ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – It was win-number-one as head coach of the Guilford College men's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 ODAC) for Jesse DeLoof, who guided the Quakers past North Carolina Wesleyan University (2-1, 0-0 USA South), 106-102 on Wednesday night at the Everett Gymnasium.

With a scoring onslaught that on any other night would be the headline, the Quakers piled up their highest scoring output since February 23, 2008, when they unloaded 122 points on Emory & Henry University in a victory. They benefitted from multiple career-best performances along the way, but a pair of showings that were not career-highs, but nonetheless notable were provided by Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C) and Braylen Salters (Cleveland, Ohio). The Pitt-Bradford transfer provided 26 points while Proctor added 25, making them the first GC tandem to score 25-or-more in the same game since Kyler Gregory '20 and Tyler Dearman '23, MISM '24, achieved that feat against E&H on January 15, 2020.

Following a sluggish Guilford debut, Salters went off, leading all scorers. He made just 5-of-13 from the field, but compensated with a 14-for-18 showing at the charity stripe while adding five rebounds and two assists. With a scoring output that five days ago would have represented his career-best, Proctor reached the quarter-century mark with a more-efficient night, making 8-of-18 overall and 5-of-10 from deep while adding five caroms, four offensive. Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) made 7-of-12 to notch a career-best 19 points. Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.) stuffed the stat sheet with a double-double posting career-highs for scoring, with 13, rebounding, with 11, steals, with five, and matching his career-best with six helpers, leading the Quakers in assists and boards. Rival Axselle (Machanicsville, Va.) pitched in 10 rebounds, two blocks, and two steals while Reynolds Escher (Atlanta, Ga.) contributed nine points in reserve.

The Battling Bishops featured a pair of 21-point scorers themselves in Rashod Smith, who added a game-high eight assists, and Ro'Mello Pegues who made all-but-one of his 11 shot attempts from the field. James Jones had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while Markquan Gilbert rounded out double-digit scorers with 15 off the bench.

As a team, Guilford forced twice as many turnovers, 20-10, and secured 19 offensive rebounds leading to 26 second-chance points and 25 points off turnovers. Thsoe chances played a major role in them coming away victorious despite shooting .432 from the field against NCWU's .597 mark. Their 10 made threes against NC Wesleyan's five was also significant.

Like they did in their season-opener against Mary Washington, the Quakers came out of the gates firing, netting two-thirds of the first 18 points scored over the first three minutes, and getting their edge to eight on multiple chances over the game's initial six minutes. NCWU flipped the script swiftly, however, scoring on six of their next seven trips in an 11-0 run to the 11-minute mark, leading 23-20.

An Escher three-point play leveled the tallies, but the hosts scored five-straight from there and were at risk of creating real distance in a barn-burning first half. Instead, the Quakers kept the Battling Bishops within an arms-length. They did tie it once more in the opening stanza, but largely remained within two-to-three possessions the remainder of the half, and trailed 54-48 into the locker rooms.

The trend maintained for the first couple possessions of the second half before an 11-2 outburst granted GC their first lead since the 11:39 mark in the first, and it would be a see-sawing bout the rest of the way. Fast-forwarding to the 6:20 mark when Smith stepped to the stripe and knocked down a pair of foul shots to make it 91-90 in favor of the home team, the response was a critical one, and Guilford came through. Clayton finished a slick reverse followed by a steal-to-score. The senior followed that up with a defensive carom off a missed trey and got fouled on the other end, and while he missed both chances, Edwards made a second-chance two to make it a five-point game in a flash. From there, Guilford would make it stand, making enough free throws down the stretch to finish their third-straight win over their in-state foes, 106-102.

It iss a pair of matchups at the Frankie Allen Tip-Off Classic in Salem, Virginia next for Guilford, as they head up to first play Marymount University on Friday, November 14^th tipping off at 8:00 PM at the Cregger Center.

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