FLORENCE, SC – A pesky Francis Marion University squad led by 11 at halftime and sparked an 11-5 run in the last two minutes to rally, but would fall to Southern Wesleyan University 70-65 in Conference Carolinas men's basketball play on Monday, Jan. 31.
The Patriots (8-10, 6-10) will be traveling to this weekend to face Lees-McRae College on Friday at 7 p.m. and King (Tenn.) University on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Freshmen forward
Nick Silva led the Patriots with 17 points and nine rebounds, recording his tenth-career double-figure outing. He shot 7-of-17 from the floor as well as knocking down 2-of-4 from behind the arc. Junior guard
Tionne Rollins followed with 15 points and grabbed four steals in the contest, while freshmen guard
Farid SaintCyr Jr. added nine points and four steals.
Senior guard Demarcus Addie of the Warriors led SWU (11-5, 9-3) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Ta'Jay Dunlap also posted 17 points and dished out six assists.
FMU and SWU would keep the score close for a majority of the first half, with Rollins knocking down the first score on a layup. The Patriots followed up with a pair of jumpers from freshmen guard
Jose Benitez and freshmen forward
Jonah Pierce to draw within 7-6. The Patriots regained the lead after a sophomore forward
Yohan-Steve Yebga's hook shot at 8-7.
After the first eight minutes, FMU held the lead for the remainder of the first half. The Patriots went into halftime with an 11-point lead (34-23) after a pair of Silva baskets and a SaintCyr Jr. layup closed the stanza with a 6-0 FMU run.
Southern Wesleyan scored the first 10 points of the second half to pull within 34-33. The Patriots extended their margin to 47-40 after a pull-up jumper by Rollins with 11:39 left. SWU responded with an 11 straight points to regain the lead for good.
Following an FMU free throw, the Warriors once again scored 11 consecutive points to complete a 22-1 spurt that extended their lead to 62-48. Trailing by 12 with 2:49 remaining, FMU brought the deficit down to two points (65-63) on a lay-in by Benitez with 56 seconds left.
Dunlap sealed the win with two free throws with 3.9 ticks left.
Francis Marion ended the game shooting 27-of-63 (42.9%) from the field, while the Warriors shot 23-of-52 (44.2%) from the floor. The Patriots knocked down 5-of-18 (27.8%) from behind the arc and Southern Wesleyan hit 5-of-19 (26.3%). FMU made 6-of-11 from the line (54.5%), and the Warriors sank 19-29 (65.5%).
01/31/22 4:00 pm at Florence, SC
SOUTHERN WESLEYAN 70, FRANCIS MARION 65
SOUTHERN WESLEYAN (11-5,9-3 Confere)
Demarcus Addie 6-12 5-6 20; Ta'Jay Dunlap 5-14 6-9 17; Tranard Ferrell 4-5
2-5 11; Julian Cameron 3-7 3-3 9; Hunter Davis 3-7 1-2 7; Solomon Smith 1-1
2-2 4; Arusha Hunter 1-4 0-0 2; Davion Bradford 0-1 0-2 0; Quinian Rieves
0-0 0-0 0; Brendan Hoban 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 19-29 70.
FRANCIS MARION (8-10,6-10 Confer)
Nick Silva 7-17 1-2 17;
Tionne Rollins 6-13 2-3 15;
Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4-7
0-1 9;
Jonah Pierce 3-5 3-4 9;
Jose Benitez 4-7 0-0 8;
Alex Cox 1-6 0-0 3;
Yohan-Steve Yebga 1-2 0-1 2;
Nieja Jordan 1-3 0-0 2;
Asante Turner 0-0 0-0
0;
Matthew Lee 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-63 6-11 65.
Halftime: Francis Marion 34 SWU 23
3-point goals--Southern Wesleyan 5-19 (Demarcus Addie 3-5; Tranard Ferrell
1-1; Ta'Jay Dunlap 1-8; Arusha Hunter 0-2; Brendan Hoban 0-1; Julian Cameron
0-2), Francis Marion 5-18 (
Nick Silva 2-4;
Tionne Rollins 1-7;
Alex Cox 1-4;
Farid SaintCyr Jr. 1-1;
Nieja Jordan 0-1;
Jose Benitez 0-1). Fouled
out--Southern Wesleyan-None, Francis Marion-None. Rebounds--Southern
Wesleyan 41 (Demarcus Addie 10), Francis Marion 31 (
Nick Silva 9).
Assists--Southern Wesleyan 12 (Tranard Ferrell 4), Francis Marion 12 (Nick
Silva 3;
Yohan-Steve Yebga 3). Total fouls--Southern Wesleyan 13, Francis
Marion 21. Technical fouls--None. A-187
