Queens’ early success fueled by last-season’s loss

Three games into an unbeaten season so far, Queens senior guard Rob Lewis says the Royals are still motivated by how last season ended.

“That loss really hurt, still hurts, and we still remember it,” Lewis said of Queens’ South Atlantic Conference semifinals defeat to Lincoln Memorial. “The seniors on this team don’t want to look back this season and say we lost games we shouldn’t have. So we’re trying to get off to the best start we can.”

Lewis led all scorers with 24 points as the Royals (3-0) continued their early success with a 93-78 victory over North Georgia Saturday afternoon in their home opener at Curry Arena.

Junior forward Daniel Camps scored 22 points and senior guard Marquis Rankin added 18, including five three-pointers in the second half, which broke open a close game.

“We did a good job of pushing the tempo in the second half,” Queens coach Bart Lundy said. “In the first 10 minutes of the second half, we took them out of some things they wanted to do, and that energy gave us the lead.”

The Royals, who had struggled to build a 34-32 halftime edge, led by as many as 20 points with about 4 minutes to play. Rankin, who had only one point at halftime, went five of six from behind the arc in the second half.

Junior guard Sean Brennan led the Nighthawks (1-4) with 14 points.

NOTES: Starting senior forward Sean Morgan missed the game, serving out an NCAA-mandated suspension for being ejected late in the season-opener against Flagler on Nov. 14 … The Royals open their South Atlantic Conference schedule Wednesday at Newberry. The next home game is Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. against Johnson C. Smith.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Queens’ early success fueled by last-season’s loss."