FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College men's basketball team used a strong first half to power past rival Methodist 77-58 on the road Wednesday night.
Senior wing Damon McDowell continued his hot shooting by making 7 of 12 threes in the game on his way to scoring 27 points along with a block to lead the Bishops. Wesleyan improves to 14-6 on the season and 6-3 in the East Division.
Wesleyan got out to a fast start in the first half using five McDowell three-pointers to grab a 41-21 hafltime advantage by shooting 43 percent as a team overall and nearly 55% from three. They held the host Monarchs to just 30 percent shooting and 28 percent from three.
Wesleyan then shot 50 percent inthe second half while scoring 36 points and never letting MU get within more than seven points of the Bishop lead. When MU (1-16, 0-7) did climb to within 41-34 with 16 minutes to play, Wesleyan would promptly go on a 36-24 run to end the game.
Other than McDowell, the only other Bishop to finish in double-figure points was sophomore forward Kyron Kelly as he posted a stellar double-double off the bench. Kelly finished with a season-high of 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting while bringing down a career-high of 16 rebounds in just 21 minutes of action.
Guards Austin Manley and Dylan Drinkwater also each finished with 9 points apiece off the bench with Drinkwater adding six rebounds and a steal to go along with his season-high point total while Manley had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior forward Isaiah Lewis also had a solid all-around game leading the team in assists with four and steals with three while also grabbing seven rebounds and scoring 6 points.
The Bishops will finally return home on Saturday to host Pfeiffer University (7-7) at 2:00 PM from Everett Gym.