Queens outlast conference foe Coker, 79-68
In the South Atlantic Conference’s marathon 22-game league schedule, the games just keep on coming.
And Queens coach Bart Lundy was pleased that his men’s basketball team was up to grinding out another tough win Wednesday, a 79-68 victory over Coker in the Royals’ fifth game in nine days.
Queens (19-2, 13-2) took over sole possession of second place in the conference with the victory and Wingate’s 84-76 loss at Newberry.
Sean Morgan and Rob Lewis scored 18 points each and Marquis Rankin added 16 for the Royals, who have won five straight. And the win came in spite of the last-place Cobras (6-13, 2-13) staying within striking distance until the final minutes.
“I thought in the first half they got into the paint more than we did and we flip-flopped that in the second half,” Queens coach Bart Lundy said. “They’re a physical team and it’s always a war when you play them.”
The game featured 10 lead changes and 11 ties, including a 35-35 deadlock at halftime. The Royals went ahead to stay at 54-52 on a dunk by Jared Hendryx with 8 minutes, 39 seconds left.
Three who mattered
Sean Morgan, Queens: The senior forward battled foul problems for the second straight game and fouled out with 3:13 left. But unlike Monday night’s game when he had only four points, he was a difference-maker in this one.
Daniel Camps, Queens: The junior had his second straight double-figure rebounding game with 17.
Rob Lewis, Queens: Hit one of a couple of big 3-pointers the Royals used to slow a Coker comeback late.
Observation
▪ The Royals didn’t take that many shots – just 47, but they made good use of their opportunities. In the first half when they hit 12 of their first 20 attempts.
They said it
“Tonight was really important, because it was a game where we could have let them push us around, and could have played tired. But we kept our edge and made some big plays down the stretch.” — Lundy
Worth mentioning
▪ Aubrey Daniel scored 13, Jake Barrett 12 and Roman Hall 10 for Coker.
▪ Queens’ next game will be at 4 p.m. Saturday at Brevard. The next home game will at 8 p.m. next Wednesday against Wingate. The Bulldogs were the last team to beat Queens, a 71-70 at Wingate on Jan. 20.
This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 11:34 PM with the headline "Queens outlast conference foe Coker, 79-68."