Men Whirl past Tornados

Senior Rob Wilson, photo courtesy of Carl Lewis
Senior Rob Wilson, photo courtesy of Carl Lewis

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College men's basketball team whirled and twisted their way past the Brevard College Tornados 81-68 for their second straight home win on Sunday afternoon.

The USA South West Division Tornados came into the game road weary as they fell to Methodist the day before. However, the Battling Bishops went on a 20-4 run to end the first half and go into the break up 15 at 40-25 while shooting 60 percent in the half and holding Brevard to just 35 percent from the floor.

Wesleyan would take their biggest lead of the game early in the second half at 17 points while Brevard and Wesleyan woudl continue to trade shots throughout the half as BC could not get within nine points the rest of the game as the Bishops coasted to their 12th win. Wesleyan shot 59 percent for the game whiole Brevard shot jsut 40 percent and only 22 percent from three.

The Bishops would use a balanced scoring attack led by three men in double-figures and seven scoring at least 6 points. Sophomore guard Damon McDowell led the way with his 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals while senior forward Robert Wilson added 15 points with 8 boards and 2 assists.

Junior center A.J. Frye also finished the game in double-figure scoring with 11 points and 8 rebounds as the Bishops out rebounded the Tornados 40-25. Senior guard Justin Tankelewicz also had a nice game for the Bishops finishing with 9 points on 75 percent shooting from three along with 2 assists while fellow senior guard Chris Braswell tallied 7 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists with a steal as well.

Guards Cameron Martin and Josh Covington also combined for 13 points and 3 assists while shooting 6 of 8 as Wesleyan improved to 7-1 at home inside Everett Gym. 

Wesleyan, though, improves to 12-2 on the season and 5-1 in the conference with the win while Brevard falls to 4-8 and 1-4. The Bishops are back in action on Wednesday evening when they travel to Greensboro College at 7:30 p.m. for an East Division matchup.