HATTIESBURG, Miss. — William Carey men's basketball lit up Clinton Gym on Saturday evening, unleashing a furious first-half finish and a dominating second-half surge to power past Point University, 88–73, in an electric home win.
"I thought we did a good job responding to our first half performance and played with a lot more energy, especially in the last 10 minutes," said Head Coach
Steve Knight. "Point was ready to play today and played pretty well until the last 6-7 minutes. We didn't shoot the ball very well, so we had to find other ways to score. Offensive rebounds were huge for us in this game."
The Crusaders came out firing, opening the game on an 11–2 run capped by a
Jamar Jenkins three-pointer. Threes from
Javeon Gordon and
Malik Franklin kept Carey in control, pushing the lead to double digits at both the 15-minute and 10-minute marks and Carey looked ready to run away with it.
Point answered with a momentum-shifting 15–2 run of its own, taking its first lead at 30–27 with seven minutes to go. The momentum flip didn't last long. Jenkins answered, drilling a tying three at 5:34 and burying another at 3:33 to snatch the lead right back. When the Skyhawks tied things at 42–42 late in the half, Franklin stepped up and buried back-to-back daggers from deep, propelling Carey to a 48–45 halftime edge.
The second half delivered a flurry of lead changes, but once the Crusaders took command, they never let it go. Trailing 58–57, Carey exploded behind
Makeem Roberts,
Anthony Robinson, and Franklin to take a 63–58 advantage.
Arzika Seibou kept the run rolling with three straight layups at 10:34, 10:16, and 9:51, stretching the margin to 73–62. Moments later, Robinson brought the house down with back-to-back, rim-shaking dunks at 6:57 and 6:38, firing up the Crusader bench and ballooning the lead to 79–68 and putting the Skyhawks on their heels.
Carey's defense tightened down the stretch, allowing the Crusaders to maintain a comfortable double-digit cushion. Roberts snagged a late steal and finished a layup at 1:36 for an 84–73 lead, and
Randarius Hughes muscled in a bucket at 1:12 to seal the outcome. Robinson added two free throws with 46 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.
Robinson led five Crusaders in double figures with 17 points with Jenkins adding 13 points. Roberts recorded a double-double of 12 points and a career high 18 rebounds while Franklin also finished with 12 points. For the third game in a row, Hughes recorded a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
William Carey now turns its attention to Monday, January 26, as they travel to New Orleans for a showdown with Loyola University. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
