MURFREESBORO, N.C. – The Chowan Men's Basketball team was on the wrong side of a buzzer beater as the Hawks battled back from a 20 point deficit to fall at the buzzer 84-82 to Francis Marion in Conference Carolinas action on Wednesday night.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 82, Francis Marion 84

RECORDS | Chowan 9-10 (7-7), Francis Marion 13-7 (10-4)

LOCATION | Murfreesboro, N.C. (Hawks Athletic Center)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Christian Koonce poured in 22 points on 8-12 shooting including 5-6 from deep.  Jay Estime scored 20 points on 7-15 shooting.  RJ Wilson collected a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds.

Chowan shared the ball with 20 assists on 29 made baskets.  The Hawks shot 10-15 from deep in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

Francis Marion opened the contest on a 7-2 run as Jay Estime connected from the floor.  Estime would hit another jumper before Isaac Hippolyte added a basket to cut the deficit to 9-6.  Estime added a pair from the stripe and Preston Le Gassick knocked down a triple in transition to even the score at 11-all.

RJ Wilson added a pair from the stripe before a transition dunk by Daylan Askew and a layup by Cheick Traore offset the Patriots' offense.  Jay Estime knocked down a triple prior to a 10-0 run by the Patriots to lead 31-20.  Chowan countered with an 8-0 run as RJ Wilson connected from deep.  Donavon Martin finished off an alley-oop from Estime and Wilson completed a three-point play, 31-28.

RJ Wilson continued with the hot hand scoring the next seven points to give the Hawks a 35-34 advantage with 4:40 to go in the half.  Francis Marion finished off the half on a 15-1 run to lead 49-36 at the intermission.

Second Half:

Christian Koonce hit back-to-back jumpers to start the half and scored the first nine points of the half for the Hawks.  The Patriots would push their lead to 20, 65-45, before Jay Estime hit a jumper and Donavon Martin added an alley-oop and a fastbreak layup.  Estime and RJ Wilson connected from deep to cut the deficit to 10, 67-57.

Preston Le Gassick and Christian Koonce continued to chip away at the deficit with a pair of triples.  Jay Estime hit a three-pointer before the Patriots pushed their lead to seven, 74-67.  The Hawks went on a 9-2 run as Estime hit a three-pointer to spark the rally.  Donavon Martin came up with a huge block as Daylan Askew hit a pair from the stripe and Koonce hit a three-pointer to tie the contest at 76-all with 2:34 remaining.

FMU scored four quick points before Christian Koonce connected from deep with 32 seconds remaining.  The Patriots hit a pair from the stripe prior to Koonce hitting a trey from the top-of-the key with 11 seconds remaining to even the score at 82-all.

The Chowan defense would force a contested deep two from the right corner at the buzzer as the tough shot would fall to hand the Hawks the loss.

UP NEXT

Chowan will look to rebound as the Hawks travel to Due West, S.C. to take on Erskine in Conference Carolinas action on Saturday, February 4.  Tip-off is slated for 4pm.