RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College men's basketball team held off conference foe William Peace 89-81 on the road Thursday evening in Raleigh.
The Bishops improve to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in the Division and are one win away from clinching the #2 seed in the division and the right to host a first round playoff game next week.
Senior wing Damon McDowell led the Bishops with 23 points on 9 of 20 shooting along with four rebounds and a team-best four assists.
A tight-played first half saw the Bishops lead by just four at the break, 37-33. The second half remained close as well until the final five minutes when they Bishops finally broke away for the win. Wesleyan led 67-66 at the 5:50 mark but then went on a game-winning 15-5 run to get back up by 11 and clinch the win.
Also playing well was junior forward Sal-Bey Young as he finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds while junior guard Brayden Dixon shot 5 of 6 from the floor and finished with 14 points along with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block. Wesleyan finished the game shooting a very efficient 30 of 59 from the floor to shoot over 50 percent while also making 25 free throws and going 86 percent from the charity stripe.
Junior forward Isaiah Lewis also led the team in rebounds with eight while scoring 12 points while freshman guard Dylan Drinkwater grabbed 9 points off the bench.
Wesleyan will finish out the regular season on Saturday when they go on the road to battle Greensboro College (10-13) at 2:00 PM.