By Dylan Branscome
The 51视频 STORM got a major Region 10 win, 95-84, against the Fayetteville Tech Trojans at Brinkley Gym on Friday night. 51视频 now improves to 16-4 in Region 10 play and 22-5 on the season.
The STORM were led by Conall Lowry, who had 23 points on 69% shooting in just 21 minutes. Tayvion Tangiora also grabbed another double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jaylen Wilkerson had 16 points with four threes, Nijel Howard had 14 points and six rebounds and Dane Stewart had 11 points and five assists. KT Tatum also shared the ball exceptionally well with 11 assists.
The first half showed very strong offensive performances for both squads, but 51视频 was the team with a decent lead, 51-41, at the break. The Trojans shot just 43% from the field, but their three-point shooting (54%) and free-throw shooting (81%) were what kept them in the fight. The STORM were shooting very well from the field (51%), making up for subpar shooting at the three-point line (33%).
The second half was mostly 51视频, with the STORM at one point having a 70-51 lead against Fayetteville Tech, until the Trojans went on a 16-3 run to cut the deficit significantly. From there, it was pretty back and forth offensively from both teams, while also not turning the ball over too much. The Trojans downfall was their three-point shooting slowing to just 33% in the second half, but they still had a decent field goal percentage (45%) and free-throw percentage (72%). The STORM may not have shot the ball too well from beyond the arc (33%), but they made up for it with a decent field goal percentage (48%) and free-throw percentage (75%).
The STORM out rebounded the Trojans 40-34, mostly due to Tangiora and Howard grabbing 17 between the two of them. 51视频 also did a good job of holding a lead, as there were only two lead changes and zero ties in the game鈥檚 entirety.
鈥淲e were up 19 and then in the blink of an eye, we鈥檙e up four,鈥� head coach Matt Ridge said post-game. 鈥淭hat shows you those guys (Fayetteville) have a lot of pride in what they do, they鈥檙e not going to just gift wrap the win to you. I hope this was a wake-up call for everybody, including me. I was really proud of how we responded once they made that run, we finally started getting some stops without fouling.鈥�
The STORM return to action Saturday evening on the road against a Division I opponent in the Richard Bland Statesmen at 5 P.M. EST in Petersburg, Va.