College Men’s Basketball Final – Guilford 90, William Peace 72

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Trever Hyatt and Jonny Rice scored 16 points apiece to lead Guilford College past William Peace University, 90-72, in Sunday night’s Guilford Invitational championship game. Tournament Most Valuable Player Matt McCarthy added 13 points as the Quakers improved to 2-0 on the year.

Hyatt made two three-pointers and McCarthy added one as Guilford raced to a 15-3 lead six minutes into the game and never looked back. The Pacers (1-1) drew to within eight points midway through the frame, but the hot-shooting Quakers kept William Peace at bay thanks in part to seven-of-13 shooting (53.8%) from three-point range. Hyatt tallied 14 points in the opening frame and McCarthy added nine as Guilford held a 43-27 edge at the break.

Two Nate Strother free throws with 16:20 left in the game brought William Peace to within 48-37, but Guilford made 75% of its shots from the floor in the second half, which made it impossible to draw closer. Rice, who joined McCarthy on the all-tournament team, pumped in 12 second-half points and Will Freeman tallied eight. The forwards helped Guilford to a commanding 48-14 advantage in interior scoring.

The Quakers connected on 64.2% of their shots, Guilford’s best single-game shooting percentage since hitting 68% in a Feb. 23, 2008, win over Emory & Henry College. Five students scored in double figures, including Freeman (10) and rookie Hunter Jackson, who scored a career-high 11 off the bench.

Bryson Gibson scored a game-high 20 points off the bench for William Peace and joined Chris Thomas (12 points, 5 rebounds) as the Pacers representatives on the all-tourney squad.

In Sunday’s consolation game, Traxonte’ Sawyers scored all of his game-high 16 points in the second half to spark Virginia University-Lynchburg to a 71-63 win over the University of Maine-Farmington. The Beavers (0-2) held a 38-19 halftime lead, but the Dragons steadily chipped away in the second half and took the lead for good on a Sawyers three-pointer with 6:10 left to play.

Adrian Saunders also scored 16 for Virginia-Lynchburg (1-1). Hakeem Anthony added 14 and earned all-tournament honors. North Carolina resident Pet Sumner paced Maine-Farmington with 15 points.