EMORY, VA - The Francis Marion University men's basketball team fell to Lenoir-Rhyne University 76-71 on the second day of the Conference Carolinas/South Atlantic Conference Challenge, Sunday (Nov. 12) in Emory, Va.
 
The Patriots (1-1) will return to the court on Wednesday (Nov. 15) in Hartsville, S.C., against local-rival Coker University with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. 
 
Leading the Patriots with 18 points, junior forward Ibrahim Wattara shot 5-9 from the field. Wattara also went 100 percent at the foul line, sinking all eight of his free throws, while grabbing eight rebounds and blocking three shots.
 
Graduate student forward Marlow Gilmore tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while also being perfect (7-of-7) from the free throw line.
 
Two other Patriots scored in double-digits: fifth-year senior guard Tionne Rollins posted 13 points and junior guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. had 12 points.
 
Tay Smith of Lenoir-Rhyne (1-1) paced the Bears with 16 points, culminating from 7-of-13 shots made from the field.
 
Sophomore guard Willie Patterson III started the scoring for Francis Marion with a layup off a steal. With a three-pointer from SaintCyr Jr., the Patriots climbed back from a three-point deficit and knotted the contest at 7-7. Despite Lenoir Rhyne rattling off six points, FMU kept pushing and exchanged leads at 26-25. Francis Marion held the lead for the remainder of the first half and entered halftime with a three-point advantage 38-35.
 
Coming out of halftime hot, Gilmore Jr. set the tone with a dunk. After a lead exchange between the Beard and Patriots, Lenoir Rhyne held on and never trailed for the rest of the game despite Francis Marion bringing the score back even at 70-70 with 1:53 remaining. A Bears bucket offset a free throw by Rollins and LRU led 72-71 in the final minute.  An offensive rebound following an LRU miss with 32 seconds left proved crucial as the Bears made 4-of-4 free throws in the final 14 seconds.
 
Francis Marion shot 40.0 percent from the floor and 21-of-25 at the free throw line, while the Bears connected on 43.8 percent from the floor and 15-fo-20 charity tosses.
 
 
11/12/23 5:00 pm at Emory, VA
LENOIR-RHYNE 76, FRANCIS MARION 71
LENOIR-RHYNE (1-1)
Tay Smith 7-13 0-1 16; Chase Mebane 4-12 3-5 11; Jaquias Franklin 2-7 6-6
10; Jaheim Taylor 3-8 3-4 9; Nas Tyson 3-6 0-0 8; Cris Paez 2-4 2-2 7; Percy
Fyle 3-3 0-1 6; Tim Steele 2-6 1-1 5; Conner Tilley 1-3 0-0 2; Cooper Fowler
1-2 0-0 2; Hamilton Campbell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 15-20 76.
FRANCIS MARION (1-1)
Ibrahim Wattara 5-9 8-8 18; Marlow Gilmore Jr. 3-4 7-7 13; Tionne Rollins
5-12 1-2 13; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4-11 1-4 12; Willie Patterson III 2-7 4-4 8;
Horaces Jacques Jr. 1-9 0-0 3; Niko Noumeros 1-1 0-0 2; Chandler O'Bannon
1-2 0-0 2; Adonis Cole 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 21-25 71.
Halftime: Francis Marion 38-35
3-point goals--Lenoir-Rhyne 5-22 (Tay Smith 2-6; Nas Tyson 2-2; Cris Paez
1-3; Jaheim Taylor 0-3; Tim Steele 0-3; Conner Tilley 0-1; Cooper Fowler
0-1; Jaquias Franklin 0-2; Chase Mebane 0-1), Francis Marion 6-29 (Farid
SaintCyr Jr. 3-7; Tionne Rollins 2-9; Horaces Jacques Jr. 1-6; Chandler
O'Bannon 0-1; Willie Patterson III 0-2; Marlow Gilmore Jr. 0-1; Ibrahim
Wattara 0-3). Fouled out--Lenoir-Rhyne-None, Francis Marion-None.
Rebounds--Lenoir-Rhyne 39 (Chase Mebane 7), Francis Marion 34 (Marlow
Gilmore Jr. 10). Assists--Lenoir-Rhyne 4 (Jaquias Franklin 2), Francis
Marion 11 (Marlow Gilmore Jr. 3). Total fouls--Lenoir-Rhyne 21, Francis
Marion 19. Technical fouls--None. A-249