The N.C. Wesleyan College men’s basketball team held off their hard-charging rival Methodist at home on Tuesday, defeating them 98-87 on Coaches vs. Cancer Night.
The Bishops were led by huge games from senior Damon McDowell and junior Sal-Bey Young.
McDowell made a career-high eight 3-pointers en route to scoring 31 points (his third consecutive 30-point game). Young brought down a career-high 20 rebounds and scored 19 points while also assisting on a season-high eight buckets as he fell just two helpers shy of a triple-double.
The win was the fourth straight for the Bishops as they improve to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the USA-South conference.
Wesleyan got out to another strong start, leading 19-6 early on and 54-36 at the half after shooting 63 percent overall behind McDowell’s 20 points.
However, Methodist then went on a run themselves trimming Wesleyan’s 18-point lead down to five points early in the second half.
The Bishops would then stretch their advantage back out to 11 points before Methodist would again cut it down to just three with 12 minutes to play.
Methodist would get to within two points as well midway through the half, but that would be as close as they would come as the Bishops continued to stretch back out their lead.
After Wesleyan led by 14 with six minutes to play, MU went on one final run to get within four points at the 2:07 mark. NCWC held them off one final time as the eighth and final three-pointer from McDowell iced the game.
Also playing well for the Bishops was junior forward Isaiah Lewis, who finished with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting while grabbing seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Austin Manley also grabbed 16 points off the bench on four threes and a block.
Juniors RJ Bailey and Brayden Dixon combined for 12 points while Dixon assisted on four other baskets.
Wesleyan returns to action on Friday when they head north to Virginia to battle Mary Baldwin in a 7 p.m. contest.
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