MOUNT VERNON, Ohio -- The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College men's basketball team earned a hard fought 73-59 victory over Aquinas (Mich.) on the opening day of the Mount Vernon Nazarene Homecoming Classic on Friday afternoon (Nov. 8).
The Pomeroys improved to 1-2 on the season while Aquinas opened their season with the loss. SMWC will face off against host Mount Vernon Nazarene on Saturday, November 9 at 3 pm (ET) on the final day of the classic.
Greg Jenkins led the way with 22 points points and 10 rebounds to pace the Pomeroys to victory. Jenkins hit 7-of-16 shots from the field and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity striple with four assists, three blocked shots and three steals. He led a group of four Pomeroys into double figures scoring as
Taray Howell posted 14 points off of 5-of-6 shooting while Caleb Ihewuku tallied 12 points and a pair of steals.
Shon Tupuola -- the reigning River States Conference Defensive Player of the Week tallied 10 points and nine rebounds with a steal in the win.
As a team, the Pomeroys connected on 44.2 percent of their shots from the field while limiting Aquinas to just an 18-of-47 mark from the field (38.3 percent). SMWC owned a huge advantage in the paint by a 38-12 margin and converted nine offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points while not allowing any. SMWC also scored six fast break points and converted 16 turnovers into 23 points during the game.
Jenkins scored just over a minute into the game for the 2-0 lead and his dunk with 14:44 remaining in the first half staked SMWC to an 8-7 lead. Aquinas would lead 30-19 wih 3:43 remaining in the first half but Howell got a run going with a 3-pointer and it continued all the way through a pair of Iheukwu charity tosses with 1:12 remaining to cut their lead down to 30-28. The 9-0 run was ended by a pair of Aquinas free throws and the Pomeroys faced a 32-28 deficit at the half.
Trailing by five points early in the second half, the Pomeroys hot a lay-up from
Taeron Hogg and a trifecta from Iheukwu with 13:55 to go to knot the game at 39. The key run in the game came with Aquinas leading 45-41 and back-to-back fast break buckets from Howell around the 10 minute mark knotted the game at 45.
It started a 10-0 run which was capped by a pair of Howell free throws with 7:47 remaining and the Pomeroys led 51-45. SMWC would not trail against but the lead shurnk to 53-52 on a conventional 3-point play with 6:14 to go but SMWC responded with another 10-0 run which was capped by a Tupuola lay-up with just over three minutes to go for the 63-52 lead. Jenkins would hit a pair of free throws with 51 seconds left for the 73-59 victory.
