SPARTANBURG, SC- The Emmanuel Men's Basketball team faced the Chowan University Hawks tonight in the semifinals of the 2025 Atlantic Casualty Insurance Conference Carolinas Championship. The two teams got off to a slow start, with the Lions leading by one at the half, 28-27. The teams continued to battle in the 2^ndhalf with the Lions edging the Hawks 77-69 to move to the Championship game against UNC Pembroke.  

The Hawks jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, but the Lions quickly responded to take a 9-7 lead on a three-pointer by Chris Dees. The Hawks retook the lead 13-11, but a driving layup by Kendall Latney tied things up and Dees gave the Lions the lead again, 17-16 with 6:57 to play in the first. Tavarus Webb pushed the Lions lead to 21-16 on back-to-back layups with 5:50 to play until half. The Hawks took a 27-25 lead with 1:36 to play, but Dees connected from downtown to . In the first, the Lions were 8-23 from the field (38%) and connected on 8-9 from the foul line. 

The Hawks took the lead to start the first half, but the Lions responded quickly with a turn-around jumper by Webb to tie things at 30-30. The Lions continued on a 7-1 run, with key plays by Webb, Jasper Gibson and Dees to take a 37-31 lead with 15:58 to play.  The Lions continued to pour on the points, with a jumper by Latney and a three-pointer by Dees pushing the Lions lead to 44-35 with 13:26 to go. The Hawks responded well with an 11-3 run to cut the Lions lead to one point, 47-46 with 10:43 to play. The Lions answered with two key threes by Dees and Isaac Jones to push their lead to 53-49 with 9:19 to play. The teams traded points until they were tied at 60 with less than five minutes to play. The Lions kicked it into high gear to finish out the game on a 14-5 run with key shots by the big three, Dees, Latney and Webb to give the Lions a 74-65 lead with 51 seconds to play and closed the game out strong to earn a 77-69 victory.  

Three Lions ended the night in double figures scoring, with Chris Dees leading the way with 26 points. Dees was 4-9 from three-point range. Tavarus Webb contributed 25 points and Kendall Latney rounded out the leading scorers with 15 points. Latney led the Lions in rebounds with 9, with Dees and Webb grabbing 6 boards apiece. Webb ended the game with 3 blocks, 2 assists.  With the win, the Lions punch their ticket to the Conference Carolinas Championship game for a rematch with UNC Pembroke tomorrow at 4PM in the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. 

For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.