CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The No. 14/16 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team opened their 2021-2022 campaign in convincing fashion with a victory over Young Harris College, 133-88, in the first game of the Southeast Regional Challenge at Curry Arena.

The impressive opening win marked two records on the night, including Head Coach, Bart Lundy's, 400^th career victory as a head coach. It was win No. 304 in the Queen City as Lundy enters his 14^th season at Queens. The second milestone from opening night included a new program record for points dropped in a game as Queens put up 133 total points.

The Royals opened the new season scoring 67 points in the opening half on 55-percent shooting from the field and 47-percent from behind the arc. After falling behind briefly, the Royals put together a 23-3 run to take a commanding 25-8 lead in the opening half. The Royals would extend their lead in the first and take a 67-29 lead into the half. After taking a 74-34 lead into the 17:14 mark in the second half, the Mountain Lions could not decrease the deficit to lower than 40.

For the game, Queens shot 51-percent and 41-percent from deep while holding the Lions to a 49-percent clip from the field and 42-percent mark from deep.
A difference maker in the game proved to be the turnovers and bench points as the Royals displayed their physical defensive approach and depth of their bench. Queens forced 34 turnovers and scored 54 points off of the turnovers while their bench outscored the Mountain Lions 65-28. The experienced home team would also dominate the paint scoring 58 points under the glass and winning the rebound margin 48-35.

Nine Royals reached double figures, including Quan McCluney, Jay'Den Turner, AJ McKee, Gavin Rains, Trey Hubbard, BJ McLaurin, Jamari Smith and Mike Fowler. McCluney led the offense with 19 points, including five deep balls on ten attempts while Trey Hubbard dished out a team-high eight assists. BJ McLaurin would bring down seven rebounds.

Queens will return to Curry Arena for day two of the Southeast Regional Challenge tomorrow when they host Emmanuel College at 5:00 p.m. Fans can tune in to the broadcast on the Queens Sports Network. Be sure to follow the Royals men's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on all the latest news and updates surrounding the team. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics on social media @QueensAthletics to follow all of the Royals sports in action.