Men's Basketball | 1/23/2013 10:52:00 PM

Box Score ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. -- The Methodist men's basketball team rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit before ultimately falling, 82-77, at N.C. Wesleyan on Wednesday evening.
 
The Monarchs trailed 38-21 with 6:06 left to play in the opening period after a Julian Martin bucket before outscoring the Battling Bishops 17-4 to end the half to trim their deficit to just four points (42-38) heading into the break. Bryan Hockaday started the run with a bucket and Keemon Ingram followed with back-to-back triples to quickly cut NCWC's lead to nine points at 38-29. Hockaday added a jumper and three free throws, the last coming with just three seconds left in the first half to send the teams to the locker room separated by just four points.
 
In the second half, the Bishops quickly extended their lead back to 10 points by scoring the first six points of the stanza. The Monarchs came roaring back once again, trimming their deficit to just one point (50-49)t on another three pointer by Ingram with 15:30 left to play. The Bishops looked as if they were poised to pull away as their lead ballooned to nine points (58-49) with 13:40 left, but MU battled back once again.
 
The Monarchs finally pulled ahead (61-60) on a layup by Tabias Hilliard and Tyler Deal followed with a triple that gave Methodist a 64-60 lead with 9:20 to go. From there it was a back and forth affair with neither team able to put the game away. With a minute to play, NCWC's Brandon Givens made a pair of free throws to put the Bishops up 77-75, but Hockaday answered with a jumper to tie the game at 77-77 with 46 ticks on the clock. Givens followed with a jumper and Chris Ford made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
 
N.C. Wesleyan finished at 53.8 percent shooting (28-52) for the game, while the Monarchs finished at 45.9 percent (28-61). Methodist held a 39-23 edge in rebounding, including 17-4 on the offensive glass, bout could not overcome the slow start.
 
Hockaday finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds and Ingram added 12 points. Christian McRae added eight points and seven boards and Tabias Hilliard had six points, five assists and two steals.
 
For the Bishops, Givens scored a game-high 30 points to go with six rebounds. Evan Collins and Cornelius Snow added 13 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench.
 
Methodist is back at it on Saturday when it plays at Christopher Newport at 2:00 pm.