College Men’s Basketball Final – Guilford 77, Greensboro 65

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Matt McCarthy collected a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds in Guilford College’s 77-65 men’s basketball win over Greensboro College Tuesday night in the Greensboro Coliseum. The victory marked the 300th men’s basketball coaching win for Quakers’ head coach Tom Palombo, his 200th at Guilford.

McCarthy drained four first-half three-pointers on the way to 16 points, which staked the Quakers to a 33-25 halftime lead. His fifth and final trifecta was part of a 12-2 Guilford run to start the second half that opened a 43-27 lead with 16:53 remaining.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Greensboro’s Devan Gregory and Damian Dixon helped rally the Pride to within 59-55 with 6:05 left. That was as close as Greensboro would get, however, as the Quakers sealed the win with six Zachary Houston points and 10-for-10 free-throw shooting in the final three minutes.

Rookie Josh Spainhour made all eight free throws in the game on the way to a career-high 14 points. Classmate Alston Furr added 10, all in the second half, and fellow freshman Trever Hyatt finished with nine off the bench. Guilford shot 50 percent from the floor and held a 46-43 rebounding edge.

Gregory paced the Pride with 19 points, 13 in the second half. Dixon finished with 12 points and a game-high 12 boards in 27 foul-plagued minutes.
Now in his 17th season as a men’s coach, Palombo becomes the 68th active NCAA Division III men’s coach to reach 300 career victories. His career men’s basketball coaching record stands at 300-147 in 16-plus seasons. He was 100-63 in six years as head men’s coach at Defiance College before coming to Guilford in 2003. In 10-plus Guilford seasons, the 1989 Virginia Wesleyan College graduate owns a 200-84 mark, which stands second only to Jack Jensen’s 386 wins in school history.

Palombo and his team return to action Wednesday versus visiting Averett University at 7:00 p.m.

Guilford vs Greensboro
11/19/13 7:00 p.m. at Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
At Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
GUILFORD 77
GREENSBORO 65

GUILFORD (3-0): McCARTHY, Matt 8-14 2-2 23; SPAINHOUR, Josh 3-6 8-8 14; FURR, Alston 4-9 2-5 10; HYATT, Trever 4-9 0-1 9; HOUSTON, Zachary 2-4 3-4 7; HOPKINS, Jake 3-7 0-0 6; RICHARDSON, Zeb 2-2 0-0 4; STOKELY, Robbie 0-1 2-4 2; GREENE, Cole 1-1 0-0 2; KOPPENHAVER, Will 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-54 17-24 77.
GREENSBORO (2-1): Devan Gregory 7-13 2-4 19; Damian Dixon 4-19 2-2 12; Will Griffin 3-7 2-2 9; Tracy Jester 1-13 5-6 8; Raheem Martin 3-7 0-0 6; Jermaine Bates 2-5 0-0 5; Christopher Corbin 1-1 2-2 4; Hamilton Hawkins 1-2 0-2 2; Edric Roberts 0-4 0-0 0; Jacob Thomas 0-3 0-0 0; Lawrence Butts 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-78 13-18 65.

3-point goals–Guilford 6-16 (McCARTHY, Matt 5-9; HYATT, Trever 1-4; FURR, Alston 0-1; HOPKINS, Jake 0-1; SPAINHOUR, Josh 0-1), Greensboro 8-42 (Devan Gregory 3-8; Damian Dixon 2-11; Tracy Jester 1-9; Jermaine Bates 1-2; Will Griffin 1-4; Jacob Thomas 0-3; Lawrence Butts 0-3; Raheem Martin 0-2).
Fouled out–Guilford-None, Greensboro-None.
Rebounds–Guilford 46 (McCARTHY, Matt 9), Greensboro 43 (Damian Dixon 12).
Assists–Guilford 13 (HYATT, Trever 3), Greensboro 11 (Tracy Jester 3).
Total fouls–Guilford 18, Greensboro 23.
Technical fouls–Guilford-None, Greensboro-None.
A-1878

Nonconference game
300th men’s basketball coaching win for Guilford’s Tom Palombo