It was Letter Winners Day on Saturday at Templeton Center.

Presbyterian College ought to hand out more letters.

The Blue Hose returned a few favors left in Radford, Va., on Jan. 27, when the Highlanders swept a women/men basketball doubleheader.

The land in Clinton is lower.

Quinton Ferrell’s men’s team overcame a 20-point first-half deficit and edged the Highlanders, 76-73, in front of 405.

It wasn’t as if Radford (13-12, 3-7) has been dominating the Big South, but the Highlanders defeated the Blue Hose in Virginia, 73-58, on Jan. 27.

“I thought we were doing some good stuff on offense in the first half, but on defense I thought we were just not competing,” stated Ferrell. “Radford’s perimeter game is really good. We had to go out there and play a little tighter.

“We struggled with that in the first half.”

Not so in the final minutes when PC stubbornly warded off the Highlanders, who had several chances.

Junior guard Marquis Barnett scored 18 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. Junior guard Samage Teel scored 18 points, while connecting on three triples, one of which gave Presbyterian (12-14, 4-7) the lead with 1:17 on the clock. Teel and Brnett also dished out three assists each. Senior guard Trevon Reddish-Rhone scored 12 points. 

Bryan Antoine riddled the Blue Hose with 18 points, hitting half his shots both overall (7/14) and behind the arc (4-8).  Radford also got 15 from DaQuan Smith and 11 from Chandler Turner.

Radford amassed a 33-24 advantage in rebounding, led by Josiah Harris with 10.

With 6:24 left in the first half, Presbyterian trailed Radford 39-19 after an 11-0 rally by the Highlanders.

Presbyterian scored seven unanswered points behind four points from Reddish-Rhone and a three from Kobe Stewart to take a 60-53, latter-half lead. PC led, 72-62, with 5:49 on the clock, but Radford. Radford scored 11 of the next 12 points, tying the score at 73 with 1:44 remaining. Then, Teel connected on the game-winning three to close out the game’s scoring.

Presbyterian’s defense limited Radford to 27 second-half points, compiled a 40-30 edge on points in the paint and shot .549 from the floor.

“They had the ball with 20 seconds left, and we didn’t allow them to get a good look,” said Ferrell. “That was a really crazy game. Very, very crazy. These are situations we work on a lot.”

After losing six straight conference games, the Blue Hose have won three of the last four.

The Blue Hose face UNC Asheville on the road Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. 

Take a look at the stats here.

Mara Neira pumped in 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the PC women to a 57-50 victory highlighted by a 20-0 run in the second half.

From the 6:42 mark of the third quarter to 8:40 of the fourth, Alaura Sharp’s Blue Hose turned a 33-26 deficit into a 46-33 lead.

Bryanna Brady added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists. Neira’s double-double was second of the season.

“I challenged the kids today to be the engineer of belief for themselves and for each other,” Sharp stated later. “It was such a slow start to the game, but after Natalie Herrin went down, there was a fire lit underneath us. I think that says a lot about our team and how much they care about each other, the second that happened, we cranked up our energy and our intensity, and I thought we played really good basketball after that.”

Presbyterian (13-13, 4-7 Big South) put a stop to a four-game losing streak than began with Radford’s 65-40 victory on its home floor.

Ashlyn Traylor-Walker led Radford (11-13, 7-3) with 13 points, while Taniya Hanner paired 10 points with 12 rebounds. PC won the rebounding battle, 37-32, and the shooting efficiency numbers other than at the foul line.

The Blue Hose stay in Templeton for a Valentine’s Day game on Wednesday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m. against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs.

Take a look at the stats here.

Thanks so much for the contributions. I’m aware that some folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room.

In the off chance anyone would like to contribute, a convenient means is sending a contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo. If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people.

In the off chance anyone would like to read my novels, they’re all available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.