DUE WEST, SC – The Emmanuel Men's Basketball team traveled to Due West, SC tonight to take on Erskine College in conference play. The two teams traded points and the lead early, but the Lions held a three-point lead heading into half, 34-31. After the break, the Lions pushed ahead by double digits early, but the Flying Fleet made things interesting late, and the Lions came away with a 62-55 victory. With the win, the Lions move to 2-6 on the season, 2-1 in conference action.
The two teams traded points and the lead early, with
Isaac Jones and
Devin Story making key plays to put the Lions up 11-7 with 17:09 to play in the half.
Sam Thacker and
Brady Peery got into the action with three-pointers to put the Lions up 22-17 midway through the first half, but Erskine went on a 5-0 scoring run to tie the game at 22-22 with 6:29 to go. After trading points and the lead, Jones connected from three-point range to put the Lions up 31-27 with under three minutes to play in the first. At the break, the Lions led 34-31. In the first, the Lion were 9-23 from the field and 6-18 from three-point range.
Sam Thacker got things started for the Lions in the second half with a three-pointer to put Emmanuel up 37-31 early. The Lions pushed their lead to double digits on buckets by Thacker and Story to go up 41-31 with 16:23 to play. Midway through the half, the Flying Fleet cut the Lions lead to 6, 49-43 with 6:35 to play. Erskine would get as close as 4 points, but the Lions closed the game out strong from the foul line to earn the 62-56 win. The Lions shot 36% from the field in the half and outrebounded the Flying Fleet 27-16.
Three Lions ended the night in double figures scoring, with
Devin Story leading the way with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Isaac Jones contributed 11 points on the night, while
Sam Thacker added 10 points.
Ezra McKee led the Lions in rebounds with 11 on the night.
Next up, the Lions will travel to Tigerville, SC to face North Greenville University on Saturday at 4PM.
For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
