Skyhawks ring in new year with AAC victory over Bluefield
BLUEFIELD, Va (Jan. 3, 2023) – The Point University men's basketball team returned to action Tuesday afternoon for their AAC conference away contest against Bluefield and came out victorious 69-59.
The Skyhawks would win the tip-off and get the scoring started from Benjamin Ross when he would get his layup from the right side to go and give the Skyhawks an early lead. The Rams would hit a three-pointer on their first possession to make it a 3-2 contest. Justice Hayes would get a defensive rebound and Jake Smith would get a layup to give the Skyhawks the lead at 6-3. The Rams would find a way back on a three-pointer to tie the game at 12-12 at the 12:18 mark. Justice Hayes would draw the blocking foul at the 7:48 mark. Hayes would connect on 1 of 2 of his free throws to give the Skyhawks a 17-16 lead. After a 6-0 run from the Rams to give them a 23-17 lead at the 6:06 mark, the Skyhawks would than take a timeout. The big man, Javier Turner would get fouled while shooting and make both of his foul shots to make it 23-19 with 4:33 left to play in the first half. Theron Montgomery would get a defensive rebound and push the ball up the court. Jake Smith would find an open Montgomery in the lane for a dunk to make it 26-21. The Skyhawks would end the first half on a 8-0 run. The last basket would come off of a put back from Jake Smith to give the Skyhawks a one-point lead and make the score 27-26 at halftime.
The Rams would start the second half with the basketball and would get a shot to go and give them a 28-27 lead to start the half. Justice Hayes would get fouled at the 18:31 mark and would make both of his free throws to put the Skyhawks back up at 29-28. After Jake Smith cut off a passing lane, he would get his layup to go and make it a three-point lead at 33-30. Jake Gray was found at the top of the three-point arch and would extend the Skyhawks lead to 42-32. Gentrell Taylor went strong up to the basket, got his shot to go and drew the foul. Even though he didn't connect on the old school three-pointer, he made it a ten-point game at 44-34. The Skyhawks would later find RJ Selman wide open for him to knock down a three-pointer to make it 51-36. A no look pass from Jake Smith to a slicing Montgomery for a dunk, would make it 55-39 Skyhawks. With under two minutes remaining, the referee would call a reach in foul off the ball. That foul would send RJ Selman to the line to shoot a one and one. Selman would connect on both and make it a 67-55 game. Gentrell Taylor would make his layup and that would be the last bucket for the Skyhawks. The layup would give Taylor 10 points off the bench in the contest and the Skyhawks a ten-point victory on the road with the 69-59 score.
In the box
Jake Smith would lead all Skyhawks in scoring with his double-double performance with his 12 points and 11 rebounds, while also adding six assists and two steals. The Skyahwks would also have three other players notching double digits with Justice Hayes (10 points), Benjamin Ross (10 points) and Gentrell Taylor would come off the bench to bring home 10 points as well.
The Skyhawks shot 48.1% (26 of 54) from the floor, 23.1% (3 of 13) from three-point land and 73.7% (14 of 19) at the charity stripe.
Up next
The Skyhawks will return to action for a home AAC matchup against Milligan on Saturday, Jan 7, starting at 4:00