FLORENCE, SC – Junior guard
Jevon Brown scored a career-high 41 points and set a new Francis Marion University men's basketball record with 11 made three-pointers in a single game, as the Patriots suffered a 106-102 shootout loss to Southern Wesleyan University on Monday night (Feb. 23) in Conference Carolinas play.
Francis Marion (7-19, 7-11) will host their final regular-season contest on Wednesday, Feb. 25, against Barton College, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Smith University Center. The Patriots ranked 10th in the KPI standings entering tonight's contest, which determines tournament seeding. The tournament field will be released on Wednesday evening, with the top 12 teams clinching a spot in the postseason.
Brown, a local product of Wilson High School, equaled the second-highest single-game scoring performance in school history behind only
Jordyn Surratt's 45-point game at Mount Olive in February 2025. He finished the game 15-of-24 shooting while knocking down 11-of-18 from beyond the arc. His new school record in three-pointers surpassed the previous mark of nine, which was set by Robert Barber against Erskine College on Feb. 18, 1989.
Senior swingman
Cole Deptula reached a career milestone after eclipsing 1,000 points. He contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and two steals in 33 minutes on the court. Deptula joined the Patriots for his final collegiate season after tallying 581 career points at Young Harris College. He has been the leading scorer for FMU, tallying 424 points this season.
Senior guard
Farid SaintCyr Jr. finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 attempts with three rebounds, four assists, and one steal in 21 minutes. Fifth-year guard
Patrick Antonelli totaled 12 points, three rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and one block in 25 minutes. Junior forward
Jaiden Cancela posted a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one block.
SWU (13-13, 10-9) featured three players with at least 25 points, led by Jaquay Randolph with 33.
In the first half, the Patriots built an early 11-7 edge after converting five-of-eight from the field in the opening four minutes of the game. The Warriors closed the gap over the next nine-plus minutes as the lead changed multiple times before a Brown layup tied the game at 28-28 with 5:11 to go. SWU mounted an 11-4 run in the closing minutes to climb into the lead at 39-32, but FMU scored a pair of three-pointers to head into the half trailing, 43-39.
Southern Wesleyan remained in an offensive rhythm in the second half, as the Warriors extended their lead to 60-48 with 13:48 remaining. Brown jump-started the rally after accounting for nine points in a 13-7 run by the Patriots to trim the deficit to 67-61. Despite the comeback, the Warriors regained their double-digit lead at 88-74 with nearly three minutes left, but FMU continued to fight. The Patriots made six three-pointers over the next two minutes to close the gap to 101-96 with 32 seconds remaining. Southern Wesleyan converted three-of-four from the charity stripe to seal a 106-102 win.
Francis Marion finished the contest shooting 37-of-83 (44.6 percent) from the floor while converting 40.4 percent (19-of-47) from three-point range. Meanwhile, Southern Wesleyan posted a .525 field goal percentage (32-of-61) and made 34-of-41 (82.9 percent) from the free-throw line. The Patriots finished with a 42-38 rebounding advantage with 59 points off the bench. The Warriors tallied 38 points in the paint and 20 fastbreak points.
