Box Score Murfsreeboro, NC - The game Friday evening at Chowan felt much like Tuesday's game at North Greenville as the Lions got off to a slow start, but never took their foot off the gas in the second half to defeat Chowan 80-69. 

The Lions went into this game short-handed as they were without their second leading scorer and veteran point guard, Tyonn Stuckey  
Chowan came out playing some inspired basketball as they were trading bucket for bucket in the first half with the Lions. The buckets the Hawks did miss they often chased down, they had 7 offensive rebounds in the first half. A big reason for them leading the Lions at halftime by a score of 36-34. 

KJ Jones II fought to keep the Lions in the game making play after play in the first half, ending the first half with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. 

The second half was a different story.  Senior guard, Brandon Simpson, helped the Lions get off to a hot start by coming out and knocking down two 3 pointers. 

The Lions seemed to never look back after that, going on a 14-6 run to open the half and another 15-2 run midway through the second half. As a team in the second half the Lions shot 55% from the field, 50% from 3, and 89% from the charity stripe. As a team for the game the Lions shot 52% from the field and 39% from deep. 

Many Lions contributed and had their moment here was some of the top performers: 
Leading scorer in the conference, KJ Jones II, had an efficient 27 points, going 9-15 from the field, 2-4 from the 3 point line, and 7-8 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 3 assist. 
Senior guard, Brandon Simpson, scored 14 points going 5-9 from the field, 2-4 from deep and a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line. He also had 2 assists and 2 steals. 
Kyler Ingram contributed 14 points as well going a perfect 6-6 from the field. He also grabbed down 5 rebounds, 4 of those were offensive. 
Sophomore forward, Jayvion Rucker, had a big double-double for the Lions. He added 11 points, going 4-8 from the field and 1-3 from the 3 point line. He snatched down 12 rebounds to go with that. 

The Lions will be back in action tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, January 29, at 2pm at Chowan for the second game of there double-header. The Lions are looking to push their conference record to 5-1 and the win streak to 4 in a row.