St. Andrews gets 2nd win of season in upset fashion over Tennessee Wesleyan
Jan. 14—LAURINBURG — "Win or go home."
That was the attitude that St. Andrews head coach Randy Hernandez wanted his team to have in the second half to knock off the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs (11-4, 10-4 Appalachian Athletic Conference).
The St. Andrews Knights (2-14, 1-13 AAC) listened and were able to upset Tennessee Wesleyan 81-76 Saturday afternoon in-route to their second win of the season.
Hernandez felt his team wanted the win more than the Bulldogs did and also felt being healthier as a team made a difference.
"It's all about how hard you want to win," Hernandez said after the game. "The heart is there, we were just missing a couple of guys that (came) in. I'm just glad we got the victory."
The Knights went up 5-0 early on after a Caleb Brown 3-pointer and two free throws by Garrett McRae, before the Bulldogs tied the game off a Peyton West (five points) 3-ball and a Kobe Pride (six points) jump-shot. Brown finished with 11 points and four assists, while McRae had a game-high 23 points and made all seven of his free throw attempts.
After both teams exchanged points continuously and with the Knights down 20-19 during the first half, a 9-0 run by the Bulldogs would give them a 10-point lead before Hernandez called his second timeout of the half.
What ensued was an onslaught of points by the Knights, as they would score 19 straight points and go up 38-29 with 4:17 remaining in the first half.
The Bulldogs were able to tighten things up down the stretch, but it was St. Andrews who led at halftime 43-37.
In the second half, the Knights were able to expand their lead to 51-41 off a Brown jumper, however, it was followed by a 13-3 run by the Bulldogs to tie the game up with 11:31 remaining.
The Knights were able to get back in front and led 74-59 with 6:37 remaining, after a Brodie Clark made layup. Clark finished the day 4-of-7 from 3-point range and had 16 points off the bench for the Knights.
As the Knights seemed to put the contest to bed, the Bulldogs came back to within three points with 3:21 to go after a 12-0 stretch.
Clark was able to hit a layup and the Knights were able to finish the game 5-of-6 from the free throw line, however, to avoid the comeback bid the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs never led in the second half.
Knights forward Ameil Malone finished the game with 19 points and 17 rebounds, which led all rebounders. Allan Taylor had 12 points and seven rebounds for St. Andrews, as well.
Elisha Mayberry led the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and came down with seven rebounds. Ray Tyler had 17 points and went 5-of-8 from 3-point range, while Darius Rozier collected 12 points and seven rebounds also for Tennessee Wesleyan.
Free throws were the difference in the result of the game, as the Knights connected on 23-of-27 (85.2%) attempts and the Bulldogs made 10-of-16 (62.5%) attempts.
The Knights, as a team this season, are shooting 61.4% from the free throw line on 14.7 attempts per game, while the Bulldogs are making 67.3% of their attempts.
After the Knights lost by one-point in their last game against Truett-McConnell, Hernandez feels like the Knights are starting to put it all together in the back-half part of the season
"We're understanding each other," Hernandez said. "Guys are coming and doing their jobs. They got in the right position at the right time. We made our free throws down in the end. Everybody did their job today overall and that's how you win games. Great outcome from last game."
The Knights will be back in action on Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. when they take on the Morris College Hornets in Sumter, S.C. before their next home match-up on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. against Kentucky Christian University.
