CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Royals shot 11-16 at the free-throw line in the last five minutes of play to hold on to the win over St. Andrews Presbyterian College, 80-71, tonight at Ovens Athletic Center. Queens University of Charlotte improves their winning streak to three with a record of 8-7 (11-11 overall), while the Knights fall to 2-11 (6-14 overall).
The Royals hit the floor firing off shots with precision from the behind the three-point line connecting on six of seven (85.7%) in the first half. Devon Seaford (Charlotte, N.C., Hope Christian Academy) led the attack shooting a perfect five of five from the floor, four shots being threes, to score 14 points by the half. Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) dominated in the paint scoring 12 first half points to help Queens get ahead by as much as 17, 44-27, with the final bucket of the half.
St. Andrews was plagued by turnovers in the first half with 12. The Royals capitalized on the Knights' mistakes scoring 11 points off of turnovers, and that combined with the Royals shooting a sizzling 63% (17 of 27) overall contributed greatly to Queens' lead at the half.
The Royals came out in the second half cooler than the first, scoring only four field goals in the first 10 minutes of the half as St. Andrews chipped away at the lead. St. Andrews got within four points of the Royals with 5:43 on the clock, but a two-basket run, consisting of a lay-up and a dunk by Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond ), sparked a run that gave Queens a 10-point cushion, 68-58, with four minutes and 30 seconds left in the game.
The Knights had one final run left in them, getting within four points once again with 49 seconds left, but the Royals stayed poised and hit five-of-six free-throws in the final seconds to clinch the win.
A quartet of Queens' scorers reached double figures including a team-high 19 by Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, N.C., Ashbrook). Bailey, who ranks third in the league in scoring, recorded 14 points to match Seaford and Stabler. David Cheek (Graham, N.C., Graham) led the Royals in rebounds with five.
Queens, ranked 16th nationally with 9.0 made three-pointers per game, hit its mark drilling nine treys at a 60.0% rate tonight. The Knights only made two trifectas at 16.7%.
St. Andrews' Marvin Jackson led his team with 22 points and nine rebounds. Antonio Moffit chipped in 15 while Zach Garst scored 13 points and tallied seven rebounds. Aaron Christian led with a game high four assists and also scored nine points.
The Royals will pick back up on Thursday against Lees-McRae College at 7:30 p.m., in Banner Elk, N.C.
