Men's Basketball Advances in AAC Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Montreat (NC) (14-15) | 40 | 37 | 77 |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan (12-14) | 40 | 47 | 87 |
KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The men's basketball team opened play in the first round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday. The team earned the No. 8 seed in the tournament and faced off against the No. 9 seed Montreat College Cavaliers.
A layup and two free throws by Kobe Pride put the game in a 4-4 tie. Jay Reed and Amauri Young scored to keep pace with the Montreat scoring while Darius Rozier gave the team their first lead of the game at 10-9. Peyton West hit a three-pointer to make the lead four points and Ty Hurst made a layup to move the score to 15-9. By the midway point of the first half, the Bulldogs held a 23-11 lead after a Young three-point jump shot. With 7:20 left in the game, West's three-point jumper gave the team their largest lead of the game, a score of 28-15. The momentum changed though as Montreat went on a 15-2 run to tie the game 30-30 with 4:06 remaining in the half. The teams exchanged baskets over the remaining time until halftime as the game went into the break tied 40-40.
To begin the second half, the opponents scored 12 of the first 14 points to put TWU down 52-42. Six straight points by the Bulldogs from the combination of Rozier, Young, and Reed. Tennessee Wesleyan was not able to pull closer at the time as Montreat pulled ahead by ten points again with 9:15 remaining in the game. The team erased the ten-point deficit over a two-minute timespan, tying the score 63-63 with points from Young, Nichaune Jones, and Pride. Montreat broke the tie and held on to the lead for the next several minutes. The score became tied again, this time at 72-72. West broke the tie with a pair of free throws, setting Tennessee Wesleyan on a 15-5 scoring spree to end the game, giving them an 87-77 win.
West and Young both scored 16 points while Pride (15), Reed (11), and Jones (10) were also in double figures.
The win moves the Bulldogs (12-14) to the quarterfinal round where they will face the No. 1 seed in the field, Union College. The game will be played on Thursday at 10:15 a.m.