Huge Second Half Comeback Stalls, Men’s Basketball Bested By No. 4 Hampden-Sydney
Farrar posts double-double, leads trio of Quakers in double-figures despite defeat
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. – Staked to their largest halftime deficit of the season, the Guilford College men’s basketball team (17-6, 10-4) put together a 22-2 uprising to open the second half, but ultimately their comeback bid stalled out at the S. Douglas Fleet Gymnasium, falling to Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) rival and number-four nationally ranked Hampden-Sydney College (20-3, 13-1 ODAC), 78-71 on Wednesday night.
GC scuffled from range in the opening half and had no answer for the Tigers’ high-powered offense, but on the back on a 14-4 edge on second-chances, they made it a ballgame. This despite H-SC posting a .473/.476/.762 shooting line as a team compared to Guilford’s .412/.240/.643 line as a collective.
Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) was on a heater this evening, completing the game leading all players in scoring and rebounding with 34 and 14 all without committing a turnover. He finished 15-of-22 from the field, setting a career-high for made field goals in the defeat. Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) found his touch in the second half, scoring nine of his 12 points in the second stanza and Chase Ellis (Douglasville, Ga.) contributed ten points. Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) had a team-high four assists for the Quakers.
Four Tigers reached double-figures led by Shane Fernald who had 20 on 7-of-12 to go with four steals. Adam Brazil went 5-for-16 shooting but still notched 16 points and a game-high six assists. Travis Stickney had five helpers and 13 points while Nick Shryock scored a dozen along with a team-leading seven boards for H-SC.
The hosts made this one a laugher early as the Quakers could not find their touch from range. With the score seven-all, H-SC put together an 18-7 stretch to get the lead to double-digits. A Farrar two curbed the momentum but then the Tigers rattled off seven-straight to enter the under-seven media break doubling up GC at 32-16.
Hampden-Sydney just kept pilling it on out of the stoppage as their lead swelled to 21 before Ellis finally connected on Guilford’s first, and only three-point make of the first half in 14 tries. H-SC got the lead back into the 20s before Fernald got a theft and a score ahead of the horn to lead 50-27 halfway through.
It would not take 17 minutes for GC to make their first three of the second half like it did the first, as Farrish knocked one down on their opening possession. It would not be the Quaker offense that would get them back in the game, but the defensive brilliance they put on display. Over the first nine minutes of the second stanza, Guilford held the Tigers to just 1-of-11 from the field and forced three turnovers, opening the door for their offense to chip away. Farrar two, Ellis two, and two more from Farrar cut it to 50-36 and H-SC tried to halt the run with an early timeout. Out of the break, Fernald made a layup but then Farrar hit a two, Farrish, Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.), and Ellis made threes and Bobby Samples (Brighton, Mich.) made a second-chance jumper and all-of-a-sudden, the score was 52-49 with 11 minutes to play.
With the game in the balance, Fernald and Stickney each converted a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions then Fernald made a layup with all of those scores countering Guilford buckets. Another pair from Fernald and a Brazil pull-up three gave H-SC breathing room and GC would not get within two possessions the rest of the way, falling 78-71.
The Quakers travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia for their final road game of the regular season next, battling Eastern Mennonite on Saturday, February 15th at 4:30 PM.
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