Charlotte, NC - The Johnson & Wales Charlotte men's basketball team opened their 2024-25 campaign with a 79-66 win over St. Andrews on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats twice built double-digit first half leads only to see the Knights trim the deficit to a single possession each time. Four JWU points in the last thirty seconds of the first half staked them to a 39-32 advantage at the break. Jordan Appling scored 13 of his game high 17 points in the first stanza, including making 3 of 4 three point attempts.

JWU opened the second half on a 7-0 run over the first three minutes of the period to double their advantage. St. Andrews briefly cut the lead to four before the Wildcats regained control of the game. An Ethen Smith three pointer with just over four minutes left gave JWU its largest lead of the game at 75-59.

The Wildcats shot 45.5% from the field, and made 10 of their 20 three point attempts. They outrebounded the Knights 51-32. Nathan Meshida and Jaylen Benson-Hollinhead each scored 14 points, while Benson-Hollinhead also pulled down 17 rebounds. Appling had 7 assists to go along with his 17 points.

JWU travels to Greenville, SC on Saturday, November 9th to take on Bob Jones at 6:00pm.