Box Score TIGERVILLE, SC – Francis Marion University seniors Bryce Beamer and Alex Cox combined for 45 points, but the Patriots dropped a 96-86 road decision to North Greenville University, Tuesday night (Feb. 7) in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion (13-9, 10-6) remains in fifth place in the conference standings.  FMU now returns home to play three of its final four contests in the Smith University Center, beginning on Saturday with a 4 p.m. tip-off against Emmanuel College (Ga.).
 
Beamer led the Patriots with 23 points, six rebounds, and four blocked shots.  He also drained 5-of-10 attempts from behind the three-point arc.  Cox followed with 22 points, while senior guard Tionne Rollins added 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists and sophomore guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. chipped in 11 points.  Cox is 26 points shy of becoming the 22nd Patriot to reach 1,000 career points.
 
North Greenville guard Zak Perdew shot an amazing 7-of-8 from three-point range en route to game-high 28 points.
 
Beamer scored FMU's first two buckets to give the Patriots leads of 3-0 and 5-3.  The score was knotted at 8-8 when NGU (5-20, 3-13) scored the next six points and would never trail again.  The margin swelled to 23-13 with 11:29 left in the first half, before Francis Marion got within two points twice, at 26-24 and 28-26.
 
With the margin at three (34-31) following a jumper in the paint by FMU sophomore center Jonah Pierce, North Greenville used a 10-1 spurt to push the advantage to double figures.  The Crusaders would lead 44-35 at halftime.
 
Two buckets to open the second half pushed the margin to 14 points at 49-35.  The Patriots would get to within nine points on several occasions before NGU opened a 75-59 lead with 6:31 on the clock.
 
A quick 7-0 run by the Patriots got the margin back under double digits, but the Crusaders answered with a five-point possession.  A three-pointer by Beamer got Francis Marion within seven at 80-73 with 3:09 left, as did Rollins with a three-point play at 86-79 with 1:19 on the clock, but that would be as close as FMU would get.
 
Francis Marion connected on 47.6 percent of its field goal attempts, including 8-of-24 from long range, and was 18-of-25 at the foul line.  The Crusaders shot 47.5 percent, including 14-of-30 from behind the arc, and a sizzling 24-of-28 from the charity stripe.
 
 
02/07/23 7:00 pm at Tigerville, SC
NORTH GREENVILLE 96, FRANCIS MARION 86
FRANCIS MARION (13-9, 10-6)
Bryce Beamer 9-15 0-0 23; Alex Cox 7-11 7-7 22; Tionne Rollins 4-9 3-3 12;
Farid SaintCyr Jr. 4-9 2-4 11; Jonah Pierce 4-11 1-3 9; Nick Silva 1-5 2-4
4; Asante Turner 1-2 1-2 3; Adonis Cole 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 30-63 18-25 86.
NORTH GREENVILLE (5-20, 3-13)
Zak Perdew 7-10 7-8 28; C.J. Jamison 6-11 1-1 16; John Haddock Rogers 5-12
2-2 13; Dre Singleton 4-9 4-5 12; Savion Brown 4-8 1-2 11; Caleb Williams
3-8 4-4 11; Seth Hewitt 0-2 4-4 4; David Muncy 0-1 1-2 1; Linus Helmhold 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 29-61 24-28 96.
Halftime: North Greenville 44 Francis Marion 35
3-point goals--Francis Marion 8-24 (Bryce Beamer 5-10; Farid SaintCyr Jr.
1-5; Tionne Rollins 1-5; Alex Cox 1-2; Asante Turner 0-1; Nick Silva 0-1),
North Greenville 14-30 (Zak Perdew 7-8; C.J. Jamison 3-5; Savion Brown 2-6;
Caleb Williams 1-3; John Haddock Rogers 1-4; David Muncy 0-1; Seth Hewitt
0-1; Dre Singleton 0-2). Fouled out--Francis Marion-Farid SaintCyr Jr.,
North Greenville-John Haddock Rogers. Rebounds--Francis Marion 35 (Tionne
Rollins 8), North Greenville 37 (C.J. Jamison 6; Caleb Williams 6; John
Haddock Rogers 6). Assists--Francis Marion 14 (Asante Turner 4; Tionne
Rollins 4), North Greenville 21 (Caleb Williams 5). Total fouls--Francis
Marion 22, North Greenville 22. Technical fouls--Francis Marion-TEAM. A-264