GAFFNEY, S.C. – The Chowan Men's Basketball team fired on all cylinders in a convincing 81-54 victory on the road in Conference Carolinas play against Limestone on Wednesday evening.
The win over Limestone was win number 100 for head coach Brett Vincent.
THE BASICS
FINAL | Chowan 81, Limestone 54
RECORDS | Chowan 5-8 (2-6), Limestone 3-15 (2-8)
LOCATION | Gaffney, S.C. (Timken Center)
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Chowan took care of the ball in the contest with only seven turnovers and forced 19 turnovers by the Saints. Chowan also swiped 11 steals.
BJ McLaurin led the Hawks on his way to his seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Khalil Ridges notched a career-high 17 points on 7-13 shooting. Ridges added five rebounds and three steals.
Tahkey Williams added 11 points in 11 minutes. Jamal Thomas recorded nine points with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Jaylen Dilliard and Michael Kelly recorded six points each. Kelly hauled in seven rebounds, with Dilliard grabbing six.
Chowan shot 60.0% from the floor in the second half and limited Limestone to 36.7% in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half:
BJ McLaurin put the Hawks on the board first in the paint. Tahkey Williams added a bucket to give the Hawks a 4-2 lead early. Jaylen Dilliard and McLaurin added a jumper each to maintain the advantage. Jamal Thomas connected from deep to force a timeout by Limestone to lead 11-4.
Khalil Ridges continued the attack with a triple and BJ McLaurin added a layup. Limestone slowed the 10-0 run with a bucket. Ja'Darien Wade connected from the floor with a putback. Wade scored on another putback and missed the back-end of the three-point play.
After a bucket by the Saints, Brandon Mayhan connected on his first attempt of the night. Limestone rallied to cut into the deficit with an 8-0 run, 22-16. BJ McLaurin slowed the run with a pair from the stripe. Limestone added a jumper but Mayhan answered with a layup in transition.
Jamal Thomas connected from the floor to push the lead back to double-digits, but the Saints answered with a triple at the other end. Limestone connected again from deep to trim the deficit to 28-24 to force a Chowan timeout.
Following the timeout, Limestone cut the lead down to two, but Michael Kelly tacked on two from the stripe to even out the scoring. The Saints looked to even the score but Khalil Ridges knocked down a triple. Jaylen Dilliard pushed the advantage to back to seven with a pair from the stripe, 35-28.
Limestone added a pair from the stripe before Khalil Ridges with a layup following a steal on the in-bound to lead 37-30 at the intermission.
Second Half:
Tahkey Williams records the opening basket of the half for the Hawks with a putback bucket. Limestone countered with a triple before Williams offset the bucket with connecting on the front-end of the old-fashioned three point play.
Khalil Ridges sparked a huge run for the Hawks, 20-4, over a six minute stretch with five points. Michael Kelly and BJ McLaurin added two buckets each. Tahkey Williams knocked down a triple and a jumper to push the lead to 61-39.
Jamal Thomas continued the scoring for the Hawks before the Saints connected from deep to force a Chowan timeout. Both team's offense slowed as neither side found the bottom of the net until BJ McLaurin connected from the stripe for a pair. McLaurin added a jumper to push the lead to 67-46 with 8:45 remaining.
Brandon Mayhan sparked a run for the Hawks with a bucket. BJ McLaurin added a dunk and a layup along with a pair of buckets by Khalil Ridges to push the advantage to 77-51.
Jamal Thomas added a bucket down the stretch. Ta'Sean Young recorded a pair from the stripe before the Hawks took the 81-54 victory.
UP NEXT
Chowan takes their modest winning streak to the mountains against regionally-ranked Lees-McRae on Saturday, January 18. Tip-off is slated for 4pm.
