BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College men's basketball team (8-14, 4-7 USA South) used a big first half and withstood a second-half surge from Greensboro College (10-12, 5-6 USAS) to take a critical two-point USA South Conference victory, 74-72, on Tuesday evening at the Boshamer Gymnasium.
Brevard outpaced the Pride 45-26 in the first half before Greensboro mounted an impressive comeback attempt that came up just short as the Pride outscored BC 46-29 in the second half, giving the Tornados the two-point win.
Sophomore forward Garrett Sutherland scored a team-best 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and five made free throws while adding six boards, two assists, and two steals to his ledger. Jadon Carnes and Carson Evans each scored 11 points apiece as Evans led all Tornados with five assists. Chancey Watson and Sly White each scored eight points off the bench, while Kavan Horton hauled down a team-high nine rebounds and totaled a team-best three steals.
Greensboro's Matthew Brown led the charge for the visitors with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Kevon Wright scored 13 points off the bench in addition to Tim Boulware's (11 points) and Isaiah Pruett's (10 points) days offensively.
Brevard enjoyed a hot night from the field, hitting a 52% clip compared to Greensboro's 41% mark. GC held a slim 7-6 edge on 3-pointers made while neither side shot particularly well from the charity stripe. BC held a 39-37 lead in the rebounding department and its ball movement was on display with 20 assists.
The Tornados led the contest by as many as 21 points, mainly wire-to-wire before Greensboro completed their comeback effort in the closing minutes of the second half.
Brevard used a 60% shooting performance in addition to six made 3-pointers to surge ahead with a big first-half lead. The Tornados opened the contest on a 12-2 scoring run that catapulted them to suggest throughout the first stanza. From that point on, BC held a firm double-digit advantage throughout the period as the Tornados took a 19-point cushion into the locker rooms, 45-26.
Greensboro began chipping away, cutting the deficit to 11 points ahead of the first media timeout. BC held a strong 15-point advantage midway through the second half, 63-48, but a crazy 20-4 scoring run from the opponents gave GC its first lead of the ballgame, 68-67, with 4:55 remaining in the game.
A Carnes free throw followed by Sutherland's layup pushed BC's advantage back up to two points, 70-68, with under four minutes to play. Brevard never trailed after that point, as Horton hit a free throw followed by a layup and made free throw from Sutherland to keep the contest in favor of Brevard. Greensboro had a last-second chance to either tie or take the lead, but great defense from the Tornados impacted Brown's final layup attempt as BC held on for the critical two-point win, 74-72.
The Tornados continue their homestand on Friday as Brevard faces Methodist University on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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-BC-