DUE WEST, S.C. – The King University men's basketball team found a way to win a Conference Carolinas road game on Wednesday night. The Tornado had to go to double overtime to defeat Erskine College, but the Tornado came away with the 106-102 win behind 43 points from Jordan Floyd.

THE BASICS
FINAL: King 106, Erskine 102 (F/OT)
LOCATION: Belk Arena; Due West, S.C.
RECORDS: King 17-5, 11-3 Conference Carolinas; Erskine 7-14, 4-11 Conference Carolinas

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

• King scored five straight points, capped by a Justin Frazier triple to take a 9-4 lead in the opening minutes.
• The Tornado later led 18-10 following a Floyd three-point play, but the Flying Fleet came storming back.
• Erskine used a pair of 6-0 runs to take a 22-20 lead with seven minutes remaining in the opening half.
• Josh Releford finally got the Tornado back on the board with a triple before the teams traded baskets down the stretch.
• Both teams made layups in the waning seconds of the half as the score was even at 36 after 20 minutes.
• King shot 38.7 percent from the floor while Erskine posted a 51.6 field goal percentage in the opening half.

Second Half

• It looked like the Tornado might take control early in the second half, scoring eight straight points as back-to-back triples from Releford and Justin Frazier gave King a 44-38 lead two minutes into the half.
• However, Erskine came back and took a 48-46 lead following a 7-0 spurt.
• The Flying Fleet extended their lead to 58-52 with 12 minutes remaining, but Floyd started to heat up for the Tornado.
• Floyd scored eight straight points for King before a Mike Salomon layup evened the tally at 62 with nine minutes remaining.
• Floyd and the Tornado kept scoring, but so did the Flying Fleet as they had an answer for every Tornado basket down the stretch.
• With King trailing by two, James Brown scored five straight points, putting the Tornado ahead 76-73 with five minutes remaining.
• King later led 78-75 following a Damion Ottman layup with two minutes remaining and a Brown free throw gave King a 79-77 lead with less than 10 seconds remaining.
• However, a Tornado foul put Malcolm Green at the free throw line for Erskine with 0.9 seconds remaining.
• He made both free throws, sending the game to overtime.

Overtime

• Floyd opened the extra session with a triple, but Trent Smoot Jr. drilled one of his own for Erskine to even the score.
• The Tornado could not extend their lead to more than three points, and Jordan Watson connected from long range with 12 seconds remaining to even the score at 89.
• King missed a final attempt as the game went to a second overtime.

Double Overtime

• Floyd and Ottman got King out to a 93-89 lead to start the period, but Erskine came back and scored five straight points to take a 99-97 lead
• Brown answered with a triple, but Smoot responded with a trifecta, regaining a 102-100 lead for Erskine with 1:34 remaining.
• A Floyd triple put the Tornado back on top and Brown made a layup to extend the lead to 105-102 with 37 seconds remaining.
• Floyd made a free throw with nine seconds remaining to seal the 106-102 victory for the Tornado.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Floyd led five Tornado scorers in double figures with 43 points. He added seven rebounds and five assists.
• Ottman followed with 19 points and nine rebounds.
• Brown added 16 points off the bench.
• Releford and Frazier chipped in with 10 points each.

FOR THE FOES

• Smoot led Erskine with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
• Watson added 21 points and eight rebounds while Green accounted for 20 points and six rebounds
• Uzziah Dawkins chipped in with 15 points.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The 43 points for Floyd match the school record, a mark he has reached three times this season.
• He now has five games with at least 40 points and 13 with at least 30 points.
• Ottman set a career-high with 19 points, topping his previous best of 16 set earlier this year against Lees-McRae College.
• It was the first time this year King played an overtime game. The Tornado played to overtime games a season ago, the first was a win at Erskine and the other was a defeat at Barton College in the conference tournament.
• The last time King played a double overtime game was during the 2016-17 season when they fell to Barton on December 3.
• The last King win in double overtime came in the 2013-14 season when the Tornado topped the University of Mount Olive on the road on January 8.
• Floyd also became the eighth player in school history to score more than 1,600 points and currently ranks sixth in the all-time list at 1,619.

UP NEXT

• King stays on the road to take on Emmanuel College on Saturday. Tipoff from Franklin Springs, Ga., is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
• Erskine travels to Limestone College on Saturday.