BREVARD, N.C. - A strong effort on the part of the Brevard College men's basketball team was not enough to topple the South Atlantic Conference's second-best squad as the Tornados fell 92-79 to Queens inside Boshamer Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
Queens (14-8, 11-5 SAC) dominated the Tornados (9-12, 7-9 SAC) on the boards, outrebounding Brevard 40-24 and taking an 18-7 edge in second-chance points. The Royals had four players reach double figures, led by a game-high 25 points from Rob Lewis.
Lewis, who earned SAC Player of the Week honors for a 19-point, 10-assist performance against the Tornados in the teams' first meeting in December, accounted for all seven of the Royals' three-point field goals. Sean Morgan had 18 points, while Jedarian Jackson and Marquis Rankin each accounted for 14 points. Rankin had five assists to lead the team; Jackson came away with four of Queens' 11 steals.
Queens' victory spoiled a standout performance from Brevard's Phil Wallace. The junior transfer from Cape Fear Community College played just 23 minutes off the bench but scored 23 points, two away from matching his season high. Wallace also made all seven of his free throw attempts and currently tops Brevard's NCAA-era record books in free throw percentage for a single season and over a career, shooting 87.9 percent from the line in his only season in a Brevard uniform.
The Tornados led for much of the first half, seeing its advantage to swell to 12 points after a 19-7 run that came to a close with 8:10 to play in the opening period. But the Royals battled back, countering with a 17-5 run of their own to tie the game at 36 just four and a half minutes later. Queens would go on to retake the lead at the 1:39 mark of the half on a pair of Rankin free throws and led by three at the break, capping a 27-12 stretch over the final eight minutes.
Queens began the second half by scoring on each of its first seven possessions and saw its lead grow to 16 points at the first media timeout after the half. The Royals scored 15 of the first 17 points in the second frame and never saw their lead dwindle to single digits the rest of the way.
Several other Tornados had solid performances in the loss. Miles Leathers set a career high with seven assists and scored 11 points in the contest. He also set a season high with four thefts, falling one shy from tying his career high of five steals set in a game against Lincoln Memorial last season. Freshman Brayden Masten blocked three shots and now has 25 for the season, which ranks fourth in Brevard's NCAA-era history for a single season and fifth for a career.
Despite its loss, Brevard remains in a two-way tie for seventh in the conference standings with Catawba, which defeated Tusculum 75-74 on a blocked shot by Troy Warren as time expired. The Tornados currently own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Indians by virtue of their 87-75 win in Salisbury on January 10.
Brevard returns to action on Wednesday as the Tornados will attempt to avenge a 78-56 loss to Carson-Newman on January 14. Tipoff from Holt Fieldhouse in Jefferson City, Tennessee is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
Featured image courtesy of Tommy Moss.
