GREENSBORO, N.C. - Four players reached double-digit scoring totals for Brevard men's basketball, but the Greensboro Pride (8-2, 2-0 USAS) pulled away from the Brevard College Tornados (1-7, 1-2 USAS), 79-68, with a strong second half on Wednesday night in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Pride outscored BC, 38-29 in the second half of action en route to the USA South Conference victory.
Junior forward Cannon Lamb led all Tornados with 15 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. The Marion, North Carolina native led BC with a team-best five assists and grabbed three boards.
Mike Williams, making his third-straight start for Brevard, turned in a career-high 13 points that included four field goals - two of which being 3-pointers - and three free throws for the sophomore transfer hailing from Cayce, South Carolina.
Seniors Demari Hopper and Levi Lamb each posted 10-point performances in Wednesday's defeat. Hopper led all Tornados with four steals, while Levi Lamb's seven responds were a team-high.
Greensboro was paced with a double-double effort from Eric Peaks Jr., who scored 21 points to go with 12 rebounds. Keyford Langley dished out a game-high eight assists to keep the Pride offense running fluid.
The Tornados shot a season-high 88% from the free-throw line, knocking in 15-of-17 attempts.
A fast-paced Pride attack showed as Greensboro posted 27 fastbreak points to BC's five. The Pride poured in 44 points-in-the-paint, pulled down 45 rebounds, and blocked eight shots in their victorious effort.
Greensboro quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the 16:34 mark. However, the Tornados responded with a scoring run of its own, as a Cannon Lamb 3-pointer gave BC its first lead, 13-12, as part of a game-best 11-0 scoring run from the visitors. BC held a 17-12 advantage following a Levi Lamb layup with 11:09 left to play in the first stanza.
Brevard extended its lead to a game-best seven points following a Ja'Michael Boone long-range jumper that boosted BC's lead to 22-15 at the 9:56 mark. Despite the Tornados' scoring strides, the Pride stayed resilient and clawed their way back into the contest, eventually tying the score at 25 points with 6:54 left to play in the first half.
A Peaks Jr. layup made the score 27-25 in favor of Greensboro, as the Pride would not relinquish the lead from that point on. The Pride pushed its advantage to 10 points, 39-29, with 2:40 remaining before the Tornados struck up a 10-2 scoring run that cut Greensboro's lead to two points, 41-39, heading into the halftime intermission.
Greensboro jumped out to a hot second-half start, scoring the stanza's first seven points to push its lead to 48-39. Brevard cut the Pride's lead to as small as three points, 52-49, following a Williams 3-point jumper at the 14:36 mark and again, 54-51, at the 13:05 mark after a Joshua Wilson made free throw.
However, those two instances would prove to be as close as the Tornados would come to retaking the lead, as Greensboro used a deflating 11-0 scoring run to catapult its lead to a 65-51 margin with 9:23 left to play.
From that point on, the Pride and Tornados would effectively trade baskets, as Greensboro picked up the conference victory, 79-68.
Brevard now breaks for the Christmas holiday before returning to action with a two-day tournament in Atlanta. Head Coach Lee Burgess' Tornados will take part in the Holiday Inn Express Classic from December 29-30, hosted by Oglethorpe College. Brevard will first face off against Berry College on Sunday, December 29 at 6 p.m. before concluding tournament action on Monday, December 30 against host Oglethorpe, with tip-off slated for 4 p.m.
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