FERRUM, VA – The William Peace men's basketball team trailed Ferrum by 16 points with 8:56 to play, but the Pacers stormed all the way back to win in dramatic fashion, 66-64, extending their win streak to four.
WPU has already equaled last year's win total, improving their overall record to 9-9 with seven regular season games to go. Most importantly, the Pacers are third in the USA South at 5-2 and only a half game out of first place. They also had to play without their leading rebounder and third leading scorer.
Ryan Emfinger drained one from downtown to give WPU a one point edge (15-14) midway through the first, but the Panthers (7-12, 2-6 USAS) went up by 10 (27-17) at the 6:54 mark, converting a set of old fashioned three-point plays which highlighted an ensuing 13-2 run.
Jalen Vince and Nate Strother combined to go 5-of-11 (45%) from the field and 6-of-7 (86%) from the free-throw line, but everyone else went 4-of-19 (21%) for a 30% clip as a team. Vince scored eight points early on, and Strother scored WPU's final nine points of the half, as the Pacers went into the break down eight (34-26).
"We didn't play well in the first half. We played hard and were trying to do the right things, but we just couldn't get things going," said head coach Claude Shields. "It was the resilience to not give up and keep playing no matter what the score was that gave us a chance to come back and eventually win the game."
The Panthers opened the second half on a 6-0 spurt and went ahead by as many as 16 (57-41) with just less than nine minutes to play. But after they erased a 19 point deficit only to lose on a buzzer beater last year at Ferrum, the Pacers weren't going down without a fight. Shawn Shaffer scored 18 second half points to lead the charge, 11 of which came during a 17-2 run that brought WPU back to within two (59-57) at the 2:51 mark.
Jamal Pullen put the Panthers up four (61-57) with a pair of free-throws, but Emfinger cut it to one with a clutch three, and then Strother tied things up hitting his first of two free-throws with 1:28 on the clock. He missed the second, but Vince grabbed the offensive board and eventually put the Pacers on top, 63-61, with 1:06 to go. Strother had his three-pointer swatted, but Ferrum couldn't corral the rebound, and the ball took a WPU bounce to Vince for a wide-open layup.
With 13 seconds left, Vince gave the Pacers a three point cushion after his first free-throw rimmed out. Tyler Mann nailed an improbable shot from well beyond the arc to knot things up with only a few ticks remaining, but in the midst of their celebration, Strother took it coast-to-coast, drew a foul to get to the line and sunk them both.
"We had a good talk at half. We always talked about how we've been here in these situations before, and specifically here in Ferrum's gym" Shields said. "They never wavered once we made a couple scoring plays in a row. We were able to press, and then falling back into a zone really helped us."
WPU finished the game shooting 41% (23-of-56) from the field and only went 4-of-15 (26.7%) from long-distance, their lowest output from the bonusphere all year. Ferrum went 24-of-43 (55.8%) from the field, but the Pacers scored 25 points off their 19 turnovers and were particularly tough in the latter parts of the second half. WPU also took advantage of the charity stripe with a 16-of-20 (80%) from the line, while the Panthers went 12-of-21 (57%)
"Overall, it was a good defensive effort on a night that we didn't shoot it very," Shields said. "They shot 55%, but we got more shot attempts because we turned them over quite a bit, and especially in the second half. When they started missing shots, it allowed us to get out and run and we're better in that type of game."
Shaffer finished with a game high 22 points to go along with five rebounds, an assist and a steal. Vince had 15 points, four rebounds, an assist and three steals. Strother had 13 points, an assist, and three steals.
Pulled led the Panthers with 17 points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal. DJ Christian added 11 points and seven rebounds.
"It was an exciting win, but we have three big ones this week all at home, all against teams at the top of the conference," Shields added. "It will be fun to play in those big-time games at home and it's a neat thing for our program, so hopefully we can continue to play with a lot of confidence"
The Pacers return to action this Wednesday on their home court for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against NC Wesleyan.
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