BRISTOL, Tenn. – Lees-McRae men's basketball fell to "Battle for the Blue Ridge Cup" opponent King, 88-82, on Wednesday evening.
Ja'Quavian Florence led the Bobcats with 23 points on the night.
DJ Kent and
Drew Redmond joined Florence in double figures for Lees-McRae.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King –
88; Lees-McRae – 82
LOCATION: Student Complex Center – Bristol, Tennessee
RECORDS: King (3-6/1-1), Lees-McRae (1-5/0-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Lees-McRae gained its first lead at 10-9 after a dunk from Travis Pourciau at the 16:17 mark of the first half. Pourciau pushed the Bobcat lead to three points with a layup off an offensive rebound.
- King regained the advantage and pushed its lead to 10 points off a three from Petar Mijatovic. The Bobcats cut into the deficit and trailed 36-34 at the halftime break.
- Matthew Knafelz evened the score at 36-36 out of the break and the Bobcats led 38-36 off a jumper from Kent.
- King built its lead back to nine points off a three-pointer from Seth Cullen, but the Bobcats continued to battle on Wednesday night. Lees-McRae held the 59-58 lead after a quick 5-0 scoring run, but the Tornado answered with a three from Mijatovic.
- King regained a six-point lead and held off a late charge from the Bobcats for the 88-82 win inside the Student Complex Center.
- Florence scored a team-high 23 points for the Bobcats in 34 minutes. Kent followed with 12 points on 6-11 shooting and four rebounds. Redmond tallied 11 points on 5-6 from the field and three rebounds.
- Dre Nelson and Pourciau registered eight points apiece. Pourciau added seven rebounds off the bench for the Bobcats.
- Lees-McRae went 32-86 (37.2%) from the field and 13-19 from the free-throw line. The Bobcats went 5-24 from three-point range and all five came in the second half.
FOR THE TORNADO:
- Jordan Akal paced the Tornado in the victory with 24 points and 13 coming from the charity stripe. Mikhail Pocknett collected a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
- Xavier Betancourt and Mijatovic contributed 11 points apiece. Seth Cullen had 10 points and nine boards in 32 minutes for King.
UP NEXT:
Lees-McRae men's basketball heads to Southern Wesleyan on Saturday, December 7 to face the Warriors for a 4 p.m. contest.
For more information on Lees-McRae Athletics, follow the Bobcats on X (@LMCBobcats), on Facebook (Lees-McRae Athletics), and on Instagram (leesmcraeathletics).
