BANNER ELK, N.C. --- 10 Lees-McRae players notched five points or more, led by 13 from Avery Wallis, while the men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 96-68 game against Piedmont International Monday evening at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Bobcats (9-7) shot 63% in the second half and held a +16 (48-32) advantage on the boards. The Bruins (0-12) remain winless on the season despite four players tallying double figures.
Junior Chad Hicks (Winston-Salem, N.C.) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while LMC connected on 12 threes.
A trio of Bobcats scored on layups in the first 73 seconds and jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
PIU's Timothy Worles and Bobcat Jordan Turner (Hickory, N.C.) exchanged triples before consecutive threes from Josh Gaither (Statesville, N.C.) and Kendall Isler (Winder, Ga.) pushed the lead to 15, 25-10.
The Bruins connected on three consecutive three pointers before a Worles jumper cut the deficit to 12, 33-21.
Worles and Malik Milton led the Bruin offense with 13 points each.
Zach Wilmoth (Dobson, N.C.) and Darius Malbon (Hickory, N.C.) joined the three-point parade while coach Steve Hardin's squad took an 18-point lead, 41-23.
PIU hung around with a pair of buckets from long range to shave the lead to 11, 44-33.
Wallis (Wilkesboro, N.C.) ripped off eight points in the first 5:04 of the second half, 63-41.
Sophomore Tyriq Royal (Kernersville, N.C.) knocked down a pair of buckets to keep PIU at arm's length.
LMC's Lepreece Lynch (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Trey Hall (Orlando, Fla.) delivered the knockout blow with back-to-back threes, 88-64.
Isler and Malbon finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Junior Jonathan Honore (Baton Rouge, La.) led all players with eight assists.
LMC welcomes Limestone Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. for a Conference Carolinas game in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
