St. Vincent downs NC Wesleyan in Taylor Championship, 96-87

Rocky Mount, NC - In a battle of unbeatens, the Bearcats of St. Vincent College captured the 2008 Roger Taylor Invitational Championship on Saturday afternoon, downing host North Carolina Wesleyan by a 96-87 score in Everett Gymnasium. SVC got 28 points from tourney Most Valuable Player Joey Butler to move to 6-0 on the season, while the 24th-ranked Battling Bishops are now 8-1 overall.  In the consolation game, York College (NY) turned in a 67-53 victory over Lancaster Bible College.

On Saturday, the Bearcats opened up the contest with a 15-3 run over the first five minutes of play.  A Lamont Stokes three-pointer at the 14:37 mark cut the lead to nine, but SVC proceeded to scored the game's next eight points for a 23-6 advantage with 11:22 remaining in the period.  The two squads played fairly even for the remainder of the half with the Bearcats holding a 41-28 advantage at the break.

In the second half, two quick threes by Jarmel Arrington sandwiched an SVC bucket to cut the lead to nine at 43-34 less than two minutes in.  Unfortunately, the Bearcats were able to pull off another crucial run, this time out-scoring the Bishops 17-5 over a five-minute span to go up 22.

Sparked by the bench play of Domarius Thomas and Buddy Williams, however, Wesleyan made a game of it down the stretch.  A Williams free throw at the 8:43 mark made the score 64-53, capping a 15-4 NCWC run.  The Bearcats maintained their double-digit lead over the next five minutes, but a Thomas lay-up followed by an Arrington three-pointer cut the lead to just seven at 78-71 with 2:43 remaining.

The two teams battled back and forth over the next two minutes until another Arrington three with 24 seconds remaining pulled the Bishops to within six at 93-87. SVC missed two free throws on its ensuing possession, but a key offensive rebound off the second miss proved to be critical as the Bearcats went on to knock down 3-of-4 attempts at the charity stripe the rest of the way.

In addition to Butler's performance, Mike Medved and Billy Bains turned in 19 and 15 points for St. Vincent, respectively, en route to All-Tournament honors.  Medved also had a game-high 11 rebounds to complete the double-double.

For the Bishops, Arrington and Trey Drake each netted 21 points.  Thomas finished with 15 points and eight boards to pick up his first All-Tournament award, and Williams joined him after recording 10 points and five rebounds.

Rounding out the All-Tournament team was York's Marcel Esonwune, who had 16 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks in the Cardinals consolation win over the Chargers.

On Friday, St. Vincent advanced with a 82-66 win over York, while Wesleyan advanced with a 81-58 victory over LBC.  Butler had 26 to pace the Bearcats, while Thomas had 16 to lead the Bishops.

Wesleyan will return to action next Saturday at Virginia Wesleyan College. Game time is slated for 3:00 p.m. in Virginia Beach, VA.
 

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