GREENSBORO, NC – After an 18 point win over Virginia University of Lynchburg in their season opener, the William Peace men's basketball team found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum this evening, suffering an 18 point, 90-72, loss to the Quakers of Guilford College in the championship game of the Guilford College Invitational.
William Peace (1-1) spotted Guilford an 8-0 lead less than two minutes in and were never able to recover. Tyquan Nolan hit a three-pointer coming out of a timeout called by head coach Claude Shields, but then the Pacers went eight minutes without a field goal shooting 1-13 to start the game, and trailed by 15 midway through the first half.
The Pacers cut their deficit to nine following a three-pointer from Shawn Shaffer at the 1:28 mark, but the Quakers (2-0) answered by sinking two from beyond the arc to close out the half, essentially putting Peace away.
WPU shot it better the rest of the game finishing 21-55 (38.2%) from the field, while shooting 10-36 (27.8%) from long distance. It was the Pacer's defense, or lack thereof, which hurt them most though allowing Guilford to shoot a blistering 64.2% from the field on 34-53 shooting.
Guilford also displayed a significant advantage down low, dominating the Pacers on the glass and in the paint. WPU was outrebounded, 39-25, and only scored 16 points in the paint compared to the Quaker's 48.
"It was an improvement from last year, but we really didn't play the defense that we wanted to throughout the night," Shields explained. "We scored with them in the second half, but we didn't follow through with our game plan and just couldn't get key stops when we really needed them."
Bryson Gibson and Chris Thomas led the way for the Pacers and were both named to the All-Tournament team.
Gibson scored 20 points coming off the bench, shooting 7-10 from the field and 3-6 from beyond, while also registering three assists, two steals, and a rebound. He also had a solid outing against Virginia Lynchburg with nine points, a career high four steals, two rebounds and a pair of assists
Thomas reached double-figures again with 12 points, five rebounds, and an assist. He scored a career high 13 points in WPU's season opener to go along with six rebounds and two assists.
Michael Wolf had a solid outing with eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and a pair of assists. Jalen Vince added seven points to go along with two rebounds and two assists.
Trever Hyatt and Jonny Rice led Guilford as each of them scored 16 points shooting 6-8 from the field. Matt McCarthy scored 13 on 4-7 shooting from three-point land, while Hunter Jackson added 11 off the bench.
The William Peace men's basketball team returns to action for a pair of games at the Averett University Classic this weekend. The Pacers face Columbia International on Friday, Nov. 21 before squaring off against the Wasps of Emory & Henry on Saturday.
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