ANDERSON, S.C. – Guards Quin Nottingham and Crosby James II combined to pour in 56 points, but the Anderson men's basketball team's bid to upset its second Top-5 team in less than two weeks fell just shy, as fifth-ranked Queens escaped with a hard-fought, 86-79, win over the Trojans, Tuesday night at the Abney Athletic Center.
The back-and-forth physical battle that has come to embody the contests between the Trojans and Royals featured 14 ties and 15 lead changes, with Anderson slipping to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the South Atlantic Conference, while Queens improved to 5-0 and 3-0.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Nottingham finished the night with a game-high, season-high 30 points on 10-of-14 (71.4%) shooting from the field and was 6-of-7 from the free throw line. The senior from Champaign, Ill. Pulled down a team-high six rebounds and dished out three assists. James netted a season-high 26 points on 9-of-17 accuracy from the field and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Freshman guard Myles Jenkins added 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Preseason All-SAC selection Kenny Dye led five Royals in double figures with 19 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
James scored eight of the Trojans' first 10 points, capping the opening five minutes with an old-fashioned three-point play that knotted the score already for the third time, at 10-10.
With both teams shooting better than 50 percent from the field, neither squad could gain much of an upper hand until Queens used a 9-2 spurt to gain a 31-23 advantage with 5:32 left in the opening frame.
But the Trojans, led by Nottingham's seven points and James' four points, answered by closing out the half with a 14-4 scoring outburst inside the final five minutes and took a 37-35 lead into halftime.
Second Half
AU carried the momentum into the second stanza and claimed its largest lead of the game, at 41-35, behind back-to-back baskets from James and Nottingham.
The final 16 minutes saw eight more deadlocked scores with neither team able to build more than a two-possession lead until the Royals snapped a 74-74 tie with back-to-back traditional three-point plays in a 52-second span.
Nottingham pulled the Trojans within 80-77 at the 33 second mark with his fourth trey of the game, but forced to foul, AU sent the Royals to the free throw line. Queens, which was just 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the charity stripe through the first 39+ minutes of the contest, connected on all six free throws inside the final 28.9 seconds to seal the win.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Queens outscored the Trojans, 22-0, in second-chance points.
NOTABLES
• AU was squaring off against its third nationally-ranked team in 12 days,
• Queens holds a 36-10 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Royals edged AU, 30-28, in the rebounding battle.
• Just three days after setting a school-record in field goal accuracy, the Trojans stayed hot, connecting on 27-of-50 (54.0%) field goal attempts and were a season-best 85.0% (17-of-20) from the charity stripe.
UP NEXT
The Trojans will open their first two-game SAC road trip of the season by visiting Newberry, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off vs. the Wolves at Eleazer Arena is scheduled for 4 p.m.
