HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Tied 33-33 at halftime, the No. 11/10 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team (21-3, 13-1 SAC) shot 76.5 percent from the floor in the second half and pulled away from Coker College (3-18, 1-13 SAC), 89-67, on Wednesday night at the DeLoach Center.
Shaun Willett led five Royals in double figures with 18 points and 13 rebounds to record his NCAA-leading 20th double-double of the season.
Blake Morrow notched a new season high with 18 points and
Lewis Diankulu tied a career high with 12 rebounds.
Late in the first half,
Jermaine Patterson scored seven-straight points, six of which came on the fast break to erase a once seven-point deficit, as Queens tied the score, 31-31, with 1:16 remaining in the first. Patterson set a new career high with 13 points.
Moments later, a Willett alley-oop dunk assisted by Patterson gave Queens its first lead, 33-31, with 48 seconds left in the half. However, Coker tied the score before the break when Chandler Lindsey's layup evened the score, 33-33, with 26 seconds left.
To open the second half, the Royals used a 15-5 run that featured eight points from
Kenny Dye and six points from Willett, all in the paint, to take a 10-point lead, 48-38, with 14:43 to play. Queens finished with 66 points in the paint.
The lead hit 15 points, 60-45, after an 8-1 run capped by a Morrow layup with 11:49 to play. With 2:18 on the clock, the lead reached 22 points after another Willett layup. Willett scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half on a perfect seven of seven shooting, as Queens outscored Coker by 22 points in the frame, 56-34.
Dye chipped in 10 points and
Daniel Carr scored 13.
Defensively, the Royals held the Cobras to 34.8-percent shooting and 30.8-percent 3-point shooting. Khalil Halls led Coker with 15 points and six rebounds.
Queens returns to action on Saturday versus Tusculum University at the Levine Center in its annual Homecoming Game. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Live play-by-play coverage will be available on the
Queens Sports Network.
