By MONTE DUTTON

Recent men’s basketball seasons have featured similar patterns at Presbyterian College.

Last season, for instance.

On Jan. 2, 2025, the Blue Hose opened the Big South season with a 68-60 victory over Longwood. At the time, PC’s overall record was 8-8, but the Blue Hose proceeded to lose their next four conference games to, in order, Gardner-Webb, USC Upstate, UNC Asheville and High Point.

PC rallied late in the season and wound up with a 14-19 record, 7-9 in conference.

This year, on Jan. 3, Presbyterian defeated USC Upstate, 86-77, to begin Big South play. Then, on their annual Virginia swing, the Blue Hose lost to Radford, 80-61, and to Longwood, 77-70.

UNC Asheville (8-10, 2-2) visits Templeton Center on Wednesday at 7, with a need for PC (8-10, 1-2) to stop the bleeding.

In their last 10 games, the Blue Hose are 5-5, while the Bulldogs are 4-6.

In Farmville, Va., Longwood kept the Blue Hose at bay mainly be administering a 34-26 edge on the boards.

Jaylen Peterson led PC with 21 points, hitting 7/9 shots from the field. Iverson King and Josh Pickett each scored 12. Jonah Pierce scored only nine points but pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Lancers put three in double figures. Elijah Tucker scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds. Jaylen Benard scored 11, and Alphonso Billups III chipped in 10.

“It’s obviously tough to win on the road,” said PC head coach Quinton Ferrell. “We just got off to a bad start.”

The Lancers led 40-28 at halftime. PC outscored them 42-37 in the latter half. In the previous game, at Radford, the reverse was true.

What happened in the first half? The shooting from the floor was solid. PC hit only 7/13 free throws.

In fact, Longwood hit only one more three-pointer and two more free throws than PC in the game.

Take a look at the stats here.

ESPNU has selected the Jan. 29 Presbyterian at High Point men’s basketball game as its first Big South Wildcard broadcast of the season. The game will tip at 9 p.m. at the Panthers’ Qubein Center.

 The match-up will mark the first meeting between the squads on ESPNU.  It will be High Point’s 14th all-time appearance in the Big South’s ESPNU Wildcard series and fourth for Presbyterian. The Panthers currently sit in first place in the conference standings at 4-0 following the first two weeks of league play.

High Point’s 16-3 record is its best start during the program’s Division I era. The Panthers have opened 4-0 in conference play for the second time in three seasons, and have been led by Terry Anderson (17.5 scoring average in Big South games) as well as preseason all-conference pick Rob Martin (overall averages of 14.1 points, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals).

Presbyterian will be making its first ESPNU Wildcard appearance since 2021. Preseason all-conference selection Jonah Pierce leads the Blue Hose as well as the Big South in rebounding (9.2) and double-doubles (8), and is averaging 18.3 points and 11.0 boards in league play.  Jaylen Peterson is contributing 14.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in conference action.

Clinton’s top-ranked girls’ basketball team rolled past Fairfield Central, 44-16, on the Red Devils’ home floor Friday night, improving to 16-1, 1-0 in Region 3-2A.

The Griffins left town 3-5 and 0-1.

Allenson Cook and McKenzie Clark each scored nine points to lead the Red Devils. Cook snagged five rebounds, and Kemaria Shelton blocked three shots.

Clinton visits Columbia (5-7, 1-0) on Tuesday night. Amiya Gunn scored 14 points to lead the Capitals past Mid-Carolina, 54-53, on Friday. The Red Devils are at home against Chester on Friday night, beginning with the girls’ game at 6.

Clinton (7-8, 1-0) won the boys’ game, 58-50, over Fairfield (5-8, 0-1), led by Nyterian Smith with 20 points, six rebounds and three steals. Zekhyron Butler added 13 points.

The Red Devils extended their winning streak to three games and snapped a three-game streak by the Griffins.

Much is going on in my life. Things should lighten a tad by the end of next week. For now, I apologize for losing in a game of catch-up. I’ll soon have more time to devote to my modest craft.

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