Strong second half pushes Skyhawks past Johnson (Tenn.)

WEST POINT, Ga. (Nov. 15, 2022) - The Point University men's basketball team returned to action Tuesday evening for their Appalachian Athletic Conference home contest against Johnson (Tenn.) and edged out the win with a 78-69 score.

The Skyhawks got the scoring started by a made jump shot from Jack Gray and Theron Montgomery followed up with a layup after a Royals turnover to start the game at 4-0. The lead was short lived, as the Royals would take over the lead on a layup by Nick Clifton to make it a 6-4 game. After a steal and layup by the Royals, Trey Johnson at the 15:12 mark, would cause the Skyhawks to call a 30 second timeout with the score 11-6 lead by the Royals. Directly after the timeout, Javier Turner would slam the ball home, assist by Jake Smith to cut the lead to 11-8. Moving forward in the second half, the Skyhawks would get a made free throw from RJ Selman and would follow that up two possessions later, with back to back made free throws by Justice Hayes to tie the contest up at 24-24 with four minutes left in the half. After two made baskets by both teams, Jack Gray would make a jump shot, assist by Justice Hayes to take a 30-28 lead for the Skyhawks. The Royals would get a jump shot by Alvaro Mendez to go in, before the end of the half. That shot would send both teams to the locker room with the game all tied up at 30-30.

The Skyhawks started the second half with Jack Gray a three pointer from downtown. The Royals would hold steady, but after a three pointer by Benjamin Ross followed by a steal by Jake Smith with a layup by Benjamin Ross would give the Skyhawks a 42-37 lead. Coming out of the 30 second timeout by Johnson (Tenn.), Jack Gray would get a steal and kick it out to RJ Selman for a three ball to make it 45-37 with 14:19 left. Back to back layups from Theron Montgomery and Jake Smith would push the lead to 51-39. Jake Smith would go to work at the 11:53 mark with 2 made shots in under 30 seconds to push the Skyhawks lead to 57-39. After a 6-2 scoring run by the Royals, Jack Gray would get a mid range jumper to make it 61-45. The Royals would not go away in this contest, as they would go on a 9-0 run to cut the Skyhawk lead to seven points with the score now 61-54 with 7:30 left in the game. After the Royals cut the lead down to five, Jack Gray would find RJ Selman open for the big 3 pointer to make it a 70-62 lead. The Skyhawks would take a full timeout with two minutes left and the score 72-67. Jake Smith would make a layup to extend the lead out to 74-67 and another full timeout to go over their strategy on both sides of the ball at the one-minute mark by the Skyhawks. After the timeout, the Royals would get a quick score to make it 74-69, but that wasn't enough. The Skyhawks would get a bucket by RJ Selman and the exclamation point with a dunk by Javier Turner to secure the victory for the Skyhawks 78-69.

In the box 

RJ Selman lead all Skyhawks in scoring with his 20 points coming off the bench tonight, while also adding four rebounds, three assists, two steals and going 6-7 at the charity stripe. Three Skyhawks also had double digits in the scoring column tonight with, Jake Smith (12 points), Benjamin Ross (11 points), Javier Turner (11 points) and Jack Gray (13 points). The Skyhawks shot 49.2% from the floor, 26.7% from three point land and 83.3% at the charity stripe.

Up next 

The Skyhawks will return to action for a home AAC matchup against Kentucky Christian University on Thursday, Nov. 17, starting at 6:30 P.M.