Knights fall apart late, Montreat swoops in for win

LAURINBURG — Close losses have been the story for the St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team as of late.

Despite it being a new year, the chapter remained the same Wednesday night after the Knights gave up a 53-52 lead with 5:18 remaining and never reclaimed it, resulting in a 66-57 loss to the visiting Montreat Cavaliers. It’s St. Andrews’ ninth straight loss and 11th against Montreat; the Knights last defeated the Cavaliers on Jan. 18, 2018, in a 71-59 decision in Laurinburg.

“We stopped doing what we’re supposed to do, simple as that,” St. Andrews head coach Randy Hernandez said. “When you start doing what you want to do, that’s the outcome of the game.”

St. Andrews (3-12, 1-12 Appalachian Athletic Conference) began trailing late in the second half after a pair of free throws from Michael Erbeck gave Montreat (7-9, 5-8 AAC) a 54-53 advantage. After both teams traded two-point possessions, Montreat pulled away with six consecutive points to lead 62-55 with 2:23 to go. Allan Taylor made a free throw for the Knights 20 seconds after that, and St. Andrews had a chance to make it a four-point game on the possession following that, but Sincere Clark missed both of his attempts at the line. Dyllan Barnwell drained his two free-throw tries to make Montreat’s lead eight before Gabriel Rivera’s layup pushed it to double figures with 42 seconds left; Caleb Brown scored the final point for St. Andrews.

“We’ve got to stay together,” Hernandez said. “They’ve got to pay attention to details. So, we could be doing what the other team is doing right now: (celebrating).”

The Knights took advantage of a slow start by Montreat with a 14-3 lead just under nine minutes into the first half. After exchanged layups by Montreat’s CamRon Sias and St. Andrews’ Garrett McRae, Rivera laid in two points, Jamiel Wright hit a 3-point shot, and Erbeck netted a 3 and layup to help the Cavs go on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes of play.

With the sudden scoring burst from Montreat, St. Andrews gave up its first lead with 2:14 left till halftime on a Collin Mills 3, which made it 25-24. McRae was fouled on the ensuing possession, going 1-for-2 on the trip, to even the score back before Montreat’s Elochukwu Eze hit a layup and free throw, and Clark made a layup, to help put the Cavs ahead again at 28-27.

However, with 1.7 to go until the half, McRae was fouled on a shot attempt and sent to the charity stripe, where he made both, to help the Knights retake the lead at 29-28.

McRae also opened the second-half scoring with a 3-ball, but the Cavs scored five straight points shortly after, giving them a one-point advantage. Over the next eight minutes, five lead changes occurred before St. Andrews went ahead 50-45 with 8:16 to go. After a timeout from the Knights, Montreat came within one point of tying the score three times before taking the lead they’d never lose.

McRae scored a game-high 18 points, with four rebounds for the Knights; Jalen Mcafee-Marion and Allan Taylor each scored 15 points; Caleb Brown and Taylor had eight rebounds apiece; and Clark pulled down six rebounds.

Erbeck led the Cavs with 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals; Rivera scored 13 points; Jack Keller had 11 points and two steals; Wright had six rebounds and five assists and Barnwell and Eze had two blocks each.

Montreat held St. Andrews to 16-for-53 (30.2%) shooting from the floor and 19-for-31 (61.3%) free-throw shooting.

St. Andrews welcomes Bryan to Harris Court on Saturday.