Lookout Mountain, Ga. - The N.C. Wesleyan College men's basketball team pulled out a big road win on Saturday defeating previously undefeated Covenant College (Ga.) 80-77 on a clutch three-pointer from senior Robert Wilson.
After Covenant (12-7, 11-1) got out to a 34-26 lead in the first half, the Bishops would then go on to finish the half on a 12-1 run to lead by three, 38-35, at intermission. They shot 45 percent in the half led by senior guard Chris Braswell's 14 first half points. Braswell would go on to finish with a team-high six assists.
The second half then saw Wesleyan increase their lead to 11 at 69-58 with 7 minutes to go by going on a 31-23 run. However, in this game of runs, the Scots would go on a run themselves 19-6 to take a 77-75 lead. But NCWC would use a Ricardo Bullock jump shot and Wilson's three as they scored the final five points of the game while holding off two 3-point attempts by Covenant at the tail end of the game.
Wilson led the Bishops with a game-high 23 points and team-high 16 rebounds for a double-double as the Battling Bishops would thoroughly out-rebound the Scots 43-26 and 15-9 on the offensive end.
Wesleyan shot 53 percent for the game and also had two other players finish in double-figures on the day with senior guard Justin Tankelewicz scoring 15 points shooting 5 of 6 overall from the field with a block while junior center A.J. Frye finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists as he went over 1,000 career points for his career.
Bullock also had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks while junior guard Cameron Martin also added 6 points off the bench.
The Bishops improve to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference with the weekend split. Wesleyan next returns home on Tuesday evening to host conference rival Methodist University (9-10) at 7:30 PM on Bojangles Night. It will be their first of two meetings this season.