Skyhawks advance in AAC tournament after big road win

BLUEFIELD, Va. (Feb. 21, 2022) – The Point University men's basketball team traveled to face Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Bluefield University in the opening round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Monday evening, and defeated the Rams 76-64, earning their first postseason victory since 2014. 

Point struck first with a three pointer from RJ Selman to spark a 14-5 run for the Skyhawks within the first six minutes of action. They continued to assert their dominance early by extending their lead to 11 points off a monstrous dunk by Javier Turner to give Point a 20-9 lead with 8:59 left in the first half; this would be the largest lead of the half for the Skyhawks. In a back-and-forth battle, Bluefield would fight to keep the contest close for the remainder of the half going into halftime with a score of 37-29.

Out of the break, the Skyhawks opened the second half on a 7-2 run ignited by a triple from Selman, a dunk from Corey Bowen and a layup from Jake Smith. This run extended Point to their largest lead of 13 points (44-31). The Skyhawks maintained their double-digit lead for most of the second half until two made threes by Bluefield's Jeremiah Jenkins would cuts Point's lead to just four points with 8:34 left in the game. Bluefield managed to keep the game close over the next three minutes of play, but a jump shot from  Lorenzo Freeman Jr. would spark a hot streak for himself as Freeman would go on to score the next 9- of-10 points for the Skyhawks. From here Point would go on to regain their double-digit lead, 73-63, off another made triple from Selman and two made free-throws from Freeman with two minutes left in the game which led the Skyhawks to victory.

In the box

Freeman lead all scorers with 29 points shooting 12-for-21 from the field and adding eight rebounds to his stat line. Selman followed behind with 18 points shooting 6-for-8 from the field and 4-for-6 from behind the arc, and  also grabbed seven rebounds. Bowen rounded off the double-digit scoring for the Skyhawks and nearly clinching a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Jake Smith ended with a game high of nine assist also adding six rebounds to go along with his performance.

With Monday's victory, Point advances to 16-15. 

Point will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 24, as they travel to Kingsport, Tenn., to face the No.1 seed, Union College, in the quarterfinal round of the AAC Tournament. Game time is scheduled for 10:15 a.m.