CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Eighth-seeded Anderson wiped out nearly all of a 19-point second-half deficit, but 17th-ranked and No. 1 seed Queens survived a furious rally and held off the Trojans, 96-91, Monday night in the quarterfinals of the 2021 SAC Pilot Flying J Men's Basketball Championship, at Curry Arena.
Anderson saw its season end with a 7-12 record, while Queens improved to 15-4 with sixth straight win and moves on to the semifinals of the SAC Tournament, where the Royals will play host to No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne, Thursday night.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Sophomore guard Crosby James II led all scorers with 27 points on the strength of 9-of-16 shooting from the field. The Columbia, S.C., native connected on 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, with five of his 3-pointers coming in the opening half. Junior Jalen Hillery added 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Senior guard Quin Nottingham netted 10 points, while dishing out a team-best five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Junior guard Kai Rivers tallied nine points and four boards, with freshman guard Tyler Henderson scoring eight points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
With James connecting on three 3-pointers inside the first six minutes of the contest, the Trojans kept pace with Queens. With the score deadlocked at 19-19 with 14:34 on the clock, James followed a pair of Royals' free throws by knocking down yet another trey to give AU a 22-21 edge and a jumper by Rivers boosted the Trojans lead to three – equaling their largest lead of the contest.
But the Royals overcame AU's lead exactly two minutes later and pushed out to a seven-point advantage on two occasions inside the final six minutes before Hillery nailed a 3-pointer and Rivers added another jumper to get AU within 48-46 at the 3:05 mark. Queens responded by scoring the final four points of the frame to take a 52-46 halftime lead.
Second Half
The Royals opened the second half with a 17-7 run to build a 70-53 cushion with less than 15 minutes remaining and still held a seemingly safe 19-point lead at the 9:41 mark. However, the Trojans weren't finished, as they trimmed Queens' lead to 11 on a pair of occasions, then used an 11-4 surge to get within 90-86 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Nottingham with just 84 seconds on the clock.
The Royals Kenny Dye made 1-of-2 from the line to boost their lead back to five with 1:06 left and after the two teams traded possessions, sophomore Mack Burgett dropped in a close jumper, as AU crept within 91-88. Dye followed with two more free throws with just 7.3 seconds remaining, with Keel nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to pull the Black and Gold as close as 93-91 with just 2.1 seconds on the clock. When Dye made just 1-of-2 from the line with 1.5 seconds left, the Trojans still had life, but turned the ball over on the inbounds play. Dye then made both free throws to clinch the win.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
The Trojans connected on 53.6% (15-of-28) of their 3-pointers – their second-highest accuracy of the season.
NOTABLES
• The score was tied just three times and the game featured just seven lead changes.
• Queens out-rebounded the Trojans, 43-27, and pulled down 20 offensive rebounds.
