Quartet of Quakers Score Double-Figures, No. 25 Men’s Basketball Holds Off Methodist
Gabe Proctor posts first-career double-double in victory
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) posted his first-career double-double while Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) and Luke Proctor (Apex, N.C.) each recorded season-high scoring outputs as the No. 25 nationally-ranked Guilford College men’s basketball team held off Methodist University, 70-63 at Jack Jensen Court inside the Ragan-Brown FieldHouse on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Quakers complete the season sweep of the five USA South foes on their schedule, going unblemished against the rival conference for the second-consecutive season, and see their record improve to 6-2. The Monarchs drop to a break-even record at 4-4.
GC had a rare off-night from the charity stripe, going just 5-of-11, but they made up for it by cashing in on 11 of their 24 threes, matching their season-high for makes. Overall, they shot .450 from the field, just short of the opposition’s mark of .458. A team that is typically restrained from three, ranking last in Region VI coming in with just 12.6 three-point attempts per game, Methodist set season-highs in three-point makes and attempts going 10-of-20 from deep, playing a major role in keeping it close. However, Guilford held a 32-22 edge in the paint, and 13-5 advantage on second-chances to come away with the win.
While the accolades of the Proctors and Farrish took the headline, it was Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) who once again led the Quakers, and all players, in scoring with 18 points, going 8-for-17. He added eight rebounds and distributed four helpers, matching his career-high and tying with three other GC players for the team lead. Farrish followed with a 16-point showing to go with seven rebounds, five of them offensive. Gabe Proctor had a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 caroms while older brother Luke Proctor had a season-high 14 points, scoring double-digits in four-straight games for the first time in his career, while distributing four assists. Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.) did not score, but had four assists and two steals and Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) also had four helpers.
Leading scorer Derrion Hicklen did not play in this one for MU, and instead it was David McCallum Jr. who led the guests in scoring with 17 on 6-of-10 and 5-for-7 from deep. Ke Edwards contributed 14 points and Zac Sledge had 13 points, a team-high eight boards, and three blocks. Ron Jones led all players with five assists.
Jones opened the game with a miss for the guests, but five-consecutive makes would ensue, jumping the score to 8-5 quickly. The final basket of that stretch was a Gabe Proctor three that sparked a 16-6 cluster by the Quakers. Proctor wound up book-ending that run, getting a friendly bounce at the shot-clock buzzer, to finish their explosion out to a 21-11 edge less than nine minutes in. The defenses had settled in following the early onslaught, and given the score, it looked like GC may really open things up. However, the Monarchs would kind of just hang around, remaining within that three-to-four possession range on the scoreboard, but never letting it get out of reach entering the under-seven media timeout with the score 25-18.
Brian Bullock split a pair at the line and Farrar made a second-chance score out of the break, making it an eight-point game, but then Sledge got going, getting fouled and converting on both free throws, then cashing in on three points the old-fashioned way before three-consecutive points by Ke Edwards suddenly tied the score. Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) scored three of Guilford’s five bench points all night to settle things ahead of a pair of Jones free throws. GC could have settled in with just the one-point lead, but Dawson Edwards flew down the floor, and hit a tough floater at the horn, making the tallies 32-29 into the locker room.
Gabe Proctor had already poured in 11 points for Guilford at the half, playing a major role in building the lead, but Methodist’s 7-0 advantage in points at the free throw line kept them in it.
The home team fed Farrar to open the second half of play, with the senior scoring the first five Quaker baskets to put together an 11-2 run on his own, opening the Guilford lead to a game-high dozen points in the process. The teams traded threes before Sledge dropped the hammer finish on an alley-oop and that seemed to ignite Methodist as they really upped the tempo. Consecutive fastbreak layups by Ke Edwards, led to the media timeout, but then he made another two after the stoppage to cut it to a four-point game with 12:39 to play.
The Proctor’s constituted a 5-0 spurt to extend the lead again, but once more, MU countered, this time with a 9-2 run, cutting it to a two-point game, but that is as close as they would get. Luke Proctor canned a big-time trey, and after a fast break hoop by McCallum Jr., Guilford went on an 11-2 run during which Farrish contributed eight points and Gabe Proctor finished a nifty reverse on the break. The lead now extended to 67-56, with under four to play, the Monarchs once again battled back, scoring seven-straight and getting back within two possessions with 64 seconds to play, but they got no closer as a trio of Luke Proctor freebees and stifling defense closed out the 70-63 win.
The Monarchs did everything in their power to claim the lead down the stretch, but in the end, GC actually led from wire-to-wire with the score being tied for under two minutes of game time. Particularly in the second half, anytime MU got momentum it seemed the Quakers would hit a timely trey and they were efficient from range, making 5-of-9 in the back-20 to stave off the opposition.
Guilford will be home for the holidays, welcoming Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) rival Bridgewater College to Greensboro on December 20th for their final game before Christmas. Tipoff is set for 5:00 PM.
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