BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University men's basketball team picked up their first win of the 2022-23 season Thursday night, topping Johnson University 93-66.
Michael Mays led the Tornado with 23 points, while
Myles McCrary had nine rebounds and 11 points.
THE BASICS
FINAL: King 93, Johnson 66
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 1-3; Johnson 0-6
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- The Tornado offense started slow, as the Royals had an early lead at multiple points, including a 20-15 advantage with 11:51 to play.
- Henry Okoye and Amarius Beasley would both hit a pair of free throws to bring the Tornado to within 23-22, with King taking a lead 30 seconds later when Beasley again hit a pair of free throws.
- The Tornado would then catch fire, going on a scoring run of 16-4 over the next four minutes to take a 40-27 lead.
- Johnson would trim the lead over the final six minutes, including scoring the final five points of the half to trim the King lead to 48-42 heading into the halftime break.
Second Half
- King slowly grew the lead early in the second half, eventually going up 60-47 when Jaylen Bernard hit a fastbreak jumper with 15:30 remaining.
- McCrary hit a layup with 8:22 left, which was followed by Mays pulling a defensive rebound and driving all the way down the floor, drawing a foul and hitting the two free throws to put the Tornado up 75-58.
- The Tornado continued to pour on the points, as Mays hit a pair of free throws with 6:08 left on the clock to spark what would turn out to be a 10-0 run that allowed the lead to reach 85-63 with under five minutes left.
- Josh Jackson and Darron Howard would go back-to-back with threes to stretch the lead even further, putting the Tornado up 91-64 with 1:55 to go.
- Malik Payton hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to make it a 93-64 game, with Johnson hitting a jumper in the closing seconds to reach the final score of 93-66.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mays finished with a game-high 23 points, along with seven rebounds. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
- McCrary pulled nine rebounds, while Brandon Lamberth and Kenny Turner both had eight.
FOR THE FOES
- Trey Johnson scored 16 points for the Royals, while Daniel Jackson had 13 and Parker Haun had 10 points.
- Jackson also led Johnson in rebounding with six, with Johnson and Calvin Quehl both puling five.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Mays now has a pair of 20+ point performances on the season.
- Bernard (9 points) and Beasley (6 points) both set season-highs, while McCrary tied his career-best of 11 points.
- Jackson scored 13 points, a new career high. He also pulled five rebounds on the night.
- This was the sixth consecutive win for the Tornado over Johnson. In the series, King has never lost to the Royals.
UP NEXT
- King will get a few days off before their next game, which comes Tuesday afternoon inside the Student Center against Erksine.
- Johnson will play a conference matchup Saturday against Reinhardt.
