Presbyterian College’s sports teams take a lot of lumps, but the Blue Hose have a flair for the dramatic and a penchant for miracles.
Last year’s long-odds advance of the women’s basketball team into the NCAA Tournament was a vivid example. Alaura Sharp’s final team entered the Big South Championship as the fifth seed and won it last year. Then PC won a play-in game against Sacred Heart. When the inevitable transition of Cinderella carriage into pumpkin occurred, the Blue Hose fell to the national champion, South Carolina.

Against all odds, the embattled men’s basketball team of Quinton Ferrell is red-hot and thoroughly dangerous at the perfect time.
On Wednesday night, at Kimmel Arena in Asheville, where the home team hadn’t lost all season, Presbyterian (13-17, 6-9 Big South) stunned UNC Asheville (20-9, 11-4), 64-59.
Once 2-12 on the road, the Blue Hose have now won three straight away from Templeton Center, where they close the regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Gardner-Webb (10-18, 5-10).

In so doing, Presbyterian has risen from next-to-last in the nine-team conference into a tie for sixth with Charleston Southern. A victory against GWU on Saturday likely means the Blue Hose earn a first-round bye at the Hercules Tires Big South Championships, March 5-9, at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn.
Under that scenario, PC would open tournament play on Friday, March 7, instead of Wednesday, March 5.
Kory Mincy scored 21 points and passed out four assists as the Blue Hose took control of a tight game in the final five minutes.

Senior Kobe Stewart paired 13 points with six rebounds. Carl Parrish scored 10 off the bench. Kaleb Scott had eight points and seven rebounds.
Presbyterian limited UNC Asheville, which entered the game averaging 83.4 points per game, to 59 points and .045 shooting (1/22) from beyond the three-point arc.
This after the Bulldogs scored the game’s first eight points.
Leading 28-27 at halftime, PC scored the first five points of the half, but UNCA went on a 10-0 scoring run. Back-to-back triples from Qadir Pettaway and Jamahri Harvey put the Blue Hose back in front, 39-37.

Scott converted on a hook shot in the paint, giving the Blue Hose the lead for good with five minutes remaining. UNC Asheville cut PC’s lead to one point several times. With Presbyterian leading 56-55, two straight baskets from Stewart and two free throws from Mincy gave Presbyterian a 62-55 lead with 27 ticks on the clock. A couple of free throws from Parrish in the closing seconds closed it out.
Toyaz Solomon and Jordan Marsh each scored 21 points for the Bulldogs, who shot .338 (22/65) overall from the floor.

PC shot .468 (22/47) overall and .389 (7/18) from long range.
Asheville’s loss wrapped up the regular-season title and top tournament seed for High Point (26-5, 14-2).
“We’re playing some of our best basketball coming down the stretch, in the second half of league play, and it’s because we’re getting defensive stops,” said Ferrell to publicist Brent Stastny.

Back in Clinton, the women’s game between the two schools was quite the opposite.
UNC Asheville (3-25, 1-14) won its first Big South game by defeating Presbyterian (6-22, 4-11), 67-60, led by Dakota McCaughan’s 17 points.
On the bright side, PC’s Kishyah Anderson tied her season high with 27 points, shooting .555 (10/18) from the field, adding five rebounds, three steals and three assists.

The rest of the team was a combined 11/37 (.297). PC was 4/18 (.222) from long range. Shelby Fiddler hit all four of the Blue Hose’ treys.
UNCA dominated the boards, 44-34.

The Clinton Family YMCA’s 46th annual Youth/Community Prayer Breakfasts are coming up March 4-6 at Broad Street United Methodist Church.

The free events are at 7 a.m. each day.

The Tuesday, March 4, speaker is a familiar one. Clinton High head football coach Corey Fountain led the Red Devils to their ninth state title last fall and won two more at Lamar.

The Wednesday guest is Chandler Davis, student pastor of Church at the Mill in Moore. He is the “character coach” at Byrnes High School in Duncan.

On Thursday, the Y welcomes Justin Brown, associate vice president for student affairs at Charleston Southern University, and former standout defensive tackle at Furman University.

Words can ill express my appreciation for the assistance I’ve been getting from lifelong friends and acquaintances in regard to my recent health struggles. I am deeply touched at the concern of people I’ve known for most of my life.

The coming months will bring more change, and I don’t know yet what shape it will take.
From time to time, I have thought it a shame that people don’t often know what others think of them while they are alive. I’ve had a rough go of it recently, but I know that others respect, appreciate and support me.

Thanks for reading my stories, overlooking my flaws and indulging our differences.
My books, most of them fiction, are available at Amazon and on other bookseller sites. I’ve written two novels about stock-car racing, Lightning in a Bottle, and the sequel, Life Gets Complicated, both about fictional young driver Barrie Jarman.
Thanks for putting up with me.