MURFREESBORO, NC – Senior guard Tionne Rollins nailed a 15-foot jump shot from the right elbow as the final horn sounded to give Francis Marion University an 84-82 road win over Chowan University, Wednesday night (Feb. 1) in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion improves to 13-7 overall and remains tied for fourth in the conference standings with a 10-4 mark, only one game out of second place.  The Patriots will play the other squad tied for fourth, Belmont Abbey College, on the road Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Sophomore 6-8 center Jonah Pierce recorded his sixth consecutive double-double, and 10th of the season, with 20 points and 15 rebounds.  Rollins followed with 19 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Alex Cox scored 18 and senior forward Bryce Beamer tallied 16 points and seven rebounds.
 
Christian Koonce paced Chowan (9-10, 7-7) with 22 points, including hitting 5-of-6 three-point attempts.  Jay Estime scored 20 points and R.J. Wilson added 18 points and seven boards.
 
FMU led by as many as 20 points in the second half, but a 31-11 spurt by Chowan knotted the score at 76-76 with two minutes left.  Two free throws by Pierce and a stick-back bucket by Cox with 53 ticks remaining pushed FMU ahead 80-76.
 
A three-pointer by Koonce trimmed the margin to one, but Beamer drained a pair of free throws with 23.8 seconds left to extend the margin to 82-79. Koonce answered with another three-pointer to deadlock the score at 82-82 with 13 seconds remaining.
 
Eschewing a timeout, FMU brought the ball up the floor and Rollins dribbled into the game-winning shot at the buzzer.
  
The Patriots scored the game's opening four points and held a five-point advantage on multiple occasions.  However, the Hawks rallied to tie the game at 13-13 and the FMU margin was only one at 21-20 with 9:39 left in the half.
 
Cox (6) and Pierce (4) then combined for a 10-0 run to up the Patriot lead to 31-20 with 7:14 on the clock.  Chowan answered with a 15-3 run over the next 2:34 to claim a 35-34 lead following a three-pointer by RJ Wilson.
 
Francis Marion then responded with its own spurt, finishing the half on a 15-1 run to carry a 49-36 advantage into the locker room at halftime.  Pierce and Beamer both contributed six points to the run.
 
Chowan scored the first four points of the second stanza to pull within 49-40, but a bucket by Rollins ignited a 7-0 spurt as the Patriots gradually pulled away to a 65-45 advantage with 13:27 on the clock.
 
Francis Marion shot 46.9 percent from the floor and hit 19-of-24 free throw attempts.  Chowan connected on 45.3 percent of its shots, including 14-of-31 from behind the arc, but was only 10-of-17 at the foul line, including two 1-and-1 misses in the final two minutes.
 
 
02/01/23 7:00 pm at Murfreesboro, NC
FRANCIS MARION 84, CHOWAN 82
FRANCIS MARION (13-7, 10-4)
Jonah Pierce 7-16 6-6 20; Tionne Rollins 6-15 5-6 19; Alex Cox 8-10 0-0 18;
Bryce Beamer 5-10 6-7 16; Asante Turner 1-1 0-0 3; Nick Silva 1-1 0-0 2;
Adonis Cole 0-3 2-2 2; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 1-5 0-2 2; Yohan-Steve Yebga 1-1
0-1 2; Darius Jones 0-0 0-0 0; Doug Alves 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 19-24 84.
CHOWAN (9-10, 7-7)
Christian Koonce 8-12 1-4 22; Jay Estime 7-15 2-3 20; RJ Wilson 6-12 3-4 18;
Preston Le Gassick 2-5 2-4 8; Donavon Martin 3-5 0-0 6; Daylan Askew 1-7 2-2
4; Cheick Traore 1-4 0-0 2; Isaac Hippolyte 1-3 0-0 2; Paul Whitby 0-0 0-0
0; Skyler Davies 0-0 0-0 0; Veigar Alexandersson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-64
10-17 82.
Halftime: Francis Marion 49  Chowan 36
3-point goals--Francis Marion 5-20 (Tionne Rollins 2-5; Alex Cox 2-4; Asante
Turner 1-1; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 0-2; Doug Alves 0-2; Bryce Beamer 0-5; Jonah
Pierce 0-1), Chowan 14-31 (Christian Koonce 5-6; Jay Estime 4-10; RJ Wilson
3-6; Preston Le Gassick 2-5; Veigar Alexandersson 0-1; Daylan Askew 0-2;
Donavon Martin 0-1). Fouled out--Francis Marion-None, Chowan-None.
Rebounds--Francis Marion 47 (Jonah Pierce 15), Chowan 26 (RJ Wilson 7).
Assists--Francis Marion 14 (Jonah Pierce 3; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 3), Chowan 20
(Daylan Askew 5). Total fouls--Francis Marion 17, Chowan 22. Technical
fouls--Francis Marion-Bryce Beamer. A-187