BREVARD, NC- The Erskine men's basketball team's shooting woes continued on Saturday afternoon but the Fleet managed a heroic comeback in the game's final two minutes to defeat the Tornadoes of Brevard College, 55-51. Sophomore guard Brandon Wright, who has been marred in a season-long shooting slump, caught fire and scored 11 points in the final two minutes after being 2-12 from the field until that point.
Erskine trailed 45-38 with 2:32 to play when Wright connected on a free throw line jump shot. After two Brevard free throws, sophomore Nathan Jones scored on a layup with 1:42 to play to make the margin 47-42. Sophomore Jay Boulware got the inbounds steal and Wright nailed a three to make it 47-45. Brevard's Jonathan Whitson scored with 1:07 to play giving Brevard a 49-45 edge, but Wright immediately answered with a three-pointer from the left wing with 55 ticks remaining. The Fleet's fullcourt pressure forced a backcourt turnover and Wright, who had one three-pointer in Erskine's last three games, nailed his third trey in less than a minute to put the Fleet up 51-49. Whitson then missed the front end of a one and one and Erskine sophomore Jaren Curry drilled two free throws and fellow sophomore Victor Street, Jr. nailed two more to ice the win.
Wright led the Erskine scoring with 16. Nathan Jones bolstered the Fleet's attack with a career high 14 points which helped offset senior guard T.J. Taylor's 2-12 shooting night. Erskine managed to hit only 34% of its shots from the field. Up until Wright hit three straight three-pointers at the end of the game, Erskine was 3-27 from behind the arc, 0-12 in the first half. Erskine struggled at the free throw line as well. Despite making their final four attempts with Curry and Street, Jr., the Fleet managed only 8-17 shooting from the free throw line before then.
"It was not pretty, but a win on the road, is a win on the road. Our guys defensive effort has been excellent the past three games, we just haven't been able to get the ball in the basket. It is pretty obvious that we don't have any give-up in us," commented head coach Mark Peeler.
Erskine improved to 3-3 on the season. The Fleet will be off for the holidays until resuming play at Francis Marion on Wednesday, January 3rd. Erskine will play 12 of its final 21 games in the Galloway Center in Due West.