It was the fourth straight victory for Methodist, which is now 8-7 overall and 4-1 in the USA South. It was also the first road victory of the season for the Monarchs. Methodist is tied for second place in the USA South with Christopher Newport, and both teams trail front-runner Greensboro by a half a game.
Methodist turned up the defensive intensity in the second half. Trailing 30-26 at halftime, the Monarchs limited North Carolina Wesleyan to 28 percent shooting from the field, including only 18 percent from 3-point range. Methodist, meanwhile, shot an impressive 55 percent (16-for-29) from the field in the second half, and 77 percent (13-for-17) from the free throw line.
Sam Porter spearheaded the second half Methodist surge. After being limited to two points in the second half, the junior forward erupted for 17 second half points to finish with 19 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Porter scored the Monarchs’ first seven points of the second half, trimming the Bishop lead to 36-33 at the 15:25 mark. After a Ryan Sinclair jump shot gave North Carolina Wesleyan 38-25 lead, Methodist took control of the game with a 13-0 run over a five-minute span to lead 48-38.
The Bishops trimmed the deficit to six points, 48-42 on a Keith Sudler jump shot, but that was as close as North Carolina Wesleyan would get. Methodist responded with consecutive jump shots by Arthur Hatch, Eddie Lamar and Seth Thomas to take a 54-42 lead with 7:25 remaining.
The Monarchs then hit 12 free throws down the stretch, including the last seven points of the game.
In addition to Porter, Eugene Grant scored 18 points for Methodist, while Thomas and Hatch each added 10 points. Donta Jenkins paced North Carolina Wesleyan (9-7, 2-3) with 12 points and Bobby Jenkins scored 11 points. The Monarchs did a superb defensive job on the Bishops’ deadly scoring combination of Sudler and Bradley Blue. Sudler managed only nine points and Blue only eight points.
Methodist plays a key USA South showdown game on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Christopher Newport.