MURFREESBORO, N.C. – An 8-0 run with 6:45 remaining in the contest kept the Chowan Men's Basketball team in front of regionally-ranked Lees-McRae in a close Conference Carolinas victory at home on Saturday evening, 83-79.
THE BASICS
FINAL | Chowan 83, Lees-McRae 79
RECORDS | Chowan 4-11 (4-9), Lees-McRae 11-6 (9-5)
LOCATION | Murfreesboro, N.C. (Hawks Athletic Center)
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Daylen Askew and Christian Koonce paced the Hawks with 20 points each. Marcus Elliott tallied 13 points, while Jay Estime chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Cheick Traore added a career-high 18 rebounds (tied for third most in program history) along with nine points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half:
Chowan raced out to an early 11-3 lead as Jay Estime knocked down a triple to start the contest. Daylen Askew connected on a pair from deep and Christian Koonce tallied a pair at the charity stripe.
Lees-McRae amped up the pressure to counter with a 17-2 run as Daylen Askew tallied the lone basket for the Hawks. Jay Estime connected from deep to end the run to close the gap to 20-16.
Donavon Martin posted a bucket before a three-pointer by Jay Estime and a pair of freebies by Cheick Traore closed the gap to 25-23. Royce Jarrett tallied a layup in transition to even the score before the Bobcats answered with a three-pointer at the other end.
Back-to-back buckets by Cheick Traore handed the lead back to the Hawks for the moment before Daylen Askew knocked down a triple to lead 34-33.
Christian Koonce added a jumper and Daylen Askew hit a trey to even the score at 39-all. LMC would take a 42-39 lead into the locker room.
Second Half:
Jay Estime started the scoring in the half with a three-pointer followed by a transition dunk by Cheick Traore and a pair of jumpers by Christian Koonce in transition to lead 48-46.
Aaron James sparked a 9-0 run to lead 57-50 with a layup and a triple. Daylen Askew tallied a layup and a pair of free throws following a technical foul on the Bobcat bench.
The Bobcats answered with an 11-2 run to take the lead 61-59 as Christian Koonce scored a basket and the Chowan bench was assessed a technical foul. Chiech Traore picked up a point at the stripe and Koonce knocked down a triple to hand the lead back to the Hawks, 63-61, with 8:20 remaining.
With the Bobcats leading 64-63, Chowan went on an 8-0 run to grab hold of the lead and never relinquish it as Daylen Askew started the run with a jumper. Marcus Elliott connected on back-to-back possessions from deep to lead 71-64.
Marcus Elliott scored the next five points to maintain the advantage for the Hawks, 76-69, with 1:34 remaining. Christian Koonce tallied a layup before a pair of turnovers allowed LMC to close the gap to one, 78-77 with 23 seconds remaining.
Christian Koonce went 5-6 at the charity stripe to finish off the contest as an offensive charge drawn by Marcus Elliott ended the threat by the Bobcats with 2.4 seconds remaining.
UP NEXT
Chowan will hit the road to take on Erskine in a make-up contest on Tuesday, February 1. Tip-off is slated for 5pm.
