December 5, 2007

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—Junior Joseph Gripper (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Colby Poe (Bennettsville, N.C.) shared game-high honors for host St. Andrews Presbyterian College with 16 points apiece, but visiting Chowan University erased a seven-point second half en route to a 60-55 non-conference men’s basketball victory in Harris Court on Wednesday night.

Junior Chris Kenon (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored all of his 13 points in the second half to lead the comeback efforts as the Hawks improved to 4-3 on the season. The Knights, who played in their home-opener after starting the season with six road contests, dropped to 0-7.

Chowan opened up the game with a 9-0 run and led for all 20 minutes in the first period. A freshman Raul Tutelea (Montreal, Ontario, Canada) lay-up with 11:30 left increased the Hawks advantage to a game-high 12 points (20-8).

Trailing by 10 with less than three minutes left in the open stanza, St. Andrews finished the half with an 8-0 run capped with a three-pointer by Gripper in the final seconds to pull the Knights to within two, 26-24, heading into the intermission.

Poe continued the Knights rally with his own three-pointer out of the break to provide SAPC with its first lead of the evening, 27-26. St. Andrews continued to hit shots from behind the arc with a trio of swishes from downtown in the first five minutes as the Knights built a seven-point lead with a 15-6 run to begin the second.

St. Andrews maintained a seven-point advantage inside of seven minutes remaining but a 9-2 surge by the visitors deadlocked everything at 51-51. Gripper gave the Knights a two-point lead one last time with a lay-up but Kenon’s own lay-in evened the score. After a SAPC miss, Kenon put the Hawks on top for good with a three-pointer. Gripper cut the deficit to one with a pair of made free throws with 1:59 left but it would be St. Andrews last points. Tutelea added four points in the final minute to increase Chowan’s final margin of victory to five.

The Hawks made 22-of-45 (48.9%) of their shots while the Knights converted on 20-of-44 (45.5%) including 9-of-22 (40.9%) from three-point range. Chowan controlled the boards 29-21 and committed fewer turnovers, 20-18.

Three Hawks finished in double digits including a team-high 15 points from sophomore Jaleel Nelson (Suffolk, Va.). Tutelea and Kenon finished with 14 and 13, respectively. Nelson added a game-high seven rebounds and four blocks.

Poe scored 12 of his 16 points on a game-high four 3-pointers while Gripper had a hot hand making 6-of-8 shots for his 16 points. Poe had a team-high three steals while junior Charles Phillips (Decatur, Ga.) chipped in with four rebounds, four points, and three assists. Senior Marcus Hoke (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Ron Deas (Clayton, N.C.) tallied six points apiece.

St. Andrews next entertains non-conference Shaw University on Thursday, December 13 at 7:00 p.m. Chowan hosts Mount Olive College on that same day at 7:30 p.m.