BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University men's basketball team had six players finish in double figures Sunday afternoon, as they handed Emmanuel College just their second Conference Carolinas loss of the season, 100-93.
MJ Foust led the Tornado, scoring a season-high 19 points and pulling nine rebounds.
THE BASICS
FINAL: King 100, Emmanuel 93
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 6-6, 4-6 Conference Carolinas; Emmanuel 8-5, 7-2 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- Emmanuel opened the game on fire, scoring the first five points, including a pullup three from Jayvion Rucker with 19:17 left.
- King took their first lead at the 16-minute mark when Shan Jenkins hit a hook shot, giving the Tornado a 11-9 lead.
- That bucket would kick off a 12-4 Tornado run that would last nearly four minutes, with King going 5-7 from the field, including a pair of buckets from Michael Mays.
- Emmanuel got back to within four points with 12 minutes to play, but King would score five unanswered points to re-extend the lead to 26-17.
- The Tornado continued their hot shooting, going 12-19 from the field over the final 11 minutes, while the Lions only took 13 shots during the same stretch.
- King held Emmanuel without a field goal in the final 7:37 of the half.
Second Half
- Emmanuel came out of the locker room on fire, scoring the first eight points of the second half.
- The Lions outscored the Tornado 13-4 in the first five minutes of the half to cut the lead to 61-47.
- After Emmanuel got to within 10 points, the Tornado woke up, as Foust hit a driving layup to make the score 67-55, which was soon followed by another layup, which would spark an 8-2 King run, forcing the Lions to call timeout with under 10 minutes remaining.
- Coming out of the timeout, the game turned into a free throw contest, with the teams attempting eight free throws between them.
- Kelvin Jones hit a pair of free throws with a minute remaining in the half to get Emmanuel to within three points, but King would get a steal then go 4-6 from the line and 1-1 from the field in the final minute to seal the victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- This was the second time this season that six Tornado have scored in double figures, with the last time being the North Greenville game on Nov. 23
- Brandon Lamberth finishes with a career-high 17 points, while Jenkins had a career-high seven rebounds and five assists.
- Foust's 19 points is a new season high, coming just one rebound shy of a double-double.
- Isaiah Curry added 12 points, while Connor Jordan and Desmond Davis had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
FOR THE FOES
- Kelvin Jones scored 37 points for Emmanuel, which is a new career-high for the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Year. He also pulled a team-high five rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
- Brandon Simpson (18) and Jayvion Rucker (14) also finished in double-figures for the Lions, with Simpson pulling four defensive rebounds and handing out three assists. Rucker led the Lions in assists with four.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The 57 first-half points was the most in a half for the Tornado since Nov. 23, when they scored 61 in the second half of a 93-88 win over North Greenville. It was the most first-half points since Jan. 22, 2020, when they scored 76 against Johnson University.
- King shot 63.2 percent from the field, their highest mark of the season.
UP NEXT
- The Tornado will be on the road on Saturday, Jan. 15 when they head to Wilson, N.C. to take on Barton College.
- Emmanuel will kick off a two-game homestand Wednesday when they host Southern Wesleyan for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
