SALEM, Va. – The Guilford College men's basketball team (1-2, 0-0 ODAC) faltered to Marymount University (1-2, 0-0 AEC), 84-68 in their first contest at the Frankie Allen Tipoff Classic, hosted by Roanoke College on Friday night at the Cregger Center.
Exploding out of the gates, the Saints staked themselves to an early lead and largely maintained it throughout with exceptionally strong shooting marks of .520 from the field, .476 from deep, and making 22-of-33 free throws. GC was not bad perse, shooting .431 overall and .438 from range, but the three-ball alluded them in the second half while 22 turnovers proved costly.
Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) extended his streak of 20-plus scoring games to a career-long three contests with a game-high 21 on 7-of-13 from the field and making half of his eight three-point tries.
Braylen Salters (Cleveland, Ohio) followed him with 17 tallies, the contest's second-highest total, making 6-of-14 and coming away with four steals. Unfortunately, the Quaker backcourt tandem really struggled with turnovers, combining for 10 between them and the GC role players did not give them enough help on this night.
Reynolds Escher (Atlanta, Ga.) scored nine in the game, but no other Quaker eclipsed six points.
Christian Bacon (Lithia Springs, Ga.) led GC in assists, with four, while
Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.) had a game-best six rebounds along with a trio of steals.
Anthoney McClary and Brian Poole were tied atop the Marymount box score for points, netting 16 apiece. McClary was super-efficient, making 5-of-7 and 2-of-3 from range while Pole reached his mark with a 4-of-8, 3-for-six, 5-of-8 line. Avery Oduro-Dompreh and James Bell joined them in double-figures with 10 each while Reuben McEachern paced the Saints in rebounds, with five, and all players in helpers, with five.
Leaking out in transition for some easy baskets and getting 10 of the evening's first 12 points, MU got a significant edge basically immediately, but a
Magnus Swinger (Concord, N.C.) trey, a Clayton layup, and a Salters triple leveled things in the span of 90 seconds and that was the theme of the first half. Marymount would have a prolonged stretch, building a lead, like they did with a 19-8 portion of play, but Guilford would get hot and close the gap swiftly, with a 13-1 burst after being down 31-21, grabbing their first, and largest, lead of the night at 34-32.
Consecutive and-ones by the Saints on either side of an Escher two gave MU the lead back and they would never relinquish it. Those plays were the beginning of a 19-3 stretch by MU to stake themselves to a lead by a dozen, and while a Proctor three-ball cut it some, MU held the edge at the half, 51-42.
Spending the second half eying a run that never formulated, Guilford got within seven on a couple occasions but just could not get it back to a two-possession game. Battling to within nine with four minutes remaining after a Salters two, Oduro-Dompreh, McEachern made layups before the latter made two at the stripe to make the lead 13 and it would never leave double-digits the rest of the way as Marymount grabbed their first-ever win over Guilford, 84-68.
It will be a swift turnaround for Guilford, who return to the Cregger Center early afternoon tomorrow to play Southern Virginia University beginning at 1:00 PM.
#GoQuakes
