HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. – Hampden-Sydney broke William Peace University men's basketball winning streak at five defeating the Pacers 86-74 on Wednesday night. The Pacers fall to 6-2 on the year before heading into conference play on Saturday.
 
The first half of the game ended with a tie, but how the teams got there was anything but ordinary. William Peace and Hampden-Sydney started the game trading the lead back and forth toward the quarter mark in the game.
 
Jalen Vince stripped Hampden-Sydney and dunked the ball to tie the game at 22. Nick Chase knocked down a free throw on the Tigers next possession before William Peace erupted for a 13-0 run. Ryan Emfinger got the run started with a three pointer. Jay Hicks found the bottom of the net in back to back possessions to put the Pacers up six. Camden Ferguson drained a three on the Pacers next possession before hitting another on the following possession to get the Pacers a 35-23 edge over Hampden-Sydney with 5:15 to go.
 
The Tigers closed the second half on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 35 just before half. The Pacers just couldn't find the bottom of the net in the final five minutes of the first half and the troubles continued into the second half.
 
The Tigers made the first eight points in the second half and the Pacers didn't score until the 15:27 mark. The Pacers had an agonizing 9 minutes and 48 seconds stretch without scoring, but a Jay Hicks and-one took the lid of the basket for the team.
 
The Pacers started to get a rhythm going again and developed a short 6-0 run to cut the Tigers lead to two. The Pacers started earning foul shots and sinking free throws in the second half to finally tie the game at 45-45 with 13:35 remaining. The Pacers and Tigers began trading the lead again, like the teams had in the first half, and traded bucket for bucket for the next several minutes.
 
Hampden-Sydney started to get the Pacers in foul trouble towards the end of the game. Starters Dakota King, Ryan Emfinger and Chris Thomas each had three fouls and Thomas picked up a fourth with 5:29 to go. The Tigers used this advantage to get to the free throw line consistently and started a run to eventually go up nine with 4:15 left in the game.
 
The Pacers were unable to match the Tigers offensive efficiency and struggled to come back like the team had done previous times in the year. Hampden-Sydney closed out the game with slow offensive possessions over the final two minutes and William Peace fell, 86-74. It was the Pacers worst shooting performance of the year only converting on 38.7% of their shots. On the other side, the Tigers scored on 54.9% of their shots.
 
FRESHMEN HIGHLIGHT
Jay Hicks led the Pacers with 13 points on the night from 5-of-9 shooting. It was the first time this year that a non-senior led the team in points. Camden Ferguson was the only other Pacer to score in double figures with 10 points. Joshua Jones was 2-for-2 with six points and two assists in his 11 minutes.
 
FOUL TROUBLES
William Peace finished the game with 28 fouls with 10 coming from starters Dakota King, Chris Thomas and Ryan Emfinger. The fouls certainly had an impact on the play of the starters who only combined for 22 points tonight when they normally average 39.4 points per game.
 
UP NEXT
William Peace returns home to host Piedmont College Saturday in the Pacers first USA South conference game of the year. The game will start at 2 p.m. in the Hermann Athletic Center.