Men's Basketball | 11/20/2013 10:00:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C -- The Methodist men's basketball team finished the game on a 17-1 run to turn a 63-61 deficit into a 78-64 win over Roanoke on Wednesday evening at the Riddle Center.
 
The Maroons' (1-2) Daniel Eacho gave Roanoke a 63-61 lead with 4:38 to play before MU (1-2) clamped down on defense and began to pull away. Methodist held Roanoke to 0-of-10 shooting down the stretch, while hitting 4-of-5 shots and 8-of-8 free throws to close out the contest. T.J. Gill began the game-ending run with a three pointer, his third of the game, and following a trio of misses by the Maroons, Brandon Monk converted a layup for a 66-63 MU lead with 2:50 on the clock.
 
Tabias Hilliard, who finished the game 12-for-12 at the line, converted a pair of free throws following another RC miss and Gill added a layup at the 2:07 mark to push MU's lead to seven (70-63). Back-to-back missed layups by Eacho and then a technical foul on Eacho led to four more free throws by Hilliard and MU eased to its first win of the season.
 
The Monarchs raced out to an eight-point lead at the half (41-33) after hitting on 48.5 percent (16-33) of their shots from the field, while limiting Roanoke to just 29.7 percent (11-37) shooting. Keith Corbett bookended a 14-4 MU run that turned a one-point advantage (8-7) into an 11-point bulge (22-11) by the 11:08 mark. He kicked off the run with a jump shot, Monk and Keemon Ingram sandwiched a pair of threes around a Bryan Hockaday jumper, and Corbett ended the run following a layup by Gill. The Maroons responded with a 14-5 spurt of their own to pull within a pair at 27-25 on a John Fitchett three pointer with 6:08 left in the opening half.
 
Another burst by the Monarchs, capped by a three-point play by Gill, pushed the Monarchs' lead back to 11 (36-25) with 4:36 left in the period en route to the eight-point lead at the break.
 
Methodist's lead stood at double digits (55-43) with 13:29 to play before Roanoke rattled off 18 of the game's next 22 points to assume a 61-59 lead with 7:42 to play. The Maroons knocked down 7-of-13 shots from the floor during the run and got contributions from six different players in taking their first lead of the contest before Methodist tightened up and cruised to the win.
 
For the game, Methodist shot 42.2 percent from the floor (27-64), while holding RC to 30.3 percent (23-76) shooting. The Monarchs hit on 7-of-17 (.412) three-point attempts and 17-of-21 (.810) free throws, while the Maroons were 4-of-16 (.250) from deep and 14-of-20 (.700) from the line. Roanoke outrebounded MU, 47-43, but the Maroons blocked 12 shots on the day, compared to just two for Roanoke.
 
Gill and Hilliard led MU with 17 points apiece. Gill was 6-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from long range, and Hilliard added six rebounds and four assists. Monk tallied 12 points and five boards, Hockaday added a career-best 17 rebounds to go with eight points and five blocks, and Corbett chipped in eight points and four boards.
 
Fitchett led Roanoke with 14 points off the bench, Eacho contributed 12 and Cameron Smith totaled 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Julian Ramirez wound up with five points, eight boards and six assists.
 
Methodist is back in action on Saturday when it takes on Emory in Newport News, Va., at 2:00 pm.