HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The William Carey Men's Basketball Team pulled away late to defeat Blue Mountain Christian 79-67 in conference action Thursday night at Clinton Gym.
"I thought we played with a lot of intensity on the defensive end tonight in what was a very physical game," said Head Coach
Steve Knight. "Our communication was on point and effort was outstanding. I am looking forward to building upon the good second half that we had tonight and to continue improving as a team."
Despite being out shot 40% to 35.5% and losing the rebound battle 22-18, the Crusaders only found themselves trailing 31-30 at the end of the first half. Carey got off to a great start, as
Makeem Roberts opened the scoring with a layup and
Cam Brown followed with back-to-back three pointers to give Carey an 8-0 lead just two minutes in.
BMCU eventually settled in on the defensive side and picked up the tempo on offense, cutting the deficit to 11-9 over the next two minutes. After a pair of free throws by
Dylan Brumfield,
Jamar Jenkins followed with a three-point basket to push the WCU lead to seven with fourteen minutes remaining.
The next six minutes saw the Toppers battle their way back to within one point this time at 18-17 only to see the Crusaders again answer with baskets by
Ankerion Gross,
Ashton Campbell, and Roberts to make it 25-17. Just like the two times before, Blue Mountain fought their way back, this time closing the half on a 9-2 run to take the lead heading into the break.
Coming out of the break both teams went back and forth with the Crusaders retaking the lead for good in the opening minutes. With Carey leading 40-37 after five minutes, WCU pulled away behind a 9-2 run with seven of those points coming off free throws.
That was all the momentum the Crusaders needed, as they seized control of the game, leading by as many as fifteen points on their way to victory. For the half, WCU converted 24 of 29 free throw attempts while out shooting the Toppers 47.8% to 37.9%.
Cam Brown and
Dylan Brumfield led the offense, each finishing with 21 points with Brunfield also pulling down nine rebounds.
Makeem Roberts added 12 points while
Ashton Campbell added ten points.
The Crusaders are back in action Saturday, January 4, as they take on Loyola University in SSAC action. Play is set to begin at 2:00 pm at Clinton Gym.
