Second Half Drought Dooms Greensboro College Men’s Basketball in 85-79 Defeat at Emory & Henry

(EMORY, VA) – The Greensboro College men’s basketball team saw a 17-point lead slip away in an 85-79 road defeat to Emory & Henry on Wednesday night. Despite a strong first half, The Pride were unable to earn their third consecutive win.
Greensboro came out of the gates swinging, going up 7-2 in the opening minutes of the game. After the Wasps cut the lead to 7-6, The Pride opened up a 10-0 spurt to stretch the advantage to 17-6 at the 12:41 point.

Two free throws by Andre Porter just five minutes later gave Greensboro its largest margin of the game at 29-12. Emory & Henry would narrow the deficit to five before The Pride extended the lead back to double digits. Greensboro would head into the break on top by a score of 43-35.

It would not take long for The Pride to take the margin back to double digits, going up 47-35 after lay-ups by Brock Mooreman and T.J. Holman in the opening minute of the second half. A 10-0 spurt by the Wasps, however, trimmed the gap to 47-45 with 16:26 showing on the clock.

The slide would continue as Emory & Henry grabbed its first lead of the game at 50-49 with 14:43 to play in the game. The deficit would grow to 58-51 a few minutes later as the Wasps appeared to take control of the game.

A free throw and lay-up by Luqman Tijani finally stopped the bleeding as Greensboro pulled to within 58-54 with 10:26 to go. Unfortunately, the momentum was short-lived, as Emory & Henry pushed the score to 67-56 following two free throws with 6:30 remaining on the clock.

The Pride would try to make things interesting down the stretch, pulling to within 67-63 with 4:52 left in the game. Four was as close as Greensboro would get, though, as Emory & Henry held on for the win.

Damian Dixon led Greensboro in scoring with 19 points, 16 of which came in the opening frame. Also contributing was Holman with 16, as well as Tijani and Andre Porter with 11 apiece.

The Pride shot 48.3% from the field and hit on 40% of their three-point chances. The Wasps, meanwhile, converted 54.5% of their field goal chances, including 50% from beyond the arc. Greensboro was outrebounded on the night by a 33-28 margin.

The Pride are now 4-3 on the year following the loss. Greensboro will play its second of four straight road games when it travels to Johnson & Wales on December 17. The 3 p.m. tip-off features a rematch from earlier this season, as The Pride kicked off the year with an impressive 96-71 home win on November 15.