Fayetteville, N.C. - The N.C. Wesleyan men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Friday night in the semifinals of th 2013 USA South Conference Tournament. Top-seeded Christopher Newport built a 13-point advantage at the half and held on for an eventual 72-59 win at Fayetteville's Crown Center Arena. The loss leaves the Battling Bishops with a 16-11 overall record and marks the ends of the careers of seniors Brandon Givens, Julian Martin and Cornelius Snow.
A back-and-forth game in the opening minutes, the Bishops held a 6-5 lead when the Captains used a 12-0 run to go up 17-6 at the at 13:43 mark. That run would prove to be the difference maker in the game as the next 26 minutes features a tightly contested 55-53 affair in favor of CNU.
Givens finished with a team-high 19 points and 13 rebounds en route to All-Tournament honors, wrapping up what will likely be considered the best individual statistical season in program history. The Ruffin, S.C. native set new program records for single-game points (50), points in a season (724) and scoring average (26.8). He becomes the first player in program history to eclipse the 700-point mark in a season, while his 265 rebounds rank third all-time.
Snow also wraps up a solid four-year career for head coach John Thompson. A Fayetteville native, he played an instrumental role in four straight winning seasons for the Bishops, including a pair of USA South Regular Season Championships, one USA South Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Finally, the 2012-2013 season saw N.C. Wesleyan honor its 50-year anniversary and celebrate the program's 600th win. The 16-11 overall record also secures Wesleyan's fifth straight winning season.