Men's Basketball Falls to William Carey

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Point University men's basketball team dropped an 88-73 conference match-up to William Carey University this afternoon. The Skyhawks fall to 6-11 and 2-9 in the SSAC, while the Crusaders improve to 18-1 and 8-1 in conference play.

Carey jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game, but Tanner Higgins got Point on the board off a jumper to make it 6-2. The Crusaders pushed their lead to 17-7, but the Skyhawks closed the gap as they used a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 19-13 with 13:33 on the clock. Both teams exchanged baskets for over five minutes with Point grabbing a 28-27 lead.  With just over five and a half minutes left in the half, both teams were tied at 32, but a dunk from Carey put them back in front, 34-32, with 4:49 left.  The Skyhawks tied the game once again, this time at 42 with 1:38 left, but a 6-3 run by the Crusaders gave them a 48-45 lead into the locker room.

Skyhawk Kenton Steele got the scoring started to open the second half as he drained the front end of two follow shots to make it 48-46.  The Crusaders repeated the same play to push the lead to 49-46, but a layup from Point's Yuta Yamamoto made it a one-point game with 19:01 on the clock. Both teams went scoreless until Steele hit a jumper to put the Skyhawks up 50-49. For most of the second half, the game was close with either team in front or tied, with Carey holding a 63-60 edge with 12:03 remaining in the game. The Crusaders used a 16-8 run to break the game open and take a 79-68 lead before going on to secure the win 88-73.

Point shot 38% from the floor, while Carey was 40.7% from the field.  Both teams were close at the line as Point shot 65% to Carey's 66.7%.

The Crusaders controlled the glass as they grabbed 54 rebounds to Points  46. 

D'Andre Jefferson led Point in scoring with 16, while recording five rebounds. He led the team in field goals with six, going 6 of 9, and was tied for first in three-pointers with two.

Steele finished the game with 13 points, and Yamamoto tallied 12 of his own. Teammate Kaden Paul finished the game with 10 points while going 6 of 8 from the line.

Both Higgins and Brandon Kincaid each registered 11 rebounds. Kincaid added eight points of his own, while Higgins recorded four points.

Point is back home on Thursday, January 29th, when it takes on Blue Mountain Christian at 7:30 p.m.