Box Score GAFFNEY, S.C. – The King University men's basketball team had already wrapped up the top seed and regular season Conference Carolinas championship prior to Friday night's regular season finale at Limestone College. The Tornado got off to a hot start, but the Saints closed with a big second half to take the upset from King 64-60.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Limestone 64, King 60
LOCATION: Timken Center; Gaffney, S.C.
RECORDS: King 22-6, 17-3 Conference Carolinas; Limestone 11-17, 9-11 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Saints scored the first bucket of the game, but Hunter LeVeau answered with a triple, starting at 13-0 Tornado run.
- LeVeau later hit another trifecta, prior to a three-point basket from Drew Standifer and Mack Owens capped the spurt with a layup, giving King a 13-2 advantage.
- Limestone cut their deficit to 24-17 before King tried to close the half on a run. The Tornado scored 13 of the next 17 points to open up a 37-21 lead as Owens drilled a triple with five seconds left in the half.
- However, the Saints answered with a triple as time expired, giving King a 37-24 lead at the break.
- The Tornado held the lead there for the majority of the half, as the Saints gradually worked their way back. A triple from Teron Wallace cut the King lead to 43-38, but Derick Pope answered with a layup.
- C.J. Good put King ahead 48-40 when he hit a triple, but the Saints answered with a seven straight points, cutting the Tornado lead to 48-47 with nine minutes remaining.
- LeVeau tried to get the offense going, knocking down a pair of triples, but the Saints had an answer for both.
- Limestone scored seven straight points to gain a 56-54 lead with four minutes remaining following LeVeau's second trifecta.
- LeVeau put King back ahead with a layup, but the Saints answered with a pair of free throws to regain the lead.
- Good then drilled a triple, giving King a 60-58 advantage with two minutes remaining.
- However, Shaq Dance closed out the scoring for Limestone, making a layup to even the tally at 60-60 with 1:42 remaining.
- The score was the same when Dance connected from long range with 27 seconds remaining to put Limestone ahead.
- The Tornado got a pair of triples off, but neither connected as the Saints took the 64-60 upset victory.
- LeVeau led King with 24 points to go along with seven rebounds.
- Good followed with nine points.
- Owens added eight points and collected a game-high 12 rebounds, six offensive and six defensive.
FOR THE FOES
- Brolin Floyd led Limestone with 25 points to go along with five rebounds.
- Dance added 15 points and Wallace chipped in with 14 points.
- Justin Crowder led the Saints with seven rebounds and five assists.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Despite the loss, King still earned their second Conference Carolinas regular season championship and will be the top seed in next week's Conference Carolinas Tournament.
- The loss also marks King's first defeat in one calendar month as the Tornado rolled off 10 straight wins starting on January 26.
UP NEXT
- King is the top seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament and will host eighth seed North Greenville University in the Student Center Complex at 7:00 p.m.
- The Tornado swept the season series from the Crusaders, but North Greenville ended King's season last year in the Conference Carolinas semifinals.
- Limestone is the third seed in the conference tournament and travels to take on third seed Lees-McRae College on Tuesday night.
