Too Many Fouls Lead to 80-76 Loss to N.C. Wesleyan
BOX SCORE
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.— A large free-throw discrepancy proved to be the difference for the York College men's basketball team as they lost to North Carolina Wesleyan College, 80-76, in the final game of the Roger Taylor Invitational on Sunday afternoon.
N.C. Wesleyan went to the charity stripe 45 times, making 32 of those, while York saw four of its players, including three starters foul out of the game. Meanwhile, York had 23 trips to the foul line, making 19. That discrepancy would be too much for the Cardinals to overcome.
N.C. Wesleyan's Brandon Givens was the beneficiary of all those fouls, as he went to the line 24 times, making 20 of those shots en route to scoring a game-high 32 points. Givens 24 free throw attempts were just six shy of the NCAA record for most in one game.
Despite all the extra free throws by the Battling Bishops, York managed to keep it close. The Cardinals trailed by nine in the second half but battled back late and rallied to tie the game with 4:24 to play, after a put-back by
Thomas Hart made it 65-65.
N.C. Wesleyan would eventually retake the lead and push its advantage to seven points, following a three-point play by Givens with 1:32 to play. But a Terrell Roper jumper and two made free throws by
Tony Vails on consecutive possessions quickly cut the lead to just three points with 1:00 to play.
Givens went to the free throw line again on the next Battling Bishops possession to go up by five points (78-73) with 58 seconds to play. York was unable to get any closer because of a turnover on the next possession with 34 seconds remaining. The Cardinals were forced to foul and Givens notched two more free throws to put the game out of reach.
In the loss, York was led by Vails, who once again had an outstanding game, netting 26 points, while shooting 11-15 from the free throw line. He was named to the All-Classic team and is averaging 26.8 points through four games this season.
Donald Rodriguez added 13 points and Roper finished with ten points. Hart came off the bench to score 12. The Cardinals drop to 1-3 with the loss.
York will open up conference play on Tuesday when it visits the College of Staten Island at 7:30 p.m.
