LaGRANGE, Ga. – Sewanee
traveled to LaGrange on Tuesday night and jumped out to a 21-point
lead at halftime to gain the eventual 74-65 win. “Tonight was
a huge step in the right direction for us,” said first year
Sewanee coach Bubba Smith. “We have made
progress each game this year and we are still learning. The guys
are contending and every time we step on the court, we have the
chance to be successful. We had a good night, beating a good
LaGrange team that has already picked up wins over Virginia
Wesleyan and Birmingham-Southern,” he concluded. Tonight
marks Smith's first win at the helm of the Sewanee
program.
In the first
half, LaGrange kept it close for 12 minutes before the Tigers
increased their lead to 35-14 for intermission. In the second,
LaGrange closed the Sewanee margin, but the Tigers went on to
secure their first 2008-09 victory with a nine-point
margin.
Senior
Bradley Pierson (Rome, Ga., Darlington)led
Sewanee's scoring effort with 23 points, taking his yearly
total (five games) to 95 points – good for a 19 ppg average.
Fellow senior Ben Pursell (Franklin, Tenn., BGA)and
Casey Berry (Naples, Fla., Community School)logged
double digit scoring performances with 10 points each. Pursell had
a double-double, also, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. Berry had
seven steals on the night, putting him in first place so far this
season in the SCAC. Britt Gaylor led
LaGrange with 17 points. Sewanee was 51% from the field, while
LaGrange was only 35% accurate.
Sewanee moves to
1-4 on the year and will host Otterbein on Tuesday night before
opening SCAC league play December 5 and 7 against Centre and
DePauw.
