Central, SC - The Southern Wesleyan University Mens Basketball Team dropped a non-conference game against Limestone University of the South Atlantic Conference on Tuesday afternoon. 

Aaron Tims led the Warriors in points for the second consecutive game, finishing with 19. Also, Dyren Brown led with 9 rebounds, Che Smith and Marcus Long led with 3 assists each, and Long also led with 2 steals. As a team, the Warriors shot 27-62 (43.5%) from the field, 6-21 (28.6%) from behind the arc, and 11-15 (73.3%) from the free throw line. 



Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 71, Limestone 78

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (2-10, 1-2), Limestone (4-5, 3-1)



How It Happened:

Southern Wesleyan opened with the same starting lineup that defeated Chowan on Saturday afternoon: Che Smith, Raevon Allen, Griffin Effenberger, Dyren Brown, and Aaron Tims. Both teams had a slow offense start to the game. The first bucket of the game was scored at the 18:07 mark by Limestone's Greg McKay, and the Warriors didn't score their first points until almost 2 minutes later at the 16:25 mark through Che Smith. There were not a whole lot of whistles in the first part of the opening half, and the past was extremely quick. The Warriors were not exactly beneficiaries of that style of play, and they trailed by as much as 9 in the first 8 minutes. After Eric Hackett and Jamal Edmonson checked in at the under 12 timeout, SWU responded with an 8-2 run and eventually would take the lead through a Raevon Allen layup after Griffin Effenberger hit a deep 3 to cut the lead to 1. That was the only Warrior 3 of the first half after they hit 6 in the opening period against Chowan on Saturday, and Limestone would take a 5-point lead into the halftime locker room. 

The SWU Offense had a similar start in the second half than it did in the first, but Limestone's was much more effective. The Saints opened on a 10-2 run increasing their lead to 14 at the under 16 timeout. The return of Jacquez Yow, who sat out with an injury sustained in the first half, was key to the Limestone success during the first 10 minutes of the second half. 11 of his 13 points came in the period, including a 5-point, 10-second sequence where Yow recorded a dunk, steal, layup, and free throw. That pushed the Saint lead to 69-51, their largest of the day. The Warriors continued to put game pressure on the Saints for the remaining 8 minutes of the game, specifically through the play of Freshman Jonathan Taylor. He was very good, again, on both ends of the floor. He went on a solo 5-point run at the 5:00 mark to cut the Limestone lead back down to 12 with a nice lay-in followed by a tough step-back three. Taylor finished with 7 points, all of which came in the second half. Two other Warrior freshmen got in the score sheet today: Eric Hackett also with 7 and Grant Morrison with which were his first career points. The Warriors scored 13 of the last 18 points thanks to that Taylor solo run and some Limestone missed free throws, but the Saints would hold on late and drop the Warriors to 2-10 on the season. 



What's Next:

The Warriors have a 10-day break before they return to action at Wofford on Friday, December 29th. The next day, the 30th, they will travel to USC Aiken, and then return home to Tysinger Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 3rd to take on North Greenville.