HARTSVILLE, S.C. – A strong first half lifted Anderson to a convincing, 96-84, road win past Coker in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action, Wednesday night at the DeLoach Center.
Anderson (5-5, 3-1 SAC) won its second straight decision and claimed its first win in three tries at the DeLoach Center, while handing the Cobras their second straight loss. Coker fell to 5-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play with its fourth loss in five outings.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Cobras won the battle of the boards, 33-30, and forced 14 Trojan turnovers, but AU converted 11 Coker miscues into 17 points.
Sophomore guard Shawn Benard came off the bench to pour in a career-high 25 points, including 16 in the first half and was 8-of-9 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the stripe. Sophomore guard Randall Shaw dropped in 11 first-half points before picking up his second foul with 11:10 left in the opening frame and finished with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-5 from long range. Freshman guard Christian Jeffords came off the bench to score 12 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, while guards Maurice Howard and Andrew Boynton each added 10 points apiece. Freshman Carlos Dotson pulled down a game-high seven rebounds, with Jeremy Bouton grabbing six boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The first half saw three early ties and with the Trojans trailing 7-4, Shaw drained back-to-back 3-pointers to give Anderson its first lead, and after Coker's Ladarius Williams trimmed the Trojan lead to 10-9 with 16:18 on the clock, Shaw's driving layup boosted the lead back to three.
Boynton followed with his first 3-pointer to give the Black and Gold a 15-9 edge and 48 seconds later Shaw's third triple of the opening six minutes boosted AU to an 18-11 lead. After Coker's Nathan Lemke trimmed the Trojan advantage to five, Jeffords triggered an 8-1 surge by nailing back-to-back treys and junior Luke Musselwhite capped the run by grabbed a missed free throw on the offensive end and dropping in the layup.
The 8-1 surge was part of a larger 25-9 outburst that saw the Trojans build a 20-point cushion (43-23) at the 4:26 mark with three players reaching double figures in the scoring column in the opening half. The Cobras countered with a 9-2 run that trimmed AU's advantage to 13 with two minutes remaining in the half, but the Trojans closed the frame on an 8-3 run and settled for a 53-35 halftime advantage. AU finished the first half by connecting on 17-of-27 (63.0%) from the field, including 10-of-13 from long range.
Second Half
The Trojans claimed their largest lead of the contest, 68-46, with 14:20 remaining, with Coker getting no closer than 12 points twice inside the final minute.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE NIGHT
The Trojans saw five players reach double-figure scoring for the second time this season.
NOTABLES
• The Trojans have scored a combined 115 points in the first half of the last two games.
• AU has scored a combined 200 points in the last two games.
• Less than week after connecting on a season-high 14 treys against Newberry, the Trojans nailed 13 3-pointers, including 10 in the first half.
• Tonight marked the second straight game that a player has come off the bench to lead the Trojans in scoring – Christian Jeffords paced the Trojans with a career-high 37 points four days ago against Newberry.
• The Trojans will be looking for their first three-game win streak since defeating Carson-Newman, Coker and Tusculum in February, 2015.
UP NEXT
The Trojans wrap up the calendar year by returning to the Abney Center hardwood for a two-game South Atlantic Conference homestand, marking their first back-to-back home games of the season. Tip-off vs. Catawba is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Abney Athletic Center.
