CENTRAL, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan needed a second-half rally to earn a spot in the NCCAA South Region title game as they stormed back to beat Columbia International 87-71 on Thursday night.  The Warriors will face Carver College on Friday in the title game.

SWU (17-14) jumped out to a big 12-0 lead in the early stages as Cameron Solomon scored eight of the 12 points.  Solomon picked up his second foul with 12:14 remaining in the half and had to take a seat as the Warriors led 14-7.  The Rams (8-17) used that to their advantage, outscoring the Warriors 13-8 with Solomon on the bench and 28-16 over the rest of the half.  That included a stretch of over five minutes between baskets for SWU.

The Rams led 35-30 at the break but the Warriors came out with a different mindset in the second half.  SWU opened with a 18-8 run to take a 48-43 lead and never looked back.  The lead reached double digits again at 59-49 with 10:00 left and never dipped below 10 the rest of the way. 

Guard play was huge for the Warriors as they took back control.  Kenny Holmes led the way, scoring 21 of his game-high 24 in the second half and shot 7 of 12 from the floor in the second half.  Holmes also stepped up with nine rebounds and dishing out five assists.  Solomon bounced back after sitting a lot in the first half to score 12 of his 20 after halftime.  Terrance Hutchins got hot from beyond the arc, knocking down 4 of 5 from downtown in the game and scored 10 of his 16 in the second half.

The Warriors shot 44 percent from the floor including a 50 percent clip in the second half.  SWU hit on 8 of 21 from three-point range and made 17 of 24 free throws.  The Rams shot 42 percent overall and made just 7 of 21 three pointers.  Ben Johnson matched Holmes with 24 points.

In addition to Holmes' nine rebounds, Mike Lieberman pulled in nine boards in just 17 minutes as the Warriors dominated the glass with 49 rebounds to just 29 for the Rams.  Jemiah Wimphrie stepped up in the absence of starting forward Dwayne Bryant with 10 points in 18 minutes off the bench.

The Warriors will play Carver College in Friday's championship game at 7 p.m.  Carver defeated Bob Jones 76-64 in Thursday's first semifinal.  The winner of Friday's championship will receive a berth into the NCCAA National Tournament in Winona Lake, Ind. hosted by Grace College beginning next week.