Tigerville, SC - The Southern Wesleyan University Men's Basketball Team was defeated on Wednesday Evening by North Greenville University. It was an extremely important contest for both teams, as NGU entered the night trailing SWU by 1 spot in the KPI Rankings - the system that determines the Conference Tournament participants. 

The Warriors were led in scoring by Reco Hallmon and Eric Hackett, each with 14 points. Aaron Tims was also in double-digits with 10 points. Hallmon registered a team-high 6 points, and Jonathan Taylor had 5 assists and 4 steals. As a team, the Warriors shot 23-60 (38.3%) from the field, 7-23 (30.4%) from behind the arc, and 13-15 (86.7%) from the free throw line. 



Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 66, North Greenville University 77

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (3-19, 2-10), North Greenville University (8-12, 3-10)



How It Happened: 

Freshman Guard Jonathan Taylor returned to the starting lineup for Wednesday's encounter with the Crusaders. He was joined by Raevon Allen, Marcus Long, Reco Hallmon, and Aaron Tims. They had a much better start than they did on Saturday against Francis Marion. Thanks to an Aaron Tims mid-range jumper, SWU jumped out to an early 7-5 lead less than three minutes into the game. Griffin Effenberger also hit an early three after starting the game on the bench. However, one of the Warrior's struggles in tonight's games was rebounding, specifically on the defensive glass. The Crusaders used that to their advantage well in the first half and a second-chance bucket from Travis Walters to increase their lead over twenty with less than a minute left in the first half. 

After scoring just 21 points in the first half, the Southern Wesleyan Offense was much better in the second. They jumped out of the locker room with a quick 7-0 run, capped by Effenberger's second three of the night. Their defense was also much improved to end the game, holding the Crusaders to just 7 points over the last 7:18 of the game. During that stretch, they scored 21 points on the offensive end and cut the lead to single digits on two Che Smith free throws. Unfortunately for the Warriors, those free throws came with just 35 seconds left in the game, so there wasn't enough time remaining to complete the comeback.



What's Next: 

The Warriors have one game remaining on their 3-game road trip. They travel to Barton College on Saturday, February 10th, followed by matchups with Young Harris College and Converse University at Tysinger Gymnasium next week.