Saturday, February 12, 2005

BLUE HOSE ESCAPE WITH 65-64 VICTORY OVER EAGLES
PC moves to 12-0 at home this season

CLINTON, SC – Presbyterian College fought back from a 20-point deficit with a little more than 11 minutes to play to defeat Carson-Newman College 65-64 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Ross E. Templeton Center.

The Eagles led by as many as 20 points on two different occasions in the second half, the last coming at 52-32 with 11:39 remaining. The Blue Hose put together a 33-12 run for the rest of the half to retake the lead at 65-64 on a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Grant Herren (Oviedo, FL) with :29 seconds remaining. During the run, PC’s sophomore guard Sean Dixon (Marietta, GA) scored 13 of his team-high 15 points while freshman forward Drew Biggs (Alpharetta, GA) connected on a trio of three-point field goals. The Eagles went ice cold down the stretch as they went without a field goal for the last seven minutes of the ballgame. 

The first half was closely contested as neither was able to hold a lead of more than three points for the first 15 minutes. The game saw five lead changes before Carson-Newman was able to use a 17-4 run over the last 4:45 to take a 39-27 lead at intermission.

Carson-Newman’s senior duo of center Jonathan Martin (Corryton, TN) and guard Braun Dabbs (Greeneville, TN) paced the way with 10 first half points apiece while the Blue Hose were led by redshirt freshman center Martynas Versinskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) who also tallied 10 first half points.

Both teams shot extremely well in the opening 20 minutes with the Eagles hitting 17-of-26 field goals for 65.4% while the Blue Hose were 12-of-25 from the field for 48.0%.

The Blue Hose (15-8, 6-4 SAC) were led by Dixon’s 15 points and five assists while Biggs added 11 points on three-of-three from three-point land. Versinskas added 10 points and five boards off the bench.

The Eagles (10-13, 5-5 SAC) were led in scoring by Dabbs’ game-high 19 points and five assists while Martin added 15 points and four rebounds. Sophomore guard Amonzo Gannt (Royston, GA) added 11 points and five boards.

PC returns to action on Wednesday, February 16 when they host Newberry College at 8:00 pm while C-N also plays on Wednesday night by hosting Tusculum College at 8:00 pm.