DANVILLE, VA – The William Peace Men's Basketball team had their season come to an end this afternoon, as the second-seeded Pacers were upset by seventh-seeded Methodist University, 90-72, in the quarterfinal round of the USA South Conference Tournament.
The third year Pacers program added four wins to last year's total going 13-13 overall, and they exceeded all expectations, finishing second in the conference with a record of 9-5 after being picked to finish last in the USA South Preseason Coach's Poll.
"We were two minutes away from a regular season championship, and accomplished a lot of great things after throwing them into the fire with such a challenging non-conference schedule," said head coach Claude Shields. "We planned on being in Danville for a few days, but seasons end quickly, careers end quickly, and for our underclassmen to be in that locker room after the game will be huge for our program moving forward."
Neither team led by more than three points in the first 15 minutes, but with the game tied, 28-28, TJ Gill sparked an 11-2 Methodist run with back-to-back triples, putting the Pacers down by nine (39-30) at the 4:18 mark. WPU trimmed their deficit to four (41-37) on Chris Thomas' layup with 2:09 left in the first, but the Monarchs stretched their lead to back to nine (50-41) by the break. Gill went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and scored 18 of his game high 23 points in the opening half.
The Pacers shot 4-of-14 (29%) from the field with a trio of turnovers in the opening nine minutes of the second half and never recovered. Methodist went 9-of-15 (60%) during the same span and finished the game at a ridiculous 60% clip (39-of-65), while WPU struggled to find the basket, shooting just 38% (23-of-61) from the floor. The Pacers were also outdone on the glass, 38-32, after cleaning up 27 more combined rebounds in their two regular season matchups.
"Methodist was ready to play in the first half, knocked down some tough shots, and we let that bother us," said head coach Claude Shields. "We looked like a team that hasn't played in the conference tournament before, where it's 40 minutes, it doesn't matter who you draw, and you just have to play as hard as you can."
Thomas led WPU with 14 points, six rebounds and an assist. Jalen Vince was the only other Pacer in double-figures, recording 13 points and a pair of assists.
It was also the final game for the program's inaugural senior class. Bryson Gibson scored eight points off the bench to go along with two rebounds and a pair of assists. Michael Wolf made his 55th consecutive start and had seven points, three rebounds and two assists, while Shawn Shaffer finished with two points and three rebounds.
"I'm extremely proud of our three seniors and can't thank them enough for all the hard work they put in." Shields added. "I think they'll be able to look back on this one day and be excited about what they built here"
Stay up to date with William Peace Athletics via social media: Like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
