Arrington's 29 lifts Wesleyan to season-opening 114-102 win

Rocky Mount, NC - In Sunday afternoon's basketball home opener, junior Jarmel Arrington (pictured) scored 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including six three-pointers, to lift his North Carolina Wesleyan squad to an impressive 114-102 victory over Wesley College in Everett Gymnasium.  The Battling Bishops raced out to a 68-32 lead at the break after shooting 66 percent from the floor and did not look back en route to the season-opening victory.

The Wolverines hung with the Bishops over the first five minutes of the contest and trailed just 16-11 with 14:29 remaining. NCWC, however, went on a 15-0 run over the next three minutes to go up 20 at 31-11.

Up 39-20 with 8:39 left in the half, the Bishops put together another significant run, this time out-scoring the Wolverines 25-7 to take their biggest lead of the game at 64-27.

In the second half, head coach John Thompson was able to go deep into his bench and grab some much-needed game experience for his first-year players. Wesley managed to put together a late run of its own to close the gap significantly, but the Wolverines were unable to overcome the Bishops' first half dominance.

In addition to Arrington's performance, junior Trey Drake chipped in 14 points and dished out seven assists. Freshman Domarius Thomas and junior Lamont Stokes rounded out NCWC's double-figure scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively, while freshman Alex Murray grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

For Wesley, Rashawn Johnson poured in game-high 35 points on 14-of-28 shooting.

Wesleyan returns to action on Monday night at Roanoke Bible College. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Elizabeth City.