Luke Proctor Pours in Career-High, (RV) Men’s Basketball Upends No. 8 Hampden-Sydney
Three-point barrage critical, Quakers collect statement win in Final Four rematch
Written by: Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Exploding from the opening tip and staking themselves to a 14-2 advantage before the electric crowd at Jack Jensen Court inside the Ragan-Brown FieldHouse had even settled into their seats, the nationally receiving-votes Guilford College men’s basketball team, behind Luke Proctor’s (Apex, N.C.) career-high 19 points, secured a much-needed statement win, 77-68, over No. 8 nationally-ranked Hampden-Sydney College in a 2024 Final Four rematch in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action on Wednesday evening.
In need of a quality win to put on their aspiring NCAA Tournament resume, the Quakers got exactly that, claiming their first ranked win of the campaign, eclipsing the regular season’s midway mark with a 10-3 record and improving to 4-1 against conference competition. For the Tigers, they dropped to identical marks of 10-3 and 4-1, suffering their first defeat to an ODAC opponent this season.
Guilford was knocking down their shots from distance early and often, making their first seven three-pointers and finishing 13-of-27 from long range, a mark that ended up being a key to the game as GC limited H-SC to just 6-for-24 to offset their 26-18 disadvantage in the paint. The Quakers finished with exactly a .500 shooting percentage against the Tigers’ .436 number although the guests were better from the line. Most other statistics were incredibly similar with assists, blocks, fouls, rebounds, offensive rebounds, and turnovers all being differentiated by two-or-less, reflecting the narrow nature of the contest.
It was the Apex legends that stole the show for the Guilford offense with Luke Proctor leading the charge. He netted his career-high 19 points on 7-for-11 from the field and 3-of-6 from distance, adding a block and a trio of helpers putting him in four-way tie for the team-lead in assists on the evening. His brother, Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) finished right behind him with 17 tallies on 5-for-12 and 4-of-6 from range, stuffing the stat sheet with a game-high eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) rounds out the trio with 16 points making half of his 12 shot attempts to go with six caroms, a block, and a steal. Chase Ellis (Douglasville, Ga.) enjoyed his best night in over a month off the bench, contributing 12 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from deep to go with a Quaker-career-high seven rebounds, three of them on the offensive end. In reserve, Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) also dished a trio of assists, as did Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.), who also deserves a special shoutout for his work defensively as GC’s primary defender on the ODAC’s leading scorer Adam Brazil.
The Hampden-Sydney Preseason All-American, Brazil, was held to just eight points on the night, a season-low for him in games in which he played at minimum 20 minutes, as he only managed to get up seven shot attempts before he fouled out with 80 seconds to play. That opened the door for other contributors, led by Hamilton Campbell who caught fire early in the second half to finish with a team-leading 15 points on 6-of-14 and 3-for-9 from deep while also pacing all players in assists with four. Nick Shryock added 14 points making 4-of-7 from the field as well. Of the trio of Tigers to average double-figures coming in, Shane Fernald was the only one to reach that threshold on this night with 13 points and a team-high seven caroms, including five on the offensive end.
Guilford looked fired up in the game’s early stages and played with the edge one would expect from a team seeking payback after the Tigers ended their season last March. They won the tip and proceeded to score the contest’s first 11 points on a trio of Procter treys, one by Gabe and two by Luke, with a Farrar two mixed in. Travis Stickney finally halted the run but then another make from Luke Proctor from long range made the score 14-2. Brazil got a score ahead of the initial media timeout, but the hosts still had the early double-digit advantage at 14-4.
Brazil connected on his second, and what ended up as his final made field goal of the night immediately out of the break but then Ellis, Gabe Proctor, and Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) connected on Guilford’s fifth, sixth, and seventh-consecutive three-pointers to open the game in a 9-2 run, getting the lead to a game-high 15 points at the 12-minute mark. The GC offense cooled some and H-SC just started chipping away. They cut the deficit to eight at one point, and were only down ten by the second media timeout, however a Gabe Proctor logo three out of the stoppage got it back to double-figures. That is where the Quakers would largely keep it until the Tigers did get a five-point spurt to close the half on a pair at the stripe from Shryock and a buzzer-beating three by Campbell, bringing the tallies to 37-29 halfway through.
The field goal percentages in the first half were fairly close with the GC shooting .519 against H-SC’s .500 even. However, Guilford made eight of their 14 threes in the first half, far surpassing Hampden-Sydney’s two in 11 attempts, but the Tigers 14-5 advantage in points off the bench kept them in striking distance.
Strike is exactly what the guests did out of the half, upping the pressure with a full-court defense and it disrupted the Quakers. Fernald opened the half with a couple free throws before a turnover and a foul and two more free throw makes, this time by Shryock. Shryock got two more after another GC turnover and following a miss on Guilford’s first shot attempt of the period, Travis Stickney converted a layup suddenly leveling the score at 37 prompting a timeout by the Quakers just 100 seconds in to the second stanza. Guilford settled some, but could not create much distance as the score progressed to 49-44 at the 14-minute mark.
That is when Campbell popped off for the Tigers as he made a triple on three-consecutive trips down the floor, posting a 9-2 run on his own to give the visitors their first, and ultimately only, lead of the night. Ellis made a layup a couple possessions later, sparking a 15-5 stretch that included eight from the grad transfer, and it was the final run that GC needed. A bunch of free throws ensued as the game remained in that three-possession range, briefly getting down to six with three minutes to play, but the Quakers got it back to double-digits, made their free throws down the stretch, and a more-or-less meaningless Shryock three brought the final score to 77-68.
After going 1-of-4 from the line in the first half, Guilford made 9-of-12 in the second half, including 7-of-9 in the final five minutes to keep their distance. For Hampden-Sydney, they improved shooting from range, but went cooler on the whole, shooting .394 from the field against GC’s .481 as the Quakers staved off the comeback bit to grab the win.
Guilford will host Eastern Mennonite University next. Currently, the contest is scheduled for Saturday, January 11th at 3:00 PM, although with some inclement weather in the forecast, that is subject to change. Revisit GuilfordQuakers.com to stay up-to-date on the latest.
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