Courtesy of SaintPetersPeacocks.com
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – With 6:49 on the clock in the second half, senior guard Trevis Wyche (Neptune, NJ/Saint Peter’s Prep) knocked in the first of two free throws to notch his 1,000th career point. Wyche led all scorers with 20 points in a 71-65 win over hOURglass rival, Rider on Sunday afternoon. The Peacocks got back-to-back conference wins for the first time in the season and improve to 4-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and 8-8 overall.
“It was a game of runs,” said head coach John Dunne. “I thought we stretched the lead in the first half, when we were playing really solid offensively and really good defensively. They amped up their pressure and we had some bad turnovers that got them going a little bit, but we still felt good being up eight on the road at the half.”
In the early goings, the Peacocks and Broncs exchanged baskets and found themselves tied up at 6-6. Back-to-back steals by Wyche broke the early tie, as he converted on a fastbreak layup and then found Nick Griffin (Rockville, MD/Col. Zadok Magruder (George Washington)) for the fastbreak three, giving the Peacocks their first lead of the evening and extending it to 11-6. The Peacocks would not surrender the lead for the rest of the day. Wyche forced four steals which led to seven Peacock points just under four minutes into the game. Each team exchanged more blows heading to the second break with the Peacocks leading 14-10 after Samuel Idowu (Brooklyn, NY/Lafayette Educational Complex) added a three-pointer off of the bench. Seniors Cavon Baker (Queens, NY/New Hope Academy [Md.] (Houston)) and Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, PA/Math, Civics and Science Charter) combined to score the next 10 Peacocks points, to extend to the teams largest lead at the point of 24-16 (7:03). Baker scored six points while Welton scored four points. The Peacocks lead grew to double figures for the first time with a 7-0 run, that started when Idowu drained a deep three on a pick and pop, and Wyche quickly followed with a layup to push the lead to 35-23 with 3:27 left before break. Idowu added two more tallies to help grow the lead to 37-23, and give Saint Peter’s its largest lead of the day at 14 points. Rider closed out the half on a 10-4 run to close the gap to eight points at the break (41-33). The Peacocks shot 65.2 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from three-point range in the first half.
“In the second half, again I thought we were in control; we did a great job,” added Dunne. “Once they amped up their pressure again, we kind of got on our heels again do to their pressure, and we have to fix that on our end. But listen, we are on the road against a really good opponent and we got the win, and it wasn’t pretty down the stretch, but we got it done.”
The teams exchanged made baskets in the early goings of the second half keeping the lead at a stalemate until back-to-back three-point field goals by Patterson and Wyche put the Peacocks back up by double figures (50-39). The two rivals again went bucket for bucket over the next three minutes as both teams’ added four points (two free throws by Patterson and a layup by Taylor) by the next stoppage, with the Peacocks up 54-43 (11:54). With 6:16 to go, the Peacocks held a 64-53 lead after Wyche nailed two free throws. Over the next five plus minutes, Rider outscored Saint Peter’s 10-0, to pull to a single point, at 64-63 with 47 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, Wyche was sent to the free throw line where he hit both free bees, to extend the Peacock lead to 66-63, and on the ensuing inbound by Rider, Patterson made a sneaky steal which led to Rider fouling him on the fastbreak layup attempt. Patterson drained both charity stripe shots, extending the lead to five points. The Broncs quickly scored a layup to cut it back to a one-possession game and quickly fouled Wyche where he hit the front end of the two free throws, making it a 69-65 game with just 19 ticks left. Rider’s late three-point attempt failed, and Patterson added two more free throws after being fouled to seal the, 71-65 victory for Saint Peter’s.
For the second straight game, four Peacocks scored in double figures as Patterson scored 13 points, and Baker and Welton each added 10 points in addition to Wyche’s 20. Wyche also made a career-high five steals, and added three assists in the win, while Welton recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. The Peacocks led for over 35 minutes in the game and scored 20 points off of 16 Rider turnovers.
Rider had three players score in double figures led by Stevie Jordan’s 19 points. Jimmie Taylor added 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Kahlil Thomas scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Peacocks continue their road trip on Tuesday, January 17 in Bridgeport, CT when the squad takes on Fairfield at 7:00p.m.
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