Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn. – Following a victory on the road on Saturday, the King University men's basketball team returned home to take on Erskine College. The Tornado struggled from the floor early and their second-half comeback fell short as the Flying Fleet took the 65-59 victory.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Erskine 65, King 59
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 10-8, 3-5 Conference Carolinas; Erskine 9-6, 4-3 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
- The Tornado led 5-2 in the early going following a triple from Justin Frazier and layup from James Brown.
- However, the Flying Fleet came back with a 9-0 run to gain the advantage.
- Erskine later went on a 13-0 run over a seven-minute stretch, extending their lead to 28-11 with four minutes remaining until halftime.
- Back-to-back triples from Brown and Tyre Moore Jr. got the Tornado back on the board, but Erskine held a 31-17 lead at halftime.
Second Period
- A 7-0 Erskine run stretched the Tornado deficit to 43-20 four minutes into the second half and the Flying Fleet later gained their largest lead of the game at 48-24 with 12 minutes remaining.
- King then started to chip away, using an 11-0 run capped by consecutive three-point baskets from Mike Salomon that cut the King deficit to 48-35 with 10 minutes remaining.
- However, the Flying Fleet answered and extended their lead back to 19 points.
- Salomon drilled two more triples on a 9-0 run the pulled the Tornado within 63-56 with 49 seconds remaining.
- King cut their deficit to five in the waning seconds, but it was too little too late as the Flying Fleet escaped with the 65-59 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Salomon led the Tornado with 24 points, all coming in the second half. He went 8-for-13 from three-point range, including 8-for-9 in the second half.
- Brown followed with 12 while Frazier added 10 points and nine assists.
- Jordan Young grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with nine points.
FOR THE FOES
- Jaywaun Washington led the way for Erskine with 14 points and 19 rebounds.
- Jordan Watch scored 20 points and Tyler Brevard followed with 15 points.
- Austin Venable chipped in with 13 points.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The eight triples for Salomon marks the third most in school history.
- It is also the second straight game King has had a player make eight triples as Moore connected eight times on Saturday at Belmont Abbey College.
- Young's 15 rebounds marks a career-high.
- Fraziers' nine assists is also a career-high.
UP NEXT
- King is in action again on Saturday when they travel to Emmanuel College. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Franklin Springs, Ga.
- Erskine travels to Southern Wesleyan University on Thursday.
