ROYSTON, GA – Francis Marion University dropped its first-ever Conference Carolinas game to preseason favorite Emmanuel College 77-64, Saturday afternoon (Nov. 20) in men's basketball play.

The Patriots (2-1, 0-1) continue their road trip by visiting the University of Mount Olive, Tuesday (Nov. 23) at 7 p.m.
 
Senior guard Alex Cox led the Patriots with 15 points and seven rebounds, while 6-8 freshman forward Jonah Pierce totaled 12 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Tionne Rollins tallied 11 points and five rebounds, while graduate student forward Neija Jordan added eight points and eight rebounds.  

Kelvin Jones led Emmanuel (2-1, 1-0) in points with 23, rebounds with nine, and assists with four.
 
After the first ten minutes of the contest, FMU would maintain the lead for the rest of the first half. Francis Marion would lead by as many as nine points at 32-23 following a fast-break three-pointer by Cox at the 3:44 mark.  However, the Lions would respond with nine straight points to knot the score at 32-32.  After the two teams traded buckets, freshman Nick Silva made 1-of-2 free throws to give FMU a 35-34 lead at intermission.
 
FMU led by five at 44-39 after Pierce scored on a stick-back hoop with 15:35 left.  Rollins gave the Patriots their final lead of the night at 48-47 with two free throws at the 11:59 mark.  Emmanuel would score the next five points to take the lead for good and would maintain the lead for the remainder of the second half.
 
Francis Marion shot 36.9 percent from the floor and hit 11-of-15 free throws. Emmanuel drained 47.1 percent of its shots and was 23-of-26 at the line.


11/20/21 4:00 pm at Royston, GA
EMMANUEL (GA) 77, FRANCIS MARION 64
FRANCIS MARION (2-1,0-1 Conferen)
Alex Cox 6-13 1-2 15; Jonah Pierce 6-8 0-0 12; Tionne Rollins 2-7 6-7 11;
Nieja Jordan 4-9 0-0 8; Nick Silva 3-7 1-2 8; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 2-7 0-0 4;
Yohan-Steve Yebga 0-4 3-4 3; Ja'Lil Robinson 1-2 0-0 3; Matthew Lee 0-0 0-0
0; Ja'Von Anderson 0-5 0-0 0; Ben Jones 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-65 11-15 64.
EMMANUEL (GA) (2-1,1-0 Conferen)
Kelvin Jones 6-12 11-13 23; Brandon Simpson 5-13 0-0 12; Jayvion Rucker 4-5
0-0 9; Tyonn Stuckey 1-7 6-6 8; Isaiah Foster 3-4 0-0 8; Kyler Ingram 2-3
4-5 8; Chris Dees 1-3 2-2 4; Michael Wright 1-3 0-0 3; Jackson Bailey 1-1
0-0 2; Kendall Latney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 23-26 77.
Halftime: Francis Marion 35 Emmanuel 34
3-point goals--Francis Marion 5-24 (Alex Cox 2-5; Nick Silva 1-3; Tionne
Rollins 1-2; Ja'Lil Robinson 1-2; Ja'Von Anderson 0-4; Ben Jones 0-2; Farid
SaintCyr Jr. 0-3; Nieja Jordan 0-2; Jonah Pierce 0-1), Emmanuel (GA) 6-21
(Isaiah Foster 2-3; Brandon Simpson 2-7; Michael Wright 1-3; Jayvion Rucker
1-2; Chris Dees 0-1; Tyonn Stuckey 0-3; Kelvin Jones 0-2). Fouled
out--Francis Marion-None, Emmanuel (GA)-None. Rebounds--Francis Marion 35
(Nieja Jordan 8), Emmanuel (GA) 34 (Kelvin Jones 9). Assists--Francis Marion
4 (Tionne Rollins 2), Emmanuel (GA) 13 (Kelvin Jones 4). Total
fouls--Francis Marion 21, Emmanuel (GA) 14. Technical fouls--None. A-458