Franklin Springs, GA – The Emmanuel Men's Basketball team hosted Southern Wesleyan University tonight in their regular season finale. The Warriors took an early lead, leading 42-37 at the half, but the Lions shot 63% in the 2
nd half, taking the game to the buzzer where
Devin Story called game, scoring with 0.9 on the clock to give the Lions the win, 90-88. With the win, the Lions improve to 16-12 on the season. 13-7 in conference action.
Southern Wesleyan opened the game with a 10-3 lead, but the Lions responded with made free-throws by
Devin Story and a three-pointer from
Sam Thacker to make it 15-9, SWU. Layups from Story, Thacker and
Andrija Vujacic cut the Warriors lead to six with 8:02 to play in the first, 25-19 but Southern Wesleyan responded to push their lead back to 11 with 7:05 to play before break, 30-19.
Ezra McKee got hot late to cut the Warriors lead to 3, 37-34 with 2:02 to play in the first. The Lions trailed 42-37 at the break. In the first, the Lions shot 48% from the field, connecting on 3-4 from the foul line.
In the second half, early buckets from Story, Thacker and McKee made it 50-45, Warriors. The Lions cut the Warriors lead to 3, 55-52 on a free throw by Story, but the Warriors had an answer to push their lead back to 8, 60-52 with 11:42 to play. With 9:28 to play,
Isaac Jones connected from long range to pull the Lions with a point of the lead, 64-63 and a free-throw from McKee tied the game at 66-66 with 8:56 to play. With 5:19 to play, the Lions took their first lead of the game on a layup from McKee to make it 76-74, Lions. Three-pointers from Thacker and Vujacic pushed the Lions up by 6, 82-76 with 3:30 to play, but the Warriors tied the game at 82-82 with 1:42 to go. The teams traded points and the lead until late, when
Devin Story called game with 0.9 seconds on the clock, giving the Lions the 90-88 win.
Devin Story and
Ezra McKee both scored 25 points to lead the team, with
Sam Thacker adding 20.
Isaac Jones led the team with 7 rebounds, while Story led the way with 6 assists.
Next up, the Lions will host the first two rounds of the Conference Carolinas Championship in the Shaw Athletic Center beginning on Sunday. #7 seed, Barton College will face #12 seed, Shorter University on Sunday, with the winner facing #6 seed, Emmanuel on Monday evening.
For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
