Fayetteville, N.C. - Bishop senior Cornelius Snow poured in a season-high 22 points, but it would not be enough as Brandon Monk's three-pointer at the buzzer gave Methodist University an 85-82 win over N.C. Wesleyan on Wednesday night in Fayetteville.
The Bishops (9-6, 2-4 USA South) had opened the game with an 11-0 run and eventually led by as many as 21 in the first half. A Monarch run just before the break left Wesleyan with a 11-point halftime advantage, 46-37.
A back-and-forth battle in the second half, Wesleyan still found itself up by nine, 76-67, with 7:18 to go. Unfortunately, the Monarchs reeled off the next eight points to pull to within one at the 4:31 mark. A lay-up by Brandon Givens pushed the Bishops back up by three, but back-to-back turnovers on NCWC's next two possessions opened the door for the Monarchs (6-8, 3-2 USA South) to take their first lead of the game, 79-78, with 3:03 remaining.
With under a minute left in regulation and MU clinging to an 82-79 lead, Snow looked to be the hero for the Bishops when he drilled his sixth trey of the game for an 82-82 tie with 14 ticks on the clock. The game seemed destined for overtime until Monk's buzzer-beating heroics.
In addition to Snow, Givens finished with 20 points, while junior Josh Morrison tallied a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Chris Ford chipped in 13 points and five boards off the bench.
Monk led all players with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including an 8-of-8 showing at the charity stripe.
Wesleyan returns home this weekend to host Averett and Maryville, respectively. Both games are slated for 4:00pm tip-offs and will feature live webcasts via ncwcsports.com.