Proctor, Farrar Score Career-Bests, No. 17 Men’s Basketball Completes Comeback Win Over Randolph
Apex duo score 20-plus each, lead five in double-figures
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
LYNCHBURG, Va. – It was a big day to be an Apex Friendship High School alum, as Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) and Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) each enjoyed career games, to propel the No. 17 nationally-ranked Guilford College men’s basketball team to their first win in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action in come-from-behind fashion, 91-82 on Saturday afternoon inside the Frances and Don Giles Gymnasium.
With the result, the Quakers win their 15th in-a-row against the WildCats, their longest active winning streak against any team, as they move to 5-2 on the season, splitting their opening week of conference action to stand at 1-1. RC finishes equal to Guilford’s overall record, falling to 5-2 and 1-2 against ODAC opponents.
Guilford finished shooting 51.6% from the field and 47.6% from three while converting on a season-high 17 free throws. Randolph fired away from three-point range on 41 of their 72 shot attempts in the game, and while it staked them to a first-half lead, they went cold in the second half to finish just 14-of-41. The Quakers also matched their season-high with 42 rebounds including 14 on the offensive end leading to a 19-8 edge in second-chance scoring.
With a shake-up in the starting five, Farrar came off the bench for the first time this season and he thrived, recording a double-double, scoring a career and game-high 26 points on 10-of-18, 2-for-3 from deep and making all four free throws he earned. Additionally, he snared 11 rebounds to lead all players and matching his season-high. Gabe Protor also recorded a career-high scoring output, pouring in 23 on 7-for-13, 5-of-8 from range, and grabbing eight boards. The third Apex Friendship product, Luke Proctor (Apex, N.C.) was also sharp, making five of his six shot attempts to score a season-high 12 points. Getting the first starts of their career and as a Quaker, respectively, Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) and Bobby Samples (Brighton, Mich.) provided a spark with ten points apiece. Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) was held to just nine points but did send back a pair of blocks, as did Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.). Guilford was only awarded two on the night assists as a collective, with Edwards and Clayton getting credited with one each.
Among the nation’s top scorers so far this year, Jordan Phillips-McLloyd was held in check on this day, shooting 5-of-21 overall and 1-of-12 from three to score just 13 points, tied for a season-low. He did distribute a game-high six assists, however. Evan Wiehe matched Phillips-McLloyd’s scoring with a team-leading 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Amari Gorham contributed 11 points and Elijah Cox added ten points in reserve. The WildCats second scoring option this season, Landon Wagoner, was restricted to just four shot attempts, finishing with six points alongside a team-high six rebounds.
The first half of this one was an offensive exhibition. Guilford won the tip and missed their first shot, but two-and-a-half minutes would elapse before there was another miss with six-consecutive shots made between the two squads with a Gabe Proctor three capping the stretch to make the score 8-7 in favor of the WildCats. While the frequency decreased, the punch-counterpunch trend maintained through the under-14 media timeout when a pair of Farrar free throws gave the Quakers a 16-13 edge. Randolph would proceed to make their run with Cox making a two, Phillips-McLoyd coming away with a steal-to-score, Cox hitting a triple, and Rayvon Graham converting a three-point play to build a 23-16 lead. A few moments later, Timothy James Jr. got the lead to double-digits at 31-21 with a transition layup at the nine-minute mark.
Two Edwards buckets on either side of a Farrar two cut the deficit before a 7-0 run by the WildCats got their lead out to 11, a number that would prove to be their largest of the game. Once again, GC went on a spurt to cut it to a two-possession game, but the hosts countered to get it to double-digits at 44-34 with 1:16 left. Needing to get momentum ahead of halftime, Guilford turned to Farrar who made a second-chance two then a short jumper, getting the score to 44-38 into the locker rooms.
Randolph’s three-point shooting was huge in the first half, nearly surpassing their conference-leading 9.7 makes per game in the stanza with nine. Guilford took a different approach in keeping it close, scoring 20 points in the paint and 11 on second chances to remain within striking distance.
Out of the break, Samples was aggressive, scoring the first five Quaker points, but Randolph kept GC at arms-length for a few minutes. Facing the largest deficit they saw at any point in the second half, at 53-46, Guilford got a spark courtesy of Farrish who converted a three-point play. Moustapha Diop countered with a two before consecutive threes by Farrar and Gabe Proctor, and a two by Luke Proctor gave GC the lead, capping an 11-2 stretch. Six more lead changes would occur before reaching the under-seven timeout as the opposing factions jockeyed for control of the game.
A couple Wiehe free throws evened things at 68-all out of the media break, but Farrar hit a three on Guilford’s ensuing trip down the floor, giving the Quakers a lead they would never relinquish. Gabe Proctor scored five-straight to open the lead to eight and the game never got closer than two possessions the rest of the way. Viktor Parson connected from distance to make the score 84-80, but that is as narrow as it would get as Farrar made a layup and Farrish got a dagger steal-to-score with 45 seconds to play to put it out of reach.
Living and dying by the three all season, Randolph was held to just 5-of-19 from distance in the second half. Meanwhile, the Quakers converted on 54.5% of their shots, including seven of their 13 threes en route to 53 points in the second half, 15 of which came from Gabe Proctor, claiming the 91-82 win.
GC gets a week to rest and recover from this hard-fought contest before they host Methodist University for a non-conference clash on Saturday, December 14 at 3:00 PM.
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