ANDERSON, S.C. - Brevard's Travis Jackson dropped in a basket with 3.5 seconds left in the game to lift the visiting Tornados past Anderson, 85-84, in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
The South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams featured 10
ties on the night and eight lead changes in the final 4:02 as
Anderson (5-4, 0-1 SAC) dropped its first home contest of the
2010-11 campaign and saw its three-game win streak halted. With the
win,
Brevard improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Senior guard Brandon Young's fast-break layup off a steal by freshman Denzail Jones' with just more than four minutes remaining gave the Trojans a brief 76-75 lead, their first advantage since the 18:08 mark of the first half. But Brevard's Josh Roper answered with two of his game-high eight free throws on the other end to give the edge back to the Tornados with 3:29 left in the contest.
Young connected on one-of-two free throws to tie the game at the 1:23 mark and the AU defense forced a turnover but the Trojans were unable to capitalize, enabling Brevard to push back to a two-point lead on two more free throws from Roper with 19 ticks on the clock.
Anderson knotted the score once again 11 seconds later when Kevis Cornwell found Trey Britton alone on the right baseline and the 6-foot-7 forward recorded the slam and drew a foul. Following a 30-second timeout, Britton's free throw gave AU their final lead, 84-83, with just 7.9 showing on the clock.
After another brief timeout, the Tornados inbounded the ball to Roper, who drove the middle of the lane and found Jackson for the final heroics.
The Trojans had one final opportunity, but Jones' last-second three-point attempt hit the front of the rim as the Tornados escaped with the win.
Anderson shot 47 percent from the floor in the game, including 55.6 percent in the second half as the Trojans overcame a 40-34 halftime deficit. Brevard held a 43-26 rebounding edge over the Trojans and the Tornados also held the edge at the free throw stripe, shooting 86.4 percent (19-22) from the line, led by Roper going eight for eight. Anderson's defense led the way for the Trojans, forcing 16 turnovers by the Tornados, but Anderson shot a season-low 58.6 percent (17-29) from the free-throw line to hamper their comeback efforts.
Young led four Trojans in double figures with 22 points, while Cornwell added 16 points and Jones netted 13. Taylor Shugart narrowly missed his second double-double of the season, with 12 points to go with a team-high nine rebounds.
Roper paced the Brevard offense with 30 points, missing out on the double-double with a team-high nine rebounds in the contest. Gaither Hendrix added 24 points on nine of 15 shooting from the floor, including three of five from behind the arc.
Anderson will take a week off for final exams before visiting Mars Hill on Dec. 11.
