RALEIGH -- The William Peace University men's basketball team upset Methodist University, 95-73, on Wednesday night in the Hermann Athletic Center. The Monarchs were leading the conference heading into the Wednesday night tilt.

The upset came from a total team effort by the Pacers who had five players in double figures.

The first half was very tight the entire 20 minutes, but the Monarchs held the lead for a majority of the time with the Pacers within one or two buckets. The Pacers got a chance at a final shot and Coach Shields called Ryan Emfinger's number for a three. The senior drilled the wing three with four seconds remaining in the half. The Monarchs inbounded the ball and Rae Hall heaved a half-court prayer that went in at the buzzer to put Methodist up, 36-32.

The shot might have deflated many teams' spirits, but the Pacers came out of the half with a fire lit. William Peace tied the game at 39 and exchanged the lead with Methodist until the Monarchs cut the lead to 44-43. The Pacers went on a 9-0 run to force a timeout from Methodist. The Pacers were turning defense into offense and were capitalizing on the turnovers. The Pacers scored a total of 17 points off turnovers to the Monarchs three.

William Peace blew the doors off the gym by pouring on the offense. The team ended up outscoring Methodist 63-37 in the second half to take the victory handily and upset the No. 1 team in the conference.

Jay Hicks led the team in scoring at 16. Chris Thomas had 13 and Camden Ferguson and Jalen Vince had 12 apiece. Thomas finished with a team-high nine rebounds while Vince recorded seven assists.

THE BIG PICTURE
The Pacers' victory over Methodist shakes up the conference standings quite a bit. At 5-5, the Pacers showed they can compete with anyone in the conference and could be a dark horse to look out for come tournament time.

UP NEXT
William Peace will host N.C. Wesleyan on Saturday at 2 p.m.