BRISTOL, TENN. –  The Chowan Men's Basketball team fought back from a large deficit but couldn't climb out of the hole enough as the Hawks dropped their regular season finale on the road to King on Thursday evening.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 88, King 93

RECORDS | Chowan 8-17 (8-15), King 14-14 (11-13)

LOCATION | Bristol, Tenn. (Student Center Complex)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Jay Estime paced the team with 23 points while Chase Barnett added a career-high 19 points.  Daylan Askew chipped in with 16 points and Christian Koonce added 11 points.  Cheick Traore hauled in a team-high 13 rebounds.

King shot 57.1% (20-35) from the floor and 77.8% (7-9) from deep.  Chowan's defense limited King to one three-pointer in the second half.  The Hawks shot 51.6% from the floor in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

Christian Koonce connected from deep to put the Hawks up 3-0 early.  Cheick Traore went 1-2 from the line prior to King going on an 8-2 run.  Daylan Askew posted a basket before Jay Estime posted a driving layup.  Askew tallied a pair of baskets to cut the deficit to 13-12.

King went on an 8-0 run to lead 21-12 before Chase Barnett posted a layup and RJ Wilson connected from deep to end the run.  Wilson added another triple and picked up three points at the stripe.

The Tornado continued their hot shooting in the frame despite Jay Estime knocking down a triple to close the gap to 36-26.  King pushed their lead to 44-26 before Estime hit a pair of jumpers to slow the run.

Daylan Askew tallied the next four points before Jay Estime knocked down a triple and Askew posted a layup for the final basket of the half for the Hawks to trail 50-39 at the intermission.

Second Half:

Chase Barnett went 1-2 from the stripe to open the scoring in the frame for the Hawks.  Jay Estime connected on a jumper to trim the deficit to 52-42.  Cheick Traore and Barnett posted layups to cut the deficit to single-digits, 54-46.

Daylan Askew tallied a layup before Christian Koonce connected from deep to keep pace with the Tornado.  Askew would follow his shot and put the miss back up for a layup.  Jay Estime knocked down a trey before Chase Barnett added a layup to cut the deficit to 66-58.

RJ Wilson connected from deep to offset the Tornado triple prior to Marcus Elliott hitting a jumper and Chase Barnett recording a layup to keep the contest in single-digits.  Wilson added a layup before Jay Estime knocked down a triple to trail 77-70.

Chase Barnett hit a pair of free throws before Christian Koonce connected from deep and Barnett added a layup in transition to trim the deficit to 81-77 with 3:22 remaining.  Koonce tallied a putback basket with less than a minute to play.

Chase Barnett picked up a pair from the stripe to offset the points by the Tornado, 87-81.  Jay Estime knocked down a triple with 28.2 remaining to cut the deficit to 87-84.  King added a pair from the stripe as Barnett answered with a pair of layups before time ran out.

UP NEXT

Chowan earned the 10th seed in the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Championship.  The Hawks will take on seventh seeded Lees-McRae on Sunday, February 27 at the sixth seeded Barton in Wilson.  Tip-off is slated for 5pm.