Wildcats Fight till the End
Charlotte, NC – Johnson & Wales (4-13) hosted the Eagles of Toccoa Falls College (2-13) in their first game of the New Year. The Wildcats took an early lead before falling behind early in the second half. JWU overcame a 9 point deficit with three minutes remaining to pull out a 64-61 win.
A 3-pointer by Jay Keller opened the scoring for the Wildcats as they would go on to take a 19-4 lead over TFC in the first five minutes. The Eagles would chip away at the Wildcat lead for the rest of the half, getting within two points at the 1:30 mark. JWU led the game 34-30 going into halftime.
The second half would prove to be the tougher half for the Wildcats, as the Eagles opened the half with back to back 3-pointers by Josh Barrett that gave TFC their first lead at 36-34. The teams would trade the lead back and forth over much of the next ten minutes. TFC's Freddie Harrell and Derek Westfall combined to score 10 straight points over a seven minute span that took the Eagles from down one to up nine points at 58-49. The Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure, forcing turnovers and missed shots from the Eagles on the next several trips. JWU would convert those into points on 5 consecutive trips, capped by Mario Irby's turn around jumper that gave the Wildcats a 62-60 lead with 57 seconds left. Michael Daniel would convert 2 free throws to extend the JWU lead to 3, and TFC's Freddie Harrell would miss each of his 3 free throws after he was fouled shooting a 3 pointer in the final seconds.
The Wildcats were led by Kindrick Anderson with 13 points, followed by Joshua Cohen with 9. Michael Daniel and Omar Nuboer added 8 points each. Mario Irby collected 10 rebounds to go with his 8 points as well.
The Wildcats are next in action this Saturday, December 12th as they travel to Elizabeth City to take on Mid-Atlantic Christian University. Tip-off is set for 4pm.
