The victory ends a five-game losing streak for Methodist, now 5-14 overall and 3-4 in the USA South. In addition, Monarch head coach David Smith is now one victory away from reaching the 100th of his career.
Like previous games, Methodist appeared to have the game in hand with a 47-33 lead with 13:56 remaining. But Greensboro battled back with a 12-0 as James Newman and Justin Battle each scored on lay-ups. Steve Berg’s 3-point basket with 9:07 remaining cut the Methodist lead to 47-45.
Three times, Methodist increased the lead to four points as Seth Thomas scored twice on jump shots in the lane. But Greensboro answered again as Newman’s 3-point basket trimmed the Monarch lead to 57-56 with 4:28 remaining. Newman then tied the game at 61-61 with a bank shot 3-point basket with 1:45 remaining.
After Methodist took a two-point lead, Berg gave the Pride its first lead since the first half with a 3-point basket at the one-minute mark. Following a Monarch miss, Berg was fouled and went to the line for two shots with 34 seconds remaining. He made his first free throw, but missed the second, giving Methodist new life.
The Monarchs’ Antwin Shuford was fouled with nine seconds remaining and went to the line for the one-and-one. Shuford made the first shot, trimming the Pride lead to 65-64. Shuford missed the second shot, but Thomas was there for the offensive rebound. He promptly fed Lee on the wing for the game-winner.
Greensboro had a final shot for the victory, but Newman’s 3-point attempt was off at the buzzer.
Thomas paced Methodist with 14 points, followed by Lee with 13 points. Dragan Radmanovic scored 11 points and Shuford scored 10 points for the Monarchs. For Greensboro (7-11, 3-4), Berg scored 15 points and Newman scored 13 points.
Methodist aims to give Smith his milestone victory on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Ferrum.
METHODIST 67, GREENSBORO 65 GREENSBORO (7-11, 3-4) BERG, Steve 4-10 3-4 15; NEWMAN, James 5-14 1-2 13; HOLLOWAY, Brian 4-8 0-0 8; McDUFFIE, Michael 3-12 1-3 7; BATTLE, Justin 3-5 0-0 6; WATSON, Lamont 2-2 2-2 6; GREENE, George 2-4 0-0 4; TAMINI, Theophile 2-3 0-0 4; CAMP, Bryant 1-3 0-0 2; PARKER, Dontez 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 7-11 65. METHODIST (5-14, 3-4) THOMAS, Seth 6-11 1-1 14; LEE, Robert 5-10 2-2 13; RADMANOVIC, Dragan 5-10 0-0 11; SHUFORD, Antwin 3-7 4-6 10; GRANT, Eugene 4-11 1-2 9; MCBRYDE, Travis 2-3 0-0 4; MCEVOY, Michael 1-1 0-0 3; JONES, Marchise 1-1 1-1 3; MOORE, Craig 0-0 0-2 0; WILLIAMS, Brandon 0-0 0-0 0; MCDONALD, Fred 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 9-14 67. Greensboro.................... 28 37 - 65 Methodist..................... 29 38 - 67 3-point goals-Greensboro 6-21 (BERG, Steve 4-8; NEWMAN, James 2-8; McDUFFIE, Michael 0-4; GREENE, George 0-1), Methodist 4-15 (RADMANOVIC, Dragan 1-3; MCEVOY, Michael 1-1; THOMAS, Seth 1-4; LEE, Robert 1-2; MCDONALD, Fred 0-2; GRANT, Eugene 0-3). Fouled out--Greensboro-WATSON, Lamont, Methodist-None. Rebounds-Greensboro 41 (HOLLOWAY, Brian 11), Methodist 32 (SHUFORD, Antwin 8). Assists-Greensboro 14 (McDUFFIE, Michael 4; GREENE, George 4), Methodist 17 (GRANT, Eugene 6). Total fouls-Greensboro 13, Methodist 13. A-476