Central, SC - The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors were victorious over the Erskine College Flying Fleet on Wednesday. 

The Warriors were led in scoring by Eric Hackett with 20 and RJ Bell with 16. Ceejay Jordan put up an 11-point 13-rebound double-double and scored his 1,000th career point in the process. As a team, SWU shot 28-66 (42.4%) from the field, 11-27 (40.7%) from three, and 22-31 (71.0%) from the free-throw line. 


Game Vitals: 

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 89, Erskine College 86

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (9-17, 5-13), Erskine College (10-16, 6-12)


How It Happened:

The first five on the floor for Coach Stites' group tonight were Che Smith, RJ Bell, Reco Hallmon, Ceejay Jordan, and Aaron Tims. Hallmon scored on each of the team's first two possessions and Bell also added a three to give the Warriors a quick 8-5 lead. Jordan hit a three of his own shortly after, and then Eric Hackett and Christopher Osobaye checked in and fell right into place with the flow of the game. Erskine took their first lead of the game with a 15-2 run across 3:05. However, SWU did get scores late in the half from Tims and Marcus Long, so they trailed by just two at the half. 

Southern Wesleyan burst out of their locker room on fire, scoring the first six points - all in the paint - in the second period. Those three scores were a part of an 11-2 run which gave SWU a seven-point lead less than 3:00 into the half. That lead was quickly pushed up to double-digits followed by back-to-back scores from Bell at the 14:00 mark. Just over halfway through the second, Hackett hit three straight attempts from behind the arc and scored every point on an 11-3 run to give the Warriors their largest lead of the night. Eric had struggled over the past two games, scoring just three points combined against Young Harris and UNC Pembroke, so it was crucial for Coach Stites to get his leading scorer back in rhythm for the final few games of the regular season and a potential postseason birth. That turned out to be a very important stretch to the fate of this game, as Erskine got the lead back down to five with 3:01 to play until Smith took over in crunch time. Che scored eight of his nine points in the last 4:00 of the game, including pivotal free-throws in the final minute to help seal the 89-86 win. 


What's Next: 

The Warriors have just two regular-season games remaining. They travel to Chowan on Saturday, February 22nd, followed by a matchup with Shorter University on Wednesday, February 26th, at Tysinger Gymnasium.