KNOXVILLE, Tenn.— Playing Tuesday evening in its final contest prior to Thanksgiving, the Montreat men's basketball team traveled west to Knoxville, Tenn. for an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) battle versus the Johnson University Royals. Starting off and remaining scorching hot from the field, the hosts sprinted out to a large lead before ultimately downing the Cavaliers by a 102-77 scoreline. With the defeat, Montreat fell to 7-4 (2-3 AAC) on the year.
Johnson (7-1, 4-0 AAC) looked unstoppable in the early going, making 11 of its initial 14 shot attempts (78.6 percent) to lead 26-11 merely 6:27 into the matchup. The Royals extended their edge out to 32-13 by the midpoint of the opening half.
AJ Baskerville poured in 10 of the Cavs' first 13 points to power the visiting offense.
Riding the momentum, JU grew its lead to as large as 23 points on two separate occasions during the first half.
Jack Keller added a basket just before the halftime buzzer sounded, but Montreat still trailed the hosts by 20 (52-32) at the intermission.
The Cavaliers began the second half on the right foot, with Baskerville adding a trio of buckets and
Lawrence Cole notching two points of his own to trim the gap down to 54-40 just 3:01 into the frame; however, the Royals responded over the ensuing five minutes with a 16-4 spurt that nearly put the game away, 70-44.
Johnson expanded its advantage up to as large as 27 points twice on the night, and the Royals saw out a 102-77 AAC win in their home gym.
"The better team won," said head coach
Anthony Barringer. "Tonight, they were better than us from wire to wire, and the results showed. This break will be good for us. We should get a few guys back from injuries and get some of our high-minutes guys rest."
Baskerville led all scorers with a career-best 24 points. Keller contributed 12 points in the defeat, while Cole achieved a career high as well with 10 points. Baskerville also pulled down a team-best six boards.
RJ Manginello paced the squad with six assists.
The Cavs shot an efficient 47.1 percent (32-68 FG) from the field and 33.3 percent (8-24 3-pt FG) from beyond the arc, but they couldn't match the sharpshooting Royals. JU connected on 39 of its 68 (57.4 percent) shot attempts and 10 of its 22 (45.5 percent) tries from deep. Johnson also went 14-for-17 (82.4 percent) at the free-throw line. Never trailing, the hosts won the rebounding battle (43-26) while accumulating more points in the paint (46-40), points off turnovers (19-14) and second chance points (16-9).
Montreat returns to action on Dec. 4 when it hosts St. Andrews University in a conference clash at Kimmel Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Asheville, N.C.
