knights answered with an 18-6 run over the next five minutes including two made free throws by freshman Justin Brauda (Monroe, N.C.) to deadlock the game at 70-70.

The contest remained close for the next couple minutes until a late 13-5 run in the final three minutes by Pfeiffer gave the hosts a seemingly insurmountable lead, 93-88, with 18 seconds left in regulation. However, Grooms rallied the Knights in the final moments. SAPC’s leading scorer hit a clutch three-pointer that stopped the clock at 4.4. Grooms then applied relentless defense on the ensuing inbounds play and a Falcons player was called for pushing-off Grooms in an attempt to get open sending the junior to the foul line. Grooms confidently drilled both shots from the charity stripe and the Falcons last chance shot rattled into sophomore Keith Josey’s (Suffolk, Va.) arms sending the game into OT.

The Knights came out firing in the extra period, hitting their first four shots to take a 101-95 lead with three minutes left. Pfeiffer rallied back with a 6-0 run over the next minute to square everything back up at 101-101. St. Andrews remained composed and Josey found Grooms for the eventual game-winning basket inside with 1:21 left. The Falcons had a turnover and missed a trey on their final two possessions while Brauda hit 3-of-4 free throws to secure the five-point victory for SAPC.

“It is nice to see what is emerging from our teams is a consistent group of players that can jell together,” expressed Lee. “There were many dark moments in the game when we could have gotten discouraged but we fought back at those times. We are playing two units at a time to help improve our energy level and intensity and it is paying off.”

Josey’s game-high 13 rebounds helped St. Andrews’ dominate the glass, 45-33. The Knights shot an impressive 57.1% (44-for-77) from the field while Pfeiffer went 48.7% (38-for-78). The Falcons hit nine shots from behind the arc to the Knights five.

Grooms added team-highs of five assists and four steals to go along with his 33 point performance. Josey recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards while Brauda chipped in with 12 points. Grooms and Stone each grabbed seven boards while Josey swatted away three blocks. Sophomore DeRalle Piersall (Dumfries, Va.) logged six points and four assists.

The leading scorer in NCAA D-II, DeMario Greer, led the Falcons with 26 points. Tavares Cooper and Robert McGriff each had 17 points while Logan Call bucketed 14.

St. Andrews will go for five straight wins when the visit CVAC foe Queens University of Charlotte on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.