St. Andrews’ Jalen Mcafee-Marion (23) shoots a 3 over Morris’ Charles Morgan (4) during a Nov. 1 game at Harris Court in Laurinburg.
File photo
LAURINBURG — Going up against the team picked to finish third in the preseason Appalachian Athletic Conference poll Wednesday night, the St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team pegged away at the hole they fell in early on but couldn’t dig themselves out as they were bested 81-58 by the Columbia International Rams to open AAC play.
CIU (2-1, 1-0 AAC) scored the game’s first points with a layup by guard Bryce Causey before St. Andrews (2-1, 0-1 AAC) matched it with a layup from guard Seth Smith. Guard Xzavier McFadden put the Knights in front before guard Jalen Brinson connected on a 3-pointer to give the lead back to CIU at 5-4. With 16:25 to go in the first half, center Allan Taylor gave the Knights their final lead at 6-5 on two free throws. The Knights tied the game at 10-10 on a jump shot from guard Garrett McRae, but the Rams burst out six straight points with 12:11 to go until halftime.
St. Andrews didn’t trail by more than that until 5:34 showed on the scoreboard’s game-clock when guard Darrian Oates hit a 2-point shot to help CIU out to a 26-19 advantage. The Knights scored the ensuing six points, capped off by a layup from Taylor, to trail by only one before the Rams closed the half out on a 12-4 run to go up 38-29.
With 16:54 remaining, two points from guard Garrett McRae cut St. Andrews’ deficit to eight at 44-36, but free throws by guard Jaylon Jeter made it a 10-point lead for CIU again. After CIU extended its lead to 15 on two separate occasions, forward Jalen Mcafee-Marion drained a 3 with 11 minutes to go to make it only a 57-48 advantage for the Rams. A layup from forward Johnny Whysong on the following possession put CIU up 11, though, and St. Andrews trailed by double digits the rest of the way. The Knights were outscored 20-10 by the Rams in the final 10 minutes.
Mcafee-Marion scored 11 off the bench for the Knights and had four rebounds and four assists; Smith had 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals; and Taylor had eight points and six rebounds.
Forward Christian Howard was one of four double-figure scorers for the Rams with 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting and also added a game-high 11 rebounds; Brinson shot 4 of 6 from the floor and had 11 points and seven assists; and forward DiAnthony Heathcock and Causey each had 10 points, with Heathcock also grabbing seven rebounds.
St. Andrews shot 26 of 69 (37.7%) from the floor, 3 of 21 (14.3%) from beyond the arc, and 3 of 7 (42.9%) on its free throws. CIU was 32 of 59 (54.2%) on its shot attempts, 8 of 16 (50%) from 3-point range, and 9 of 14 (64.3%) on its free throws.
The Rams had one more rebound than the Knights at 35-34 and had an 18-10 advantage on assists. Both teams turned the ball over nine times, with CIU getting 17 points off them and St. Andrews only seven.
The Knights host Kentucky Christian on Saturday in their next AAC contest.