HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Anderson University Men's Basketball (22-1,16-1 SAC) left no doubt in a commanding 97-70 victory over South Atlantic Conference opponent Coker (3-20, 2-15 SAC) on the road Wednesday evening.
"Proud of our effort on the road tonight." said head coach
Jimmie Williams. "We challenged our guys with making sure we played to our standard out there."
The Cobras took the initial lead early in the opening half, responding to each point by the Trojans. After Coker evented the score to 7-7 just five minutes into the contest, the Trojans went on a 20-2 run in just five minutes to surge past the Cobras. Despite the team's defensive efforts, Coker was unable to rebound from the fall, allowing Anderson to advance their large lead in the remaining half.
Five Trojans recorded double-digits on the scoreboard for Anderson with redshirt-senior
Kadyn Dawkins (Greensboro, N.C.) leading the pack after posting 22 points on the game. The Greensboro native shot 66.6 % from the floor, 60.0% from the arc and recorded four rebounds with one steal.
Junior
AJ Wright Jr. (Clearwater, Fla.) notched 19 points with four assists, two steals and a perfect free throw percentage, followed by junior Osma Garcia-Araujo (Sugar Hill, Ga.) who notched 13 points, two assists shot 62.5% overall and 50.0% from the stripe. Defensively, he greatly contributed to the Trojans effort, recording five rebounds and two steals in the book. After Garica-Araujo was sophomore
Caleb McAbee (Saint Johns, Fla.), adding 13 points and a 60.0 shooting percentage from deep. He also recorded five rebounds and two steals on the game to share the Trojans defensive lead with Wright Jr.
Junior
Dallas Jones (Gainesville, Fla.) was the fifth Trojan to put up double-digits on the final score, posting 12 points and shooting 75.0% from the court and 66.6% from the charity line. He also added to the Black and Gold's well-rounded defense with four rebounds and two steals.
"AJ and O led well tonight." added Williams. "It's great having multiple standard bearers out there. KD continues to get better every week, and it showed tonight. We got extended minutes from many guys that need to reps. Caleb and Dallas were outstanding tonight bringing energy and making winning plays in both halves off the bench. Thankful we have a team that is never satisfied and that pulls out the best in each other."
The Trojans took control over the Cobras defensively with nine steals, 24 points off turnovers and 13 fast break points. Anderson was favored on the stat sheet with a 50.0 field goal percentage, a 42.1 3-point percentage and 35 rebounds.
The Black and Gold continue on their final road game series of the regular season when they take a visit to conference opponent Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Feb. 14. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m.
