Wesley Falls to Southern Virginia

Box Score

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Wesley College pulled to within three with 23 seconds left, but USCAA No. 4 Southern Virginia iced the game with four free throws for a 76-71 win in the CNU Invitational.

Alphonzo Wright (Dover, Del./Polytech) hit a lay in off a feed from Rudy Thomas (Milton, Del./Sussex Tech) to make the score 72-69 in the final half minute.  But the Wolverines (2-2) were forced to foul and Ade Swan and Bryce Reynolds both hit a pair to seal the win for the Knights (6-2).

Midway through the second half, Wesley erased what had been as big as a nine point lead on a game-tying field goal by Paul Reynolds (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) that knotted the game at 45-45. A lay up by Swan, however, started a 17-6 run by Southern Virginia that stretched the lead back to 11 at 62-51.

The Wolverines began to chip away at the lead again and after a pair of threes by Kevin Johnson (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) with 1:14 and 1:19 to play, pulled to withing two points at 67-65.  But another pair of free throws by Swan held Wesley at bay.

In the first half, Thomas scored 10 points for the Wolverines, but 10 by the Knights' Chris Lewis led Southern Virginia to a 37-33 lead at the break.

Thomas finished with a team-high 15 points for Wesley.  Wright added 14 points, eight boards and three steals.  Reynolds came off the bench for 10 points, while Quayshun Morris (Salem, N.J./Salem) added seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.  Carl Hinton (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) blocked three shots.

For Southern Virginia, Swan hit 14-of-18 free throws on his way to a game-high 22 points.  Pendleton and Lewis tallied 14 each and Casey Nye came off the bench for 11.  Overall, the Knights hit 30-of-38 free throws in the game. 

The Wolverines await either Maine-Presque Isle or Christopher Newport in the third place game of the Christopher Newport Invitational.