Central, SC - The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors were defeated by the Georgia College & State University Bobcats in a non-conference affair on Wednesday Night.

Dyren Brown led the team with 14 points, followed by Che Smith with 10, Eric Hackett with nine, and Raevon Allen with eight. Brown was also the team leader in rebounds with 10, giving him his first double-double of the season. Smith was the only Warrior with more than one assist, as he had three on the night. He also chipped in with two blocks and Allen had two steals. As a team, SWU shot 20-63 (31.7%) from the field, 5-21 (23.8%) from behind the arc, and 17-29 (60.7%) from the free throw line. 





Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 62, Georgia College & State University 76

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (0-6, 0-0), Georgia College & State University (6-0, 0-0)





How It Happened:

The Warriors opened with the same starting lineup as they did in Saturday's loss to Lenoir-Rhyne: Che Smith, Raevon Allen, Reco Hallmon, Dyren Brown, and Aaron Tims. GCSU's Brendan Rigsby opened the scoring with a driving layup, but Raevon Allen answered with a posterizing slam that got the home crowd on their feet early. On the next possession, Dyren Brown hit a three on an assist from Che Smith following two offensive rebounds to give the Warriors an early 5-2 lead. Southern Wesleyan kept it close for the majority of the first half but they would not lead again in the period after an Austin Sloan transition layup gave Georgia College a 6-5 lead. Allen and Hallmon in particular had some strong drives for the Warriors in that half. One of Allen's drives cut the lead to five with 2:19 left in the first, but the Bobcats answered with an 11-2 run to close the half and led 39-25 at the break. Hallmon and Brown led the Warriors in points in the opening 20 minutes with five points each, followed by Allen with four and Marcus Long also with four off the bench. 

The first Warrior points of the second half came from Raevon Allen turning defense into offense through a steal-and-slam. Dyren Brown hit a three on the ensuing position, which was nearly the exact same sequence as the first half. GCSU's Zyair Greene then matched Browns three to push the lead back to 16. SWU then went through a 1:56 scoring drought between Che Smith and Aaron Tims layups. The Bobcat lead grew to as many as 21 during that stretch, their biggest of the night. Freshman Jonathan Taylor checked in at the 13:30 mark and he was a major bright spot for the remainder of the game. He played some terrific defense including recording both a block and a steal. Taylor was also given some of the ball-handling responsibilities during that stretch and was solid in that too. Eric Hackett was another freshman who impressed during the second half with nine points. The freshman back-court duo played the majority of the late-game minutes alongside Marcus Long, a junior who added seven points on 3-3 FG off the bench. However, it wouldn't be enough for the Warriors to record their first victory of the season as they end the mini-home stretch 0-2 and 0-6 overall.







What's Next:

The Warriors open Conference Carolinas play on Saturday, December 2nd at UNC-Pembroke. They will then travel to Anderson University on Wednesday, December 6th and Young-Harris College on Saturday, December 9th.