Box Score FLORENCE, SC – Sophomore center Jonah Pierce scored 16 of his game-high 27 points over the final 20 minutes to key a second-half explosion that carried Francis Marion University to a 97-82 win over Erskine College, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 14) in Conference Carolinas men's basketball play.
 
Francis Marion earns its fifth straight win to improve to 10-4 overall and 7-1 in conference play.  The Patriots are in third place, one-half game out of second and only one game out of the top spot.
 
FMU will play three games this coming week beginning with a 7 p.m. tip-off at Southern Wesleyan University on Monday.
 
Pierce tallied point total on 12-of-18 shooting, while also hauling down a game-high 17 rebounds and handing out three assists. Senior guard Alex Cox tallied 20 points, four steals, and three assists, while sophomore guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. equaled his career-high of 18 points, including draining four three-pointers.
 
FMU sophomore swingman Nick Silva came off the bench and registered his first double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.  Senior point guard Doug Alves chipped in 10 points and four assists.
 
Junior forward Kingston Johnson led the Flying Fleet (0-17, 0-9) with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The highly contested first half featured 12 lead changes and three ties. Francis Marion scored the opening five points and led 8-3 five minutes into the game.  Erskine rallied to go up 11-10 and led 18-16 at the midway point of the first half.
 
The Flying Fleet still maintained a two-point margin (28-26) with 3:58 left before halftime.  FMU responded with an 8-2 spurt to claim a 34-30 lead after a pull-up jumper by Cox.  Moments later, Erskine closed to within 34-33, but the Patriots answered with another 8-2 run to take the largest lead of the opening half at 42-35.  Erskine's Jerome Stephens drained three free throws with less than a second remaining to pull the Flying Fleet within 42-38 at intermission.
 
A lay-up by Jalen Canada gave Erskine a 47-46 lead early in the second stanza.  Francis Marion then rattled off eight points in a row to take the lead for good, 54-47 with 12:57 left.
 
The margin was six points, 61-55 with 9:30 left, when the Patriots caught fire scoring 36 points over the remainder of the contest.  A lay-in by Pierce and a tip-in by junior Yohan-Steve Yebga started a 14-3 run that built a 75-58 FMU advantage.
 
Following a Flying Fleet free throw, Cox threw down a monstrous two-handed dunk and minutes later converted a three-point play to push the margin to 20 points at 81-61.
 
Francis Marion connected on 50.7 percent of its field goal attempts and was 21-of-26 at the foul stripe.  Erskine shot 40.5 percent from the field, including 8-of-27 from behind the three-point arc, and was 14-of-26 at the free throw line.
 
This was the 50th all-time meeting between the two long-time rivals, and the 24th win for Francis Marion.
 
First-year head coach Jake Zehnder becomes the second FMU coach to win double-digit games in his inaugural season – joining Ed Conroy who went 16-11 in 1997-98.

 
 
01/14/23 4:00 pm at Florence, SC
FRANCIS MARION 97, ERSKINE 82
ERSKINE (0-17, 0-9)
Kingston Johnson 7-9 2-3 16; Lanyc Shuler 5-16 2-4 14; Jaylen Prioleau 5-6
2-6 13; Jerome Stephens 2-5 4-5 10; Dez Overton-Dailey 3-9 1-1 8; Zay King
2-5 0-0 5; Jalen Robinson 2-7 0-0 4; Makayl Rakestraw 1-2 1-2 3; DJ Belin
1-3 0-0 3; Jalen Canada 1-3 0-0 2; Jaylen Jennings 1-3 0-1 2; Tavis Bridges
0-5 2-4 2; Drayton Benjamin 0-0 0-0 0; Connor Stark 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-74
14-26 82.
FRANCIS MARION (10-4, 7-1)
Jonah Pierce 12-18 3-7 27; Alex Cox 8-16 4-5 20; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 6-14 2-5
18; Nick Silva 2-6 7-10 11; Doug Alves 3-6 3-4 10; Yohan-Steve Yebga 2-3 2-5
6; Darius Jones 1-3 0-0 3; Adonis Cole 1-1 0-0 2; Austin Harrell 0-0 0-0 0;
Asante Turner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 35-69 21-36 97.
Halftime: Francis Marion 42 Erskine 38
3-point goals--Erskine 8-27 (Lanyc Shuler 2-6; Jerome Stephens 2-5; Jaylen
Prioleau 1-2; DJ Belin 1-3; Dez Overton-Dailey 1-1; Zay King 1-4; Jaylen
Jennings 0-2; Makayl Rakestraw 0-1; Jalen Robinson 0-2; Kingston Johnson
0-1), Francis Marion 6-22 (Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4-9; Doug Alves 1-4; Darius
Jones 1-3; Asante Turner 0-1; Nick Silva 0-1; Alex Cox 0-4). Fouled
out--Erskine-Jaylen Prioleau, Francis Marion-None. Rebounds--Erskine 41
(Kingston Johnson 10), Francis Marion 48 (Jonah Pierce 17). Assists--Erskine
18 (Lanyc Shuler 6), Francis Marion 20 (Yohan-Steve Yebga 5). Total
fouls--Erskine 30, Francis Marion 19. Technical fouls--Francis
Marion-Alex Cox; TEAM. A-652