MONTREAT, N.C.— With sole possession of second place in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) standings on the line late in the regular season, the Montreat men's basketball team played host to the Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs Saturday afternoon. In a tight battle down to the final whistle, the Bulldogs came away with an 85-79 victory, dropping the Cavaliers record to 15-10 (13-9 AAC).
 
Montreat played the aggressor right out of the gate as the hosts grabbed the opening tipoff and scored on their first three possessions. Jarden Maze finished at the rack eight seconds into the game, Elochukwu Eze slammed home a feed from Tyler Rodrigue and Maze drilled a 3-pointer to put the Cavaliers ahead 7-3 after 92 seconds of action. The Cavaliers ultimately hit six of their initial nine shot attempts, building a 14-8 lead 4:22 into the contest.
 
Tennessee Wesleyan (15-8, 14-8 AAC) took its turn at a hot-shooting stretch midway through the half. Behind a 6-for-8 shooting span, the Bulldogs surged in front of the Cavaliers, capped off by a 15-3 run over 2:40 that saw the visitors move ahead of the hosts, 29-21.
 
Rodrigue and Maze brought the Cavs right back with an 8-0 spurt to tie the ballgame at 29. The duo knocked down a pair of shots from beyond the arc, and Rodrigue jumped a passing lane and took the ball all the way to the rim for an easy layup.
 
Montreat's 8-0 run started a sequence of four ties, with both teams finding themselves level on the scoreboard at 29, 31, 33 and 35. Ultimately, TWU's ninth 3-point basket of the half (9-16 3-pt FG; 56.3 percent) gave the Bulldogs a 44-43 lead at the intermission.
 
Montreat (15-31 FG; 48.4 percent) and Tennessee Wesleyan (15-33 FG; 45.5 percent) hit the same number of field goals and free throws (5) in the first half, while the visitors made one more 3-pointer than their counterparts as the Cavaliers shot 8-for-20 (40.0 percent) from deep. Maze and Rodrigue both paced the Cavs with 12 points in the half, and Michael Erbeck had a team-high three boards. The Cavaliers assisted on 11 of their 15 made shots, led by Maze's three dimes.
 
The Bulldogs began the second half on an 8-0 run, grabbing a 52-43 lead, their largest of the game to that point; however, seven straight points off the left hand of Rodrigue paired with baskets from Darius Bryant and Maze sparked an 11-2 run over 2:16 that saw Montreat level the score, 54-54, less than five minutes into the frame. The Cavaliers made five of their seven looks from the floor during the 11-2 span.
 
It turned out that TWU's lead only vanished momentarily. A 6-0 Bulldog run put the away side up by six points (60-54) with 11:09 left in regulation, and they led for the remainder of the game. Gabriel Rivera and Maze trimmed the Montreat deficit to 62-60 67 seconds later, but Tennessee Wesleyan got hot from the floor and started to pull away. The Bulldogs took their first double-digit lead of the game thanks to a 7-for-9 shooting stretch, which pushed their advantage to 77-67 with under five minutes to go.
 
Eze sparked a 7-0 Cavalier run with a pair of second-chance baskets, and Maze knocked down a triple to whittle the gap down to three points (77-74) with 1:48 left; however, a layup coupled with six free throws during the final 66 seconds of regulation helped TWU snatch a massive 85-79 win inside McAlister Gym.
 
"It was a tough loss tonight," said head coach Anthony Barringer. "On the heels of playing what I felt was the most complete game we've played all year, I felt like we were a step slow on everything defensively tonight."
 
Montreat shot 49.2 percent (30-61 FG) on the night, slightly better than Tennessee Wesleyan's 46.2-percent clip (30-65 FG). The Bulldogs, however, did narrowly outshoot the Cavaliers from behind the arc (37.9 percent to 37.1 percent) and at the free-throw line (77.8 percent to 75.0 percent). Powered by a 16-8 turnover advantage, TWU finished the night with a 22-10 edge in points off turnovers.
 
"Prior to the game, we stressed taking care of the ball, and we didn't do that," Barringer added. "It's hard to win when you gift the other team 22 points off your turnovers. You tip your cap to Tennessee Wesleyan—they played hard, they made shots and ultimately, they were the better team tonight."
 
Maze led the Cavs in scoring for the fourth consecutive game by pouring in 20 points against the Bulldogs. Rodrigue finished just behind Maze with 19 points and Bryant added 11. A trio of Cavaliers finished the night with five rebounds and four Cavs notched a trio of assists each. Eze paced all players with three blocks.
 
The Montreat men's basketball team begins its final week of the 2022-23 regular season with a Tuesday-night AAC road matchup versus the St. Andrews University Knights. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Laurinburg, N.C.