Central, SC - The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors defeated the Young Harris College Mountain Lions on Wednesday Night in one of the most entertaining games of the entire season.

The Warriors were led in scoring by Jonathan Taylor with 16 points, followed by Marcus Long with 15, and Che Smith with 14. Long also had a team-high 4 steals and Raevon Allen had a team-high 5 rebounds. As a team, the Warriors shot 27-59 (45%) from the field, 8-23 (34.8%) from behind the arc, and 15-20 (75%) from the free throw line. 



Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 77, Young Harris College 75

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (4-20, 3-11), Young Harris College (14-10, 8-5)



How It Happened: 

Coach Stites opted to add two Freshmen into the starting lineup for tonight's game: Jonathan Taylor and Eric Hackett. Griffin Effenberger, Reco Hallmon, and Aaron Tims joined them. The Warriors had a terrific start to the game on the defensive end and had scored the first bucket of the game thanks to an Effenberger layup. The two teams stayed close for the first part of the first half, but Marcus Long scored 10 points over a three minute stretch to extend the SWU lead to 25-16. It grew into double-digits for the first time three minutes later, as Che Smith hit his second of two made threes in the first half to go up 33-23 with 4:55 remaining. The Warriors had to battle over the next several minutes, losing both Hallmon and Tims to foul trouble and leaving Long as the makeshift five. Effenberger hit the team's sixth three on their final possession of the first half, and Southern Wesleyan took a 43-31 lead into the locker room. 

Young Harris began the second half like a completely new team. They went on an 11-1 run over the first three minutes to erase the Warrior lead. During that run, Aaron Tims picked up his fourth personal foul and Reco Hallmon did the same four minutes later. The Mountain Lions leading scorer, Carl Cleveland, started to find his footing in the game equaling his first-half points total of 6 in the first five minutes of the new period. However, the Warriors did not wilt. The two teams went back and forth over the majority of the half until Eric Hackett hit a massive three to put SWU up 69-67 with just over 3:00 left. Cole Deptula drained a shot from behind the arc a minute later to put Young Harris up one, but Griffen Effenberger answered on the next possession with a layup to retake the lead. Effenberger then found a cutting Che Smith who finished around the basket to put the Warriors up 73-70. Hallmon and Deptula traded layups to keep the lead at three with five seconds left in the game. After a timeout, the Warriors made a crucial mistake with the game on the line: fouling a three-point shooter. Deptula missed the first (unintentionally) made the second, and missed the third (intentionally). Karl Chavis hauled in the offensive rebound and hit the ensuing layup to tie the game with 0.9 seconds left. Needing the go the length of the court to avoid overtime, Coach Sites called for Jonathan Taylor to draw a charge on the inbound pass, sending him to the free-throw line needing just one to win the game for the Warriors. Taylor hit both. The Mountain Lions' full-court heave hit the roof. The Warriors won. 



What's Next: 

The Warriors' next game is Saturday, February 17th, when they host Converse University at Tysinger Gymnasium. After that, a week from tonight, they travel to Due West, SC to face Erskine College.