St. Andrews’ Caleb Brown (grey) defends Bryan’s Ian Johnson (black) during the first half of Saturday’s game. Johnson finished 7-0f-13 from 3-point range in the contest.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/ The Laurinburg Exchange
St. Andrews’ Tyvon Richardson (15) passes the ball to Garrett McRae (1) during the first half of Saturday’s game against Bryan.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/ The Laurinburg Exchange
St. Andrews’ Duncan Lexander (14) hits a midrange jump shot over Bryan’s Trey Morrow (black) during the second half of Saturday’s game.
St. Andrews’ Garrett McRae (grey) drives into the paint as Bryan’s Gene Holmes (black) defends during the second half of Saturday’s game.
St. Andrews’ Ameil Malone (5) hits a jumper over Bryan’s Nick Roberts (12) during the second half of Saturday’s game.
LAURINBURG — In the St. Andrews Knights’ (3-19, 1-18 Appalachian Athletic Conference) last three home games, they have lost by a combined 10 points.
In Saturday’s home contest against the Bryan Lions (12-12, 12-8 AAC), however, the Knights felt a heavy dose of 3-pointers from the Lions, who went 20-of-45 from range, including 13 combined 3s from Ian Johnson and Jamari Bostic, and lost 101-73, their worst loss since a 111-82 defeat by Johnson University on Jan. 7.
On the season, the Lions have shot 33% from downtown and have taken 640 attempts.
Knights assistant coach Randall Johnson talked about why the Knights struggled to try and contain the shooting of Bryan.
“We knew they shot the ball well; they’re a volume 3-point shooting team,” Randall Johnson said. “They made 10 in the first half, 10 in the second half; I mean…what do you do? You can’t match their scoring; you have to try to find other ways to manage points and we just didn’t have it today.”
Brodie Clark and Allan Taylor were unavailable against Bryan because of illnesses.
Randall Johnson explained the impact of both players being out.
“We were down to eight guys (today),” Randall Johnson said. “We’re just trying to manage what we can to try to close out this season strong.”
Ameil Malone scored 13 of the first 20 points for the Knights to give them a 20-16 lead at the 10:17 mark of the first half. Two Duncan Lexander free throws stretched the Knights lead to 22-16, but it would be the largest lead they would hold for the game. A 9-0 run by Bryan, all on 3-pointers, put the Knights down 27-22 with 8:00 left in the half. However, Malone scored back-to-back baskets to make the Knights’ deficit one-point. Bryan outscored the Knights 14-8 the rest of the half and went into halftime ahead 41-34.
In the first five minutes of the second half, Bryan hit five 3-pointers, with three of them coming from Ian Johnson, to boost their lead to 61-45. Three more treys in the next three minutes would follow for the Lions, as they would extend their lead to 72-49. A pair of Garrett McRae layups and a Lexander layup followed for the Knights, but the offensive firepower of Bryan couldn’t be stopped, as they stretched their lead to 80-57 with 8:38 left in the contest. The Knights were able to get within 18 points of the Lions lead at the 4:58 mark, after a McRae layup made the score 84-66, however, never got closer, as Bryan outscored the Knights 17-7 the rest of the way.
Malone led the Knights with 21 points and had five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. McRae finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and five turnovers. Lexander had 17 points in the contest.
Ian Johnson put up a game-high 27 points and was 7-of-13 from 3-point range. Bostic followed behind with 21 points and went 6-of-13 from beyond-the-arc. Trey Morrow chipped in 16 points and finished 3-of-5 from downtown, and Nick Roberts had 15 points off the bench for the Lions, hitting a 3-pointer as well.
The Knights will look to end a five-game losing streak on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. when they host the #5 team in the NAIA, the Union Bulldogs.
Randall Johnson said the Knights will “just have to get back up.”
“It don’t get any easier,” he said. “We’ve got the number (five) ranked team in the country coming in on Tuesday. We’ve got to find a way to do it.”
Reach Brandon Hodge at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @BrandonHSports.