Fredericksburg, Va. - The men's basketball team of North Carolina Wesleyan split a pair of contests at this weekend's 4th Annual South Region Challenge. The Bishops fell to host Mary Washington on Saturday night before earning a hard-fought 73-70 victory over Hampden-Sydney on Sunday. Wesleyan now stands at 4-2 on the young season.
Versus the Tigers (3-2) on Sunday, the Bishops forged a 35-30 halftime advantage thanks to ten first-half points by sophomore guard Josh Morrison. HSC shot over 50 percent from the floor in the second half to erase the deficit and eventually go up seven, 65-58, with just over six minutes remaining.
Wesleyan responded with a 10-3 run that featured a pair of Cornelius Snow three-pointers and two Morrison buckets that knotted the score at 68-68 with 2:15 left in regulation. Senior Alex Murray proceeded to put NCWC up for good with an offensive rebound and putback at the 1:26 mark, while fellow senior Devin Nichols went 3-of-4 at the charity stripe over the final 15 seconds to secure the victory.
Morrison finished with team-high 16 points, and Nichols added 15. Joining them in double-figures were Domarius Thomas, Snow and Murray with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively. Murray added a team-high nine rebounds. As a team, Wesleyan's defense held the Tigers to just 1-of-18 shooting from behind the arc.
Previously on Friday, NCWC dropped a 95-66 decision to UMW. The hot-shooting Eagles (2-1) knocked down 55 percent of their attempts from the floor, which included ten bombs from downtown.
Murray and Thomas paced the Bishops with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Wesleyan now returns home to take on Guilford College on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is slated for 5:30pm in Everett Gymnasium.