GREENSBORO, N.C. – Passing around the points platter and raising their tallies total like the temperature of the bird in the oven, the Guilford College men's basketball team (3-3, 0-0 ODAC) had offense in abundance this Thanksgiving week, turkey trotting past Pfeiffer University (4-3, 0-0 USA South), 121-85 at Jack Jensen Court at the Ragan-Brown FieldHouse on Tuesday evening.

Smoking, frying, or overall roasting the Falcon defense to season-highs in points, field goal makes, attempts, and percentage, the Quakers were in high gear, finishing their helpings at the rim at a .490 rate against .444 for their guest, all while taking 24 more shots on the night. While Pfeiffer was a holiday ahead, in the giving spirit with 24 turnovers to GC's 6, the Quakers were busy dishing out assists like grandma's green bean casserole, matching their season-high with 22 helpers. The hosts also claimed the best, most-central seat at the table, notching season-highs in offensive rebounds, with 28, second-chance points, with 33, and points in the paint, with 72.

Braylen Salters (Cleveland, Ohio) was the most-frequent man to the buffet table for either side, pilling 32 points on his plate, his high as a Quaker, making 10-of-20 from the field and 11-of-12 at the line. Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) also enjoyed quite a feast, matching his career-high with 19 points on 7-for-11 overall and 3-of-5 from three while grabbing a career-high four steals. Reynolds Escher (Atlanta, Ga.) cleaned the glass like he was aiming for the clean-plate-club, securing a game-high eight boards, to go with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) picked the right night to be a touch off, scoring just 15 but Rival Axselle (Mechanicsville, Va.) contributed to the meal with a career-best 14 points. Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.), as well as Edwards and Escher, proved the best at keeping the dishes moving, leading the team with four assists apiece.

For PFU, Sean Sucarichi led the way with 15 points on 6-of-10, just ahead of Justin Gaten and Doug Smith with a baker's dozen each, but they got little more help in the kitchen, as no other player reached double-digits scoring. Smith paced the guests with six rebounds while Drake Stewart led all players with five assists.

Through the opening minutes of action, the teams traded portions, with neither side getting beyond three points into the under-12 media break. In that span, they saw half-a-dozen ties and five passes of the lead, but a Magnus Swinger (Concord, N.C.) layup then a Salters two that got him to 11 points already, granted the Quakers a 23-20 edge into the TV timeout.

Into the matches main course, Guilford devoured the Pfeiffer defense, as Axselle and Salters provided layups to finish their lead-seizing run ahead of four-straight from the guests to get back to three, but it would never get that close again. A 9-2 binge got the lead to double-digits and while it dropped to nine a couple of times, the Quakers continued to inch further and further ahead, extending their lead as far as 17 on a few occasions as behind Salters' 25 at the break, Guilford commanded a 62-47 lead.

Unlike over the weekend, GC made sure to cook this victory to completion, out of the half by avoiding the post-main course food coma and widening their lead in a gradual manner, just getting two or three baskets for every one permitted to the Falcons, who never got closer than 15 in the half. The true windfall stretched on into and after the under-eight stoppage, when the score was 94-73. Escher completed an and-one and Edward made a layup spurring a cluster of traded points, then six-straight Quaker tallies on baskets from Escher, Clayton, and Axselle, all off turnovers, finished off a 13-3 run to put it away.

As the desserts came out of the oven and the pies and crisps hit the table, the Guilford faithful was treated to the first college points from Tej Efemini (Marietta, Ga.), the collegiate debut of Jackson Fannon (Denver, N.C.), the season-debuts of Cameron Taylor (Mount Airy, N.C.) and Jonah Ridgill (Greensboro, N.C.), with the latter netting a crowd-rousing four tallies in the closing moments, as Guilford improved to a flawless 5-0 over their Tar Heel State foes in the Division-III era, with a 121-85.

The Quakers usher in December and the holiday season next, playing their spectacle on the big stage, heading to the First Horizon Coliseum for their annual clash against Greensboro College, tipping off at 7:30 PM on Monday, December 1^st.

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