EMORY, Va. – Jorden Davis scored a game-high 29 points and teammate Liam Ward finished with 21 points and nine rebounds to help the Guilford men’s basketball team pick up its fifth straight win over Emory & Henry, 85-76, on Thursday, February 11 at the King Center in Emory, Va.
Davis reached double figures after hitting 9-of-16 from the floor, 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and finishing a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. While Davis was the primary outside threat, Ward manned the post for the Quakers (2-0, 2-0 ODAC), finishing 10-of-12 from the field and pulling down a team-best nine rebounds (eight defensive).
Jaylen Gore(Northwest Guilford HS) contributed 14 points for Guilford, converting 6-of-9 from the floor along with a pair of free throws. Teammate Tyler Dearman(Southern Guilford HS) also reached double digits, finishing with 13 points, as he knocked down 5-of-11 from the floor and joined Davis as the only other Quaker shooter with multiple 3-pointers, hitting 2-of-6 from long distance.
Guilford finished off the game hitting 32-of-62 (51.6%) from the field, taking advantage of seven 3-pointers, while limiting the Wasps to 26-of-62 (41.9%) shooting.
Holding a nine-point lead at the intermission, Guilford surrendered a 3-pointer to Tyler Arnold to open the second half, but four points by Ward and a 3-pointer by Davis quickly pushed the lead back to double digits, 49-36, at the 17:35 mark.
A five-point run by the Wasps again made for a single-digit margin, but Davis answered with a series of 3-pointers to provide Guilford with a 55-41 lead. Arnold answered with a trio of 3-pointers during a 2:11 stretch, sparking a 15-4 Emory & Henry run, which brought the Wasps to within four, 59-56.
Gore retaliated with five points, keeping the Quakers in front 64-60, but Kevin Grau Rodriguez knocked down a 3-pointer to make for a one-point contest. Davis and Gore combined for the next six Guilford points and Ward added a layup to provide the Quakers with a seven-point edge, 72-65 with 5:06 remaining.
Clinging to a four-point lead, 74-70, Gore made a layup and added a free throw following a foul by Emory & Henry’s Patrick Antonelli as the lead grew to seven. A trey from Dylan Catron again trimmed the margin to four, but timely buckets by Dearman and Ward resulted in an 81-73 Quaker lead. The Wasps pulled to within five with just over a minute left, but three points by Ward cinched the win for Guilford.
Davis and Dearman combined for 10 of Guilford’s first 12 points of the game as the Quakers established a 12-2 lead at the 15:06 mark of the first half. The Wasps briefly trimmed that margin to single digits, but back-to-back 3-pointers off the hand of Davis resulted in an 18-4 lead for the Quakers just over two minutes later.
Ward scored four straight points with just under 10 minutes left in the first half, stretching the Guilford lead to 24-8. Davis followed with the next three points and Ward drove home a layup at the 7:36 mark to make for a 29-13 Quaker advantage. Dearman added six points down the stretch to help give Guilford a 42-33 advantage at the intermission.
Guilford returns to action on Tuesday, February 16th when it will host Roanoke at 7 p.m. For more information on the Quakers check out www.guilfordquakers.com.
Courtesy of Jon Cole, with Presto Sports