HATTEISBURG, Miss. – WCU men's basketball led from start to finish in their home opener, defeating Southeastern Baptist 109-58.
"Not a great start to either half, but we found a way to pick it up as we got into the flow of the game," said Assistant Coach PJ McCray. "Our offense was slow but still managed to get 21 assists. We'll continue to have slow offensive possessions until we can get our guys on the same page with their pace of play. Thankfully, we have players that are willing to work and fix it. Our defense forced 42 turnovers while collecting 29 steals and I hope we can continue to hang our hat on the defense as we have worked really hard on it. We're thankful for the home crowd and we look forward to seeing a full house on Nov. 4 vs Dillard. It's a great way to start the season."
Back-to-back baskets by
Anthony Robinson and
Jamar Jenkins opened the scoring for the Crusaders. Alongside some help from the defense, Carey had a 13-0 lead after six minutes of play. After pushing that lead to 17 by the 11-minute mark, the Chargers managed to trim the lead to 23-12. SBC's rally was quickly put to rest as the Crusaders extended the lead to 38-17 with three minutes remaining in the half.
Over the final minutes WCU extended their lead to 49-21 at the break. For the half, Carey shot just under 44% from the floor with the defense forcing 22 turnovers and pulling down 26 rebounds.
It was much of the same in the second half. Carey's Robinson opened the scoring and after eight minutes, WCU pushed their lead to 67-30 on a
Malik Franklin jumper. The Crusaders ran away with it from there, leading by as many as 59 points on their way to victory.
The Carey offense improved to over 53% shooting from the floor in the second half with the defense almost matching the turnovers from the first half with 20. The Crusaders picked up 69 points from the bench compared to 37 for the Chargers.
Malik Franklin led all scorers with 22.
Troy Dunn added 17, while
Anthony Robinson finished with 13 and
Anthony Richards with 10.
Randarius Hughes led WCU with 11 rebounds.
WCU is back in action Tuesday, November 4, as they take on Dillard University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm at Clinton Gym.
