Knights start hot, fizzle in 2nd half in loss against Union

LAURINBURG — The recent home stretch for the St. Andrews men’s basketball team has seen the Knights play some of their best basketball of the season, including an upset win in overtime against Reinhardt on Feb. 10.

While that momentum carried into the last game on Harris Court this season against the Union Bulldogs Saturday — despite St. Andrews’ leading scorer who’s played at least 15 games, Jalen Mcafee-Marion (15.1 points this season), out with a sprained wrist he sustained against Reinhardt — the Knights stumbled in the second half and fell 98-74.

”These games are always hard,” St. Andrews coach Randy Hernandez said. “Union’s a great team. The difference is that emotions are high; senior night, everybody wants to be a superhero. And unfortunately, that hurt us the second half.”

St. Andrews (5-19, 3-19 Appalachian Athletic Conference) shot just 13 of 39 (33.3%) and 5-for-12 (41.7%) from the free-throw line in the second half after shooting 17 of 35 (48.6%) from the field and 6-for-8 (75.0%) from the foul stripe in the first.

After St. Andrews was down 45-42 at halftime, almost a minute and a half after the second half began, a layup from Allan Taylor helped the Knights make the scoring margin closer at 49-48 while still trailing; the Bulldogs went on a stretch where they outscored the Knights 16-4 to take a 65-52 lead with 15:53 left. Union (20-6, 19-3 AAC) continued to expand its advantage, going up 82-61 with 8:06 remaining after a Markelo Sullivan layup. After St. Andrews’ deficit went to 90-68, the Knights scored five straight points with two layups and a Karldon Kelley-Williams made free throw; Kelley-Williams added another foul shot with 2:23 to go to make it 93-74, and the Knights allowed five more points before the final.

Union’s Terrin Hamilton scored 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting (5-for-8 from 3) with three rebounds; Sullivan missed one of his seven shot attempts and scored 15 points with seven rebounds; Will Bailey also had 15 points, along with six rebounds, four assists and two steals and Markelle Turner had 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Garrett McRae led the Knights in scoring with 25 points and had three assists; Sincere Clark had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds; Taylor finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks; Quwan Barnes scored 10 points with four rebounds and four assists and Caleb Brown came off the bench and added four rebounds and four assists.

Before tipoff, St. Andrews’ men’s basketball seniors were recognized — Laurinburg native McRae, Barnes, Taylor and Kelley-Williams.

Hernandez said they’ve all been important to his program — along with his other 28 players, which include those on the developmental team.

“From number zero to number 32, they’re all special,” Hernandez said. “There’s no difference for me. Parents sometimes want to visualize about how the outcome is going to be. My job is to make them good mentors. Sometimes, we forget why certain kids choose a university, and that’s the outcome. My job is to make them grow; the hardship makes you grow. So, as any other coach, we want to win first, but we also want to be good mentors to our kids. That’s what matters to me. Obviously, I want to win. But I think we lose the focus of that sometimes, as a human being. Me and Coach (Randall) Johnson; we are human. And sometimes, when you think you’re not affecting us or the team, you actually are.”

Clark and Kelley-Williams scored the opening 10 points for St. Andrews for a four-point lead before a 14-2 Union run made it 20-12 at the 12:10 mark of the first half. The Knights responded with a 10-1 run to take back the lead at 22-21, and three lead changes ensued, with Turner’s 3 ballooning Union’s lead to 31-26. With 2:34 left in the half, St. Andrews knotted it up at 34-34 after Taylor connected on a jump shot, but Union went back up 45-40; Clark’s layup with 21 seconds remaining set the halftime score at 45-42.

St. Andrews closes its season at Truett McConnell on Wednesday and Milligan on Feb. 24.

Brandon Hodge is the sports editor for The Laurinburg Exchange. He can be reached at 910-506-3171 or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BrandonHSports.