BARBOURVILLE, Ky.— Montreat College's men's basketball program went on the road to play the Union Commonwealth University Bulldogs in the first Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) matchup for the Cavaliers Wednesday night. The Cavs lost by the slimmest of margins, 82-81. With the loss, Montreat moved to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference. The Bulldogs improved to 2-2 overall, as well as 1-0 in the AAC.
Lawrence Cole got in the scoring column first among all players with a layup, but the Bulldogs responded quickly with one of their eight first-half 3-pointers, taking a lead they never gave up.
RJ Manginello made significant contributions, including multiple trifectas of his own. Each team went on many short runs in the frame, but Union maintained control throughout the period. A 7-0 spurt for the Cavaliers with 5:39 left in the half helped cut into the hosts' lead. The period concluded with a 6-0 Montreat run, with Manginello and
Aden Taylor knocking down shots from behind the arc to go into halftime down 42–35.
After the intermission, the Cavs started chipping away at UCU's lead. Following a brief scoring exchange,
Owen Stewart made important plays, including a tip-in and a defensive rebound, keeping the Cavaliers within striking distance. As the half advanced, Montreat found momentum through effective free-throw shooting by Manginello and a nice 3-pointer from
Owen Galeota, narrowing the gap to 14 points with 8:35 remaining in the game. Despite falling behind by as many as 17 points in the second half, the visitors capitalized on turnovers and maintained pressure through fast breaks. With six minutes left in the contest, the Cavs went on an 18-4 run, and Stewart converted a clutch triple to cut the Union lead to just one possession, 78-76.
UCU was able to get multiple stops down the stretch and put the game out of reach with a free throw that expanded its lead to four points. That made foul shot proved to be important as Stewart nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just one at the horn. Union Commonwealth held on to triumph 82-81 over the Cavs.
Manginello stood out and led the team with 27 points, converting a season-high four 3-pointers and going 9-for-10 on his tries at the charity stripe. The Houston, Texas native shot 50.0 percent from the floor. Stewart contributed with 16 points and 10 rebounds, collecting his first double-double when sporting a Montreat uniform. Taylor scored 11 points and led the squad with two blocks.
Caleb Moore added eight points from the bench and recorded a team-high four steals.
"It's hard to win games when you start slow, especially on the road," said head coach
Anthony Barringer. "Tip your cap to Union. They brought the fight, and we didn't match it until the under-five-minute media timeout in the second half."
Defensively, the Cavs forced 20 turnovers and recorded 13 steals. UCU caused 15 turnovers and secured 11 steals of its own. Montreat shot 26-of-71 from the floor, good for a 36.6 percent clip. The visitors made 30.0 percent of their triples (9-30 3-pt FG) and 76.9 percent of their free throws (20-26 FT). Despite the loss, the Cavaliers had more points from turnovers (19-17), second chance points (17-10), fast break points (10-2) and points in the paint (34-24) than the Bulldogs. The difference for Union came in its 3-point baskets as it shot 46.4 percent from downtown (13-28 3-pt FG). Each squad totaled 23 bench points during the 40-minute conference battle.
Looking ahead, Montreat will welcome the (RV) Georgia Gwinnett College Grizzlies to the McAlister Gymnasium in their next contest. The nonconference game will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m.
