Written by: Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – There was plenty of scoring to go around the proverbial table a couple of days ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday for the No. 17 nationally-ranked Guilford College men's basketball team, as 20 different Quakers made a trip to the feast and 13 got one-or-more helping in the scoring column, on their way to a 96-63 rout of William Peace University on Tuesday evening on Jack Jensen Court in the Ragan-Brown FieldHouse.
GC stuffed the nets like a perfectly cooked Thanksgiving turkey on this night, pouring on 96 points, the most in a single game since they put up 98 against Bridgewater State University on December 29th of 2022. They particularly had a lot be thankful for in the first half, pilling 53 points on their holiday plate, the most they have scored in an opening stanza since netting 59 against Emory & Henry University on January 15th, 2020.
Similar to a classic balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Quakers remain unblemished in six all-time meetings with WPU, matching Greensboro College for the longest winning streak against a non-conference foe. On the season they improve to 4-1 heading into Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play after the long weekend, while the Pacers drop to 0-5.
Like grandma restricting your turn for seconds until you finish your green bean casserole, GC restricted their guests to a 38.8% field goal percentage, including 28.6% from range, both of which were season-low marks allowed. On the other side, Guilford had little trouble with the William Peace defense, helping themselves to a season-high 54 servings in the paint leading to a 62.3% field goal percentage, their best of the season. They also matched their season-high with a 52.4% conversion rate from three-point distance, making 11-of-21.
The Quaker starters were the main course, with four reaching double-figures as they combined for 57 points on 21-of-28 from the field. Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) filled his plate with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting while Chase Ellis (Douglasville, Ga.) missed just one total shot attempt to record 14 points along with two assists. Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) had 11 points and four steals while Luke Proctor (Apex, N.C.) had ten points and three helpers. The Guilford opening-five left plenty of room for the side courses, as the Quaker bench, led by Dawson Edwards' (Durham, N.C.) career-high 11 tallies, contributed 39 points. Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) was certainly in the spirit of the holiday, passing around four assists to go with eight points and Bobby Samples (Brighton, Mich.) had a game-high five rebounds.
Ryan Lominack made all six of his shots, including five threes to lead the all players with 19 points, but the Pacers forgot to leave room for dessert, as Chuks Ezeonu was the only other player to reach double-digits with 10 to go with a team-leading four caroms. Elijah Green led the guests with four assists.
Ellis was the first to raid the holiday buffet table, ambushing the rim with GC's first eight points on layups off drives off the right-wing, with two of them ending in converted and-ones, and all of that occurring within the first two-and-a-half minutes. Michael Dulin mixed a three for WPU before a trey by Shawn Jones halted Ellis' assault with the Quakers passing the ball around like everyone's favorite side dish from there. Farrish cashed in a three, Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) made a floater, Edwards got two, another Farrish make from range, fast-break scores from Furr and Farrish, a Luke Proctor triple, and finally a Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.) two constituted a 17-5 stretch, in which Guilford seized a 27-11 advantage before the 12-minute mark, and the game never got inside of ten again the rest of the way.
Up 13 at 29-16, GC opened their edge up to 20 for the first time on five-straight Farrar tallies and a Ryan Jaworski (Cary, N.C.) hook shot. The Quakers would flirt right around that advantage, but had trouble getting to 21. That was until the 1:49 mark when, off Ellis' lone miss of the evening, the shortest player on the court, Edwards soared in out of nowhere, with an acrobatic tip-in as he got fouled. He missed his free throw but Farrar got the offensive rebound and was fouled, splitting his two from the charity stripe to make the Guilford lead 21 although Ezeonu finished the half's scoring with a two, bringing the tallies to 53-34 into the locker room.
The hosts shot an astronomical 72.4% from the field in the first half and already had three players in double-digits as they had run away with this one. They committed just two turnovers in the opening stanza, while nearly matching the Pacers' scoring output of 34 with their 30 tallies in the paint.
The Quakers quickly broke the game wide-open immediately out of the break with an 11-2 run comprised of a Luke Proctor four-point play, a Gabe Proctor two, an Ellis trey, and a second-chance hoop by Furr, opening the lead out to 28 with 16 minutes remaining.
With the game well in-hand, Guilford unloaded their entire bench as the highlights of the rest of the game largely consisted of season and collegiate debuts, namely for freshmen Trey Manhertz (Apex, N.C.) and Ronny Turner (Raleigh, N.C.) and sophomore Jalen Walker (Durham, N.C.). Manhertz netted the first four points of his career, including an impressive put-back and Magnus Swinger (Concord, N.C.) scored his first-three collegiate points on a straight-away three. Additionally, Jaworski saw enough action to record a new career-high with six points and CJ Cormack (Greensboro, N.C.) brought the crowd to their feet eyeing a poster dunk, although he had to settle for splitting a pair of free throws.
The Quakers will now enjoy a little downtime as they gear up for the start of ODAC play when they venture north to battle (RV) Randolph-Macon College on Wednesday, December 4th with the opening tip at 7:00 PM.
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