Brevard BREV 13-13,8-6 USA South

William Peace WPU 14-12,8-6 USA South

Brevard BREV

13-13,8-6 USA South

Final

Feb. 20, 2024

William Peace WPU

14-12,8-6 USA South

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Brevard BREV	30	33	63
William Peace WPU	26	40	66

Summary
Box Score

Carly Vadinsky

Malachi Borders Hit Two Clutch Free Throws Down The Stretch

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/20/2024 10:30:00 PM | WPU Athletic Communications

Pacers Top Brevard 66-63, Advance To USA South Semifinals

RALEIGH, N.C. – No. 4 seed William Peace would not be denied in its USA South first-round tournament victory on Tuesday.

Malachi Borders swished two free throws with 12.3 seconds left and No. 5 Brevard missed a three-pointer as time expired to give the Pacers a 66-63 men's basketball victory in front of a packed crowd at the Hermann Athletic Center.

The Pacers (14-12 overall) will visit top-seed Mary Baldwin in the conference semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. This is the second straight year that the Pacers have reached the semifinals.

"A gritty performance tonight when we did not play as well as we would have liked on the offensive end," WPU Head Coach Claude Shields said. "Tim [Pettiford] carried us in the 2nd half! Beau [Bryant] and Malachi stepped up and knocked down some big time free throws to push us across the finish line. Excited to get one more day in February!"

Timothy Pettiford scored a game-high 26 points for William Peace, which found its shooting touch in the second half after falling behind 30-26 at halftime. The Pacers shot 52.4 percent in the second half after shooting 30.3 percent in the first half.

Pettiford scored 17 second-half points, many of them on dazzling one-on-one moves, as the Pacers took charge. He scored seven of the Pacers' nine points to turn a 38-38 tie into a 47-39 lead. They never trailed again.

With the game on the line, the Pacers canned six straight free throws in the final 1:19 to pull out the win. They were an impressive 18 of 19 in the second half and finished 22 of 25 for the contest.

After Borders' free throws put the Pacers ahead 66-63, the Tornados had a chance to send the game into overtime. Their three-point shot behind the top of the key hit iron, securing the Pacers' win.

Pettiford added seven rebounds for the Pacers, who are on a three-game win streak. Beau Bryant added 16 points and shared top rebounding honors (8) with Shawn Jones, who added eight points. Michael Dulin chipped in seven points and Borders finished with six points on 6-for-6 free throw shooting.

This was the Pacers' second victory over Brevard in four days. The Pacers topped Brevard 70-54 on the road this past Saturday to earn a first-round home game.

The rematch started slow for the Pacers. Brevard opened an early lead and maintained it most of the first half. The Pacers were 2 of 17 behind the three-point line before halftime.

Despite their cold start, the Pacers only trailed by four at the half. Led by Pettiford, they found success attacking inside which led them to victory.

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