MOUNT OLIVE, NC – A 26-point game from senior guard Alex Cox helped push Francis Marion University to a come-from-behind 90-83 win over King University on Sunday night (Feb. 27) in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
The Patriots (13-14) will return to the court quickly on Monday (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. as they face fifth-seeded University of Mount Olive in the second round on the Trojans' home floor.  The two squads split their season series with each winning in the other's gym. 
 
Cox, who made 9-of-13 field goal attempts and 6-of-6 free throws, contributed six points to a 25-7 FMU run late in the game that erased a 10-point deficit.
 
Junior guard Tionne Rollins followed Cox with 17 points, while freshmen forward Jonah Pierce earned his 10th double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshmen forward Nick Silva had 10 points, but blocked two shots and grabbed three steals.
 
King University guard Michael Mays led the Tornado (14-15) with 23 points, while forward Isaiah Curry posted 12 points and brought down 12 rebounds.
 
A back-and-forth battle in the first half started with a Tornado mid-range make by Isaiah Curry only to be answered on the other end with a jumper by Silva (2-2). At the 12:51 minute, the deficit would grow larger than two for the first time after a jumper by Rollins bumped the Patriots ahead by four at 16-12. After two makes from the stripe by Silva, FMU grabbed their biggest lead of six points with 11:10 remaining in the half, 20-14.
 
The Tornado took the lead back after a three-pointer by Amarius Beasley and two makes from the stripe by Darron Howard to bring the score to 28-26. The Patriots reclaimed a four-point lead after a three-point make and layup from Cox at 34-30. Two free throw by graduate student forward Neija Jordan gave the Patriots a one-point lead, but the Tornado would even the score (38-38) to end the half after a free throw make from MJ Foust.
  
Two Jonah Pierce layups kick-started the Patriots to a four-point lead to open the second half, but a Michael Mays' three-pointer knocked the Patriot lead down to one at 42-41. A layup by Foust evened the score at 48-48, but shortly after, the guard would take the lead back with another layup (52-51). A Michael Mays' layup and three-pointer extended the Tornado lead to 10 points with 10:50 remaining in the game at 62-52.
 
This where the decisive Patriot spurt would begin. A Pierce dunk cut the Tornado lead down to four and later after freshmen guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. poked the ball loose and knocked down a layup to trim the margin to two at 63-61.
 
A free throw make and a mid-range knockdown by Rollins pulled the Patriots within one with 7:40 left in the game (64-65). Another steal from SaintCyr Jr. followed by a layup by Cox pushed the Patriots ahead by one, but a Desmond Davis jumper gave the lead back to the Tornado at 67-66.
 
At the 5:06 mark, a layup by Pierce pushed the Patriots ahead by four points, 71-67, and two buckets from Cox extended the FMU lead to six with 4:03 left. Two Silva free throws with 27 seconds helped bump the Patriots ahead by 10 for their largest lead of the game. A pair of makes from the strip by Cox followed by a last-second effort layup by King's Curry would finish the game ending King's season.   The Patriots scored 13 points in the final two-and-a-half minutes.
 
Francis Marion shot 54.4 percent from the floor while King shot 43.1 percent from the floor. At the stripe, the Patriots made 26-of-31 and the Tornado hit 15-of-20.
 
 
02/27/22 5:00 pm at Mount Olive, NC
FRANCIS MARION 90, KING (TN) 83
FRANCIS MARION (13-14,10-14 Conf)
Alex Cox 9-13 6-6 26; Tionne Rollins 7-15 3-4 17; Jonah Pierce 7-11 0-0 14;
Nick Silva 2-6 6-7 10; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 2-2 5-6 9; Ja'Von Anderson 3-7 2-3
8; Yohan-Steve Yebga 1-1 2-3 4; Nieja Jordan 0-2 2-2 2; Asante Turner 0-0
0-0 0; Matthew Lee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-57 26-31 90.
KING (TN) (14-15,11-13 Conf)
Michael Mays 9-16 0-0 23; MJ Foust 7-13 2-4 16; Isaiah Curry 4-10 4-4 12;
Brandon Lamberth 3-8 2-4 8; Desmond Davis 3-11 2-2 8; Darron Howard 1-6 4-4
6; Amarius Beasley 2-5 1-2 6; Kenny Turner 2-3 0-0 4; Shan Jenkins 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 31-72 15-20 83.
Halftime: 38-38
3-point goals--Francis Marion 2-10 (Alex Cox 2-3; Tionne Rollins 0-3; Nick
Silva 0-1; Ja'Von Anderson 0-2; Nieja Jordan 0-1), King (TN) 6-15 (Michael
Mays 5-6; Amarius Beasley 1-2; Desmond Davis 0-2; Darron Howard 0-3; MJ
Foust 0-2). Fouled out--Francis Marion-None, King (TN)-Brandon Lamberth; MJ
Foust. Rebounds--Francis Marion 30 (Jonah Pierce 10), King (TN) 35 (Isaiah
Curry 12). Assists--Francis Marion 12 (Ja'Von Anderson 3), King (TN) 9
(Desmond Davis 5). Total fouls--Francis Marion 16, King (TN) 25. Technical
fouls--King (TN)-Michael Mays. A-45