Maryville, Tenn. - The Battling Bishop men's basketball team played a pair of non-conference contests over the weekend, earning a 82-65 win at Covenant College on Saturday before dropping a tough 93-82 overtime decision at Maryville on Sunday. Sophomore Josh Morrison averaged 18 points over the two games, capped by a season-high 23-point effort versus MVC.
At Covenant, the Scots surged out to a 15-point lead with 7:48 remaining in the first half, but Wesleyan closed the gap to four at halftime, 36-32. The Bishops proceeded to dominate the second half, taking the lead early and going ahead by as many as 21. NCWC scored 19 of its 50 second half points at the charity stripe.
Wesleyan had five players score in double figures, including Alex Murray's 19 which led all scorers. He was complimented by Justin Griffith's 17, Morrison's 13, Domarius Thomas' 11 and Matt Dougherty's 10. Murray added 11 rebounds for a double-double.
The Bishops then traveled to Maryville to close out the 2011 portion of their schedule. Like Covenant, MVS also forged an early 11-point lead thanks to shooting 60% from the floor. The Bishops battled back right before the intermission with a strong outside game that saw them connect on 6-of-10 three-pointers in the period. The Scots took a 38-35 lead into the half.
The second half featured four ties and a pair of lead changes. It was Maryville that looked to pull away down the stretch, going up 77-72 with just 36 seconds remaining. Wesleyan, however, countered with a pair of lay-ups, the first by Murray and the second coming from Dougherty after a steal. After Maryville hit 1-of-2 free throw attempts, Dougherty's jumper in the paint knotted the score at 78-78 with seven seconds left, forcing overtime.
Unfortunately, MVC hit a trio of three-pointers in the extra period en route to out-scoring the Bishops 15-4 to seal the victory.
Wesleyan (6-4) was led by Morrison's 23 points. Dougherty finished with 21, while Ric Yarbrough and Griffith added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Bishops will now break for the holidays before returning to action on January 2nd at York College (NY).