Men's Basketball | 2/21/2012 10:00:00 PM

Box Score FERRUM, Va. - It was an upset according to tournament seeding, but the No. 5 Methodist men finished a three-game sweep over No. 4 Ferrum in the first round of the USA South Tournament.

Ferrum (13-13) scored the first basket of the game, but the score was tied at two and four before Methodist (9-17) ran out to the 22-12 lead on a layup from James Whitehead. The Panthers moved within six with six minutes to play but Terrell Stallings drained a 3-pointer at the other end to go back up by nine. Ferrum's Nick English hit a layup at the end of the first half, but Methodist maintained a 35-28 lead at the break.

After the first five minutes of the second half, Bryan Hockaday scored a layup to put Methodist ahead 48-34. Ferrum scored six straight points to move within eight, but Methodist's Steven Kerr came back with a 3-pointer. The Monarchs led by as many as 16 on a 3-pointer from Tyler Deal, the Monarchs' seventh of the game. Ferrum sent Methodist to the free throw line late, but the Monarchs shot 84.4 percent from the free throw line to secure the 92-81 win.

Stallings led Methodist with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Whitehead finished with 16 points and Bryan Hockaday had 15 points. Mark Jernigan added 13 points.

Marcus Mayo paced Ferrum with 27 points.

Box Score

USA South Tournament Website