FLORENCE, SC – Freshman 6-8 center Jonah Pierce tallied 16 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and five blocked shots to lead Francis Marion University to a convincing 94-76 victory over Pfeiffer University, Wednesday night (Nov. 17) in non-conference men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion improves to 2-0.  FMU will play its first-ever Conference Carolinas contest on Saturday (Nov. 20) with a 4 p.m. tip-off at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Ga.  Emmanuel was the preseason favorite to win the conference crown.
 
Pierce came off the Patriot bench to notch his totals, which came in only 25 minutes of action.  The Sanford, Fla., native also came up with three steals, while connecting on 7-of-13 field goal attempts.
 
Senior guard Alex Cox led FMU with 19 points and seven assists.  Freshman guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. added 14 points off the bench, while graduate student Neija Jordan and junior guard Tionne Rollins each chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds.
 
Sophomore forward Dorian Miles led Pfeiffer with 20 points and seven rebounds, but he registered only two points after halftime.
 
Francis Marion shot 53.6 percent from the floor and hit 16-of-23 attempts at the foul line. The Falcons were held to 41.5 percent shooting from the field, while hitting 15-of-25 charity tosses.
 
FMU outrebounded Pfeiffer 47-34 and converted 17 Falcon turnovers into 24 points. Led by Pierce and Jordan, the Patriots outscored Pfeiffer 62-32 in the paint.
 
The Falcons held a pair of five-point advantages in the opening stages of the first half, the second time at 18-13 that forced a full timeout by FMU head coach Gary Edwards.  FMU responded with six straight points to go on top 19-18.
 
The Patriots took the lead for good at 26-24 on a lay-up by Cox at the 7:37 mark.  That bucket started a 9-0 spurt by FMU as the Patriots eventually pulled away to a 46-35 halftime lead.
 
Pfeiffer crept to within nine points at 48-39, but Jordan scored on a hook shot in the lane followed by a fast-break lay-in from Pierce and the margin would remain in double figures for the rest of the contest.
 
FMU's largest lead of 21 points occurred twice: at 88-67 following a driving lay-up by Cox with 3:45 remaining and at 94-73 after an inside hoop by junior guard Matthew Lee with 55 ticks left.

 
 
11/17/21 7:00 pm at Florence, SC
FRANCIS MARION 94, PFEIFFER 76
PFEIFFER (1-1,0-0 USA Sout)
Dorian Miles 7-13 4-6 20; Jerome Savoy 4-9 3-5 11; Donnie Haith 3-9 4-4 11;
D.J. Bradsher 2-5 3-6 8; Jordan Byrd 3-4 1-3 7; Sam Daigle 2-5 0-0 6; E.J.
Thomas 2-5 0-0 4; Sean Scott 2-4 0-1 4; Brady Dudley 1-1 0-0 3; Taylan Rowe
1-5 0-0 2; Daymon Beckwith 0-0 0-0 0; Hunter Sedergren 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan
Lundvall 0-2 0-0 0; Jackson Koontz 0-0 0-0 0; Craig Sabb 0-3 0-0 0; Elan
Muniz 0-0 0-0 0; Aaron Welch 0-0 0-0 0; Nick Ruggiero 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
27-65 15-25 76.
FRANCIS MARION (2-0,0-0 Conferen)
Alex Cox 5-7 8-9 19; Jonah Pierce 7-13 2-2 16; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 6-8 2-2
14; Nieja Jordan 6-14 1-3 13; Tionne Rollins 4-6 2-4 13; Yohan-Steve Yebga
4-6 1-3 9; Ja'Lil Robinson 2-5 0-0 4; Matthew Lee 2-2 0-0 4; Asante Turner
1-2 0-0 2; Nick Silva 0-2 0-0 0; Nari Jordan 0-0 0-0 0; Ben Jones 0-4 0-0 0.
Totals 37-69 16-23 94.
Halftime: Francis Marion 46 Pfeiffer 35
3-point goals--Pfeiffer 7-23 (Dorian Miles 2-4; Sam Daigle 2-5; Brady Dudley
1-1; Donnie Haith 1-3; D.J. Bradsher 1-2; Taylan Rowe 0-4; Craig Sabb 0-2;
Jerome Savoy 0-2), Francis Marion 4-17 (Tionne Rollins 3-4; Alex Cox 1-3;
Farid SaintCyr Jr. 0-1; Nieja Jordan 0-2; Ja'Lil Robinson 0-3; Nick Silva
0-1; Ben Jones 0-2; Jonah Pierce 0-1). Fouled out--Pfeiffer-None, Francis
Marion-Tionne Rollins. Rebounds--Pfeiffer 34 (Dorian Miles 7), Francis
Marion 47 (Jonah Pierce 14). Assists--Pfeiffer 15 (Taylan Rowe 4), Francis
Marion 20 (Alex Cox 7). Total fouls--Pfeiffer 15, Francis Marion 25.
Technical fouls--Pfeiffer-TEAM. A-642