Brodie Clark (3) attempts a three-pointer during the first of half of the Knights’ loss to Johnson & Wales on Wednesday night at Harris Court.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Tristian Pretlow (9) defends Malcol Warthen (20).
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Ma’Nas Drummond (1) goes up for a layup in transition. Drummond had 20 points on a 7-12 shooting effort from the floor.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Kwashek Breeden (2) defends a jump shot from Nicholes Levy (11). Breeden had two blocks in the game.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team took a 91-83 loss at the hands of the Johnson & Wales Wildcats on Wednesday night at Harris Court. The Knights fall to 3-17 on the season with their seventh consecutive loss while the Wildcats improve to 10-14 with the victory.
St. Andrews came out of the gates on fire, scoring the first 13 points of the contest on two three-pointers from Jaylin McDuffie as well as seven points from Kwashek Breeden. Ethan Smith finally would get Johnson & Wales on the board with 16:14 left in the first half, which would be the start of the Wildcats going on a 18-4 run over the next five minutes of game time to eliminate the entire deficit and be up 18-17. Johnson & Wales would score another seven unanswered shortly after as part of 16-3 surge that gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the contest at 34-21 with 4:51 left until halftime. They would enter the locker room up 44-34.
St. Andrews was able to win the second half 49-47 and stormed back to take the lead as late as the 6:53 mark of the game (74-73). Unfortunately for the Knights, they would run out of gas as Johnson & Wales answered back with an 8-1 run to give them their lead back at 81-75 with 4:44 left in regulation. St. Andrews was still within three (83-80) with 2:09 left in regulation but couldn’t finish the deal as the Wildcats made some clutch free throws down the stretch and ended the game on an 8-3 run to secure the win.
McDuffie led the Knights in points and rebounds with 21 and seven respectively. Ma’Nas Drummond dished out a team high nine assists, scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three steals. St. Andrews had four double digit scorers: McDuffie, Drummond, Breeden (18) and Christopher Coleman (14).
Despite the loss, St. Andrews held a few statistical advantages. Those include assists (16-7), turnovers committed (9-11), points in the paint (28-22) and fastbreak points (6-0).
The Knights will stay at home when they return to conference play on Saturday afternoon for a matchup with Reinhardt. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
Women’s basketball narrowly falls to Brenau
The Knights were defeated on the road by the Tigers in a 50-48 final on Wednesday night. St. Andrews falls to 10-16 (6-13 against conference opponents) on the season with the loss while Brenau improves to 7-16 (6-12 against AAC teams) with the win.
The Knights were outscored in every quarter of the game except for the third. Brenau won the first period 15-13, the second frame 7-6 and the fourth 20-10 while the Knights took the third quarter 19-8.
Londaisha Smith shared the team lead in scoring with Katie Moore as the pair had 13 points apiece. Smith also grabbed a team leading seven rebounds while Jamicia Davis led the Knights in assists with five.
St. Andrews had some statistical edges in the contest. Those areas include field goal percentage (39.2%-34.6%), free throw percentage (53.8%-43.8%), turnovers committed (8-16), points in the paint (32-22) and bench points (10-4).
The Knights will return home on Saturday afternoon for a matchup with Reinhardt. Tipoff is set for noon.
Beach Volleyball, Baseball, Men’s Volleyball have matches postponed
The three teams have all had games this week get postponed:
The beach team was scheduled to host Southern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon for a pair of matchups at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The team will next be in action on Friday and Saturday with home matchups against Salem College, Spartanburg Methodist, Liberty University and Wake Tech. The Knights currently sit at 2-1 on the season.
Baseball has had a game postponed for the second time this week after their home contest against William Peace from Tuesday was also postponed. This time, the first contest of their three-game road set against Union Commonwealth has been postponed. The 2-2 Knights will have a doubleheader against the Bulldogs on Friday with first pitch times of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Men’s Volleyball was set to host Truett McConnell on Friday night at Harris Court. The 0-2 Knights will next be in action next Saturday, Feb. 22 at home against conference foe Reinhardt. The game will start at 11 a.m. that day.