MURFREESBORO, NC – Despite a go-ahead layup with 11 seconds left, 11th-seeded Francis Marion University men's basketball program suffered a heartbreaking 96-93 loss to eighth-seeded Southern Wesleyan University, Sunday night (March 1) in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Patriots closed the 2025-26 season with the first-round loss after matching up with SWU for the second time in a week. The Warriors advance in the second round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament to face No. 5 Chowan University in Murfreesboro, N.C., on Monday, March 2, at 7 p.m.
Graduate student guard
Farid SaintCyr Jr. scored a team-high 25 points on 9-of 18 shooting, while converting 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. He also tallied three rebounds, three assists, and four steals in 28 minutes. Playing in his 100th contest, the Miami, Fla., native finished his career with 891 points.
Senior forward
Adonis Cole contributed 15 points on 6-of-14 shots with a team-high nine rebounds in 27 minutes. Junior guard
Kennard Davis finished with 14 points, two rebounds, and four assists in 26 minutes. Fifth-year guard
Patrick Antonelli totaled nine points, two rebounds, and five assists, while junior forward
Jaiden Cancela also tallied nine points with six rebounds.
Southern Wesleyan (14-14) featured four players in double figures, led by a 35-point performance from Will Little.
In the first half, both sides traded buckets in the initial 12-plus minutes of the contest, with five ties and three lead changes occurring. The Warriors held a 23-22 edge at the 7:50 mark while the Patriots made 10-fo-23 from the field to begin the game with eight different scorers. Francis Marion regained the lead with a 10-2 run, led by Davis with five points, to hold a 32-25 advantage. SWU managed to close the gap to 35-32 with 2:31 to go before Cole and Deptula made back-to-back shots to head into the break with a 40-34 lead.
The Patriots maintained their lead through the opening four minutes of the second half before SWU nailed consecutive three-pointers to tie the game, 46-46. The tightly contested battle continued over the next three minutes, as the Warriors pulled ahead with a 9-2 run to lead 64-57 with 11:14 left in regulation. Southern Wesleyan carried its lead into the closing minutes of the contest, leading by a game-high 12 points with 3:40 left, 81-69. Francis Marion made a final push with an impressive 19-9 rally, which included a trio of three-pointers and the perfect eight-of-eight shooting from the charity stripe. Cancela propelled FMU into the lead with a three-point play in the closing seconds before SWU recaptured a 92-91 edge. Mauldin made a putback layup off an offensive rebound on the next possession to take a 93-92 advantage with just 11 seconds to go. The Warriors managed to draw a shooting foul with 2.7 seconds remaining and ultimately sealed the victory at the free-throw line, 96-93.
Francis Marion finished the contest shooting 33-of-75 (44.0 percent) from the floor while converting 33.3 percent (11-of-33) from three-point range. Meanwhile, Southern Wesleyan posted a .444 field goal percentage (24-of-54) and made 36-of44 (81.8 percent) from the free-throw line. The Patriots finished with a 44-35 rebounding advantage with 44 points in the paint and 46 points off the bench.
