Junior guard Ladji Samoura posted a season-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including a pair of made 3-pointers. Freshman guard Carson Evans added a career-best 14 points on five made field goals – including three 3-point buckets - to go alongside five rebounds and three assists in his first collegiate start. Hayden Cassell added nine points to Brevard’s effort, while Quincy Carter tallied eight points, five rebounds, and three assists. Alex Wesig snagged five boards alongside four points and a team-best three steals.
Huntingdon was paced by a 19-point showing from Damien Madison that included a perfect 7-of-7 mark from the charity stripe. Keondre Davis added 13 points in 12 minutes of action off the bench, while Dylan Bohling brought down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Tornados were able to outshoot the Hawks in the first half, 48% to 39.4%, however, the visitors flipped the script in the second stanza with a 46.2% showing to BC’s 33.3% mark. Huntingdon outrebounded Brevard 37-29 while knocking down 11 3-pointers and forcing 16 turnovers. The Hawks outpaced BC on the fastbreak with 19 breakaway points, while their bench poured in 36 of their 70 total points in the contest.
Brevard jumped out to a 7-3 lead thanks to five quick points from Carter through the game’s first three-plus minutes. A Huntingdon bucket brought the score to 7-5 before the under-16 minute media timeout, with the Tornados maintaining a slim margin. Following a Cassell bucket in the paint that made the score 9-6 in favor of BC, Huntingdon’s Davis drained a 3-pointer to spark a 7-2 scoring stretch that gave the visitors a 16-11 lead before the next media stoppage.
Huntingdon extended its lead to an 11-point margin, 24-13, with 8:47 left in the first half. The Tornados trimmed away at the deficit, using a Samoura long-range bucket to cut the lead to within four points at the 5:52 mark. Carter cut the Huntingdon lead to two points with a 3-pointer with 2:19 left in the first half, and Samoura’s second 3-pointer of the contest brought Brevard all the way back to within a single point late in the first half. The Hawks drained a jumper in the paint just before time expired in the first half, giving themselves a 3-point, 34-31 cushion over the Tornados at the intermission.
Evans found his shooting stroke early in the second half, draining a pair of 3-pointers early to keep the Tornados within striking distance. After a Wesig fastbreak bucket made the score a two-point affair, the Hawks strung together a game-changing 12-1 scoring run that lasted nearly six minutes, extending their advantage to 55-42 with 9:25 left in the contest. The Tornados weren’t able to cut the deficit from there back to single digits, as the Hawks wrapped up the conference victory, 70-56.
The Tornados return to action at the Boshamer Gymnasium on Saturday at 3 p.m. to finish their weekend doubleheader against Huntingdon. Live video and statistics will be made available on youtube.com/
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