COLLEGE HOOPS: King men get back on track; women stumble late

Things didn’t go so well Monday for King College against an old rival.

They went much better Thursday against a new one.

Playing its first game since a shocking loss to crosstown foe Virginia Intermont, the Tornado returned to their winning ways and remained unbeaten in league play with a 77-70 victory over North Greenville in a matchup of first-year Conference Carolinas members.

“It was pretty much just getting back to the basics, getting your head back down, getting back humble and getting back to the thing that made us successful, which is working hard,” said King senior guard Brandon Goss, who scored 11 points and added a team-high five assists on his 23^rd birthday.

The Tornado (18-4, 10-0) led by just two at halftime, but started the second 20 minutes on a 10-2 run and kept a comfortable advantage the rest of the way, leading by 17 with 1:15 remaining before the Crusaders (10-9, 4-7) made the final margin more respectable with a late flurry against King’s backups.

“It was important just to play well and get back on the winning track,” said King coach George Pitts. “I thought we played well in the second half. I thought we ran the floor well, defended pretty well. It was a good win for us – we certainly needed it to help our confidence a little bit.”

An injury-depleted King team got in foul trouble early, but got a big boost off the bench from a pair of former local high school standouts in redshirt freshman Nathan Vannoy (Sullivan Central) and senior Brent Thomas (Elizabethton).

Thomas scored six points in 14 minutes and Vannoy had five points in 16 minutes and each added four rebounds and a steal.

“Nate did a pretty decent job,” Pitts said. “Brent I thought did some good things tonight. … Those two guys came in and were a plus for us without a doubt.”

Freshman Logan Lyle (Unicoi County), who got the starting nod for the second time this week and the fourth time in his career, also continued his strong play with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Eddie Piccinini led King with 21 points.

Goss said everyone has stepped up since leading scorer Brian Hewitt went down with an injury last week that will likely keep him out until late February.

“There are certain points in the game where you have to assert yourself, but you want stay within yourself and play as a team,” Goss said. “Of course it always hurts losing someone like Hewitt with the energy that he brings and the numbers that he puts up, but I feel that we’re so connected as a team that we can kind of make up for it and wait until he gets healthy.”

Zack Shields led North Greenville with 15 points by hitting five 3-pointers in 12 attempts. Paul Harrison added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Crusaders, who have lost three straight and now sit fourth in the West Division behind King, which will likely be in a position to clinch its first CC division title with a victory over second-place Belmont Abbey next Wednesday at the Student Center.

The Tornado, who first host East Division cellar-dweller St. Andrews on Saturday, picked up a 92-81 win over Belmont Abbey when the teams met on Jan. 10 in North Carolina.

WOMEN

N. Greenville 69, King 58

Chalk it up as another lukewarm loss for the hot-and-cold Tornado.

King (3-16, 3-8) once again hung tough with a quality opponent, but faltered down the stretch after pulling within 50-49 midway through the second half.

After King’s 13-2 run to get back in the game, the Crusaders (15-5, 10-2) responded with a 16-4 spurt to regain control.

“There’s no such thing as moral victories at this point,” said first-year King coach Josh Thompson. “We’ve proven that we can play with the top teams – and we beat one of them [Barton], which was good. We just need some more wins.”

Brooke Johnson scored 16 points for King, but had just three in the first half before finding her range late. Freshman center Alley Sprouse led the Tornado with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

“We played well down in the post tonight, but at times we struggled getting it there,” said Thompson, whose team suffered through a nearly 10-minute drought from the field in the first half and committed 17 turnovers. “All of our players just need to continue to get better at taking care of the basketball.”

Krisceda Cotton caused a lot of the ball-control problems for the Tornado, snatching seven steals for North Greenville while adding 12 points, nine rebounds and two assists.

Karly Stache led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting for the Crusaders.

Despite its third straight loss, the Tornado continues to cling to fifth place in the Conference Carolinas West Division – a half-game up on Converse and a full game up on Lees-McRae for the final spot in the eight-team league tournament.

“It’s a work in progress,” Thompson said. “We’re just looking to finish out strong over the last seven games, hopefully stay in that last playoff spot or even move up and see what we can do.”

nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543