Banner Elk, NC--In their first home contest of 2008 the Bobcats
were defeated by the #2 team in the conference, Queens University
of Charlotte, 92-67. The Royals improve to 8-3 (4-1 Conference
Carolinas) while the Bobcats drop to 2-9 (1-4).
From the tipoff the young squad struggled against the more
experienced Royals team. Queens jumped ahead early, gaining a 13
point lead a little more than five minutes into the game. The
Bobcats played with tenacity, continuing to try to claw their way
back into the game, but 60% shooting by the Royals team put the
Bobcats down 21 points (50-29) at the half.
Although the Bobcats forced 12 turnovers and outrebounded the
Royals 24-19 in the second half, they could not overcome the poor
shooting (36% from the field, 45% from the line) that plagued them
all evening. The Bobcats, who battled hard and gave great effort,
finally succumbed to the Royals 92-67 for the conference loss.
"I thought we gave great effort tonight, but got beat by a
better basketball team," said Coach Scott Polsgrove. "While we
really struggled shooting the ball from the field as well as from
the line, we did a nice job of limiting our turnovers against a
very talented Royals team."
Freshman Aaron Woodacre (Piney Flatts, TN) and Modestas Riauka
(Kaunas, Lithuania) led the Bobcats with 11 points and five boards
each. In all, twelve players for the Bobcats tallied points for
the contest.
Queens was led by Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, NC) with 25 points
and Darnell Evans (Largo, MD) with 23 points. Stephen Bailey
(Fayetteville, NC) pulled down eight rebounds for the Royals.
The Bobcats host Mt. Olive College on Saturday, January 12.
Tipoff for the Conference Carolinas game is set for 4:00pm.
Pictured: Aaron Woodacre
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