Men's Basketball | 1/4/2014 7:51:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist men's basketball team rallied from a 23-point first-half deficit to pull within three points with 1:18 to play, but LaGrange held on for a wire-to-wire 81-74 win on Saturday afternoon at the Riddle Center.
 
In the conference opener for both teams, the Panthers (6-5, 1-0 USA South) stormed out of the gates by hitting nine of their first 12 shots of the game (.750) while limiting MU (2-9, 0-1 USA South) to 2-of-8 shooting (.250) with four turnovers to take a 22-4 lead by the 13:40 mark. Nick Mitchell scored seven points during the game-opening spurt, and Dustin Baxter and Patrick Dugger chipped in five points apiece.
 
A layup by Donta Daniel at the 9:40 mark made it a 30-7 game in favor of LC and marked the Panthers' largest lead of the contest. The Monarchs answered with an 11-4 run to pull within 16 points (34-18) on a free throw by Tabias Hilliard at the 5:46, mark and the Panthers took an 18-point (41-23) lead into halftime.
 
LaGrange wound up shooting 53.3 percent in the opening half (16-30) while holding MU to 9-of-27 shooting (.333) with 10 turnovers.
 
After the Monarchs fell behind by 21 points (46-25) with 17:08 to play, MU began its furious rally. A three-point play by T.J. Gill ignited a prolonged 33-15 scoring spurt for MU that saw the Monarchs inch within three points (61-58) on Keith Corbett's triple with 5:09 on the clock. During the stretch, LaGrange hit just 6-of-16 shots from the field and turned the ball over nine times, leading to 29 shots for the Monarchs, of which they hit 13 (.448). In all, nine different Methodist players scored in the span.
 
Following Corbett's three, Dugger sandwiched a pair of free throws and a layup around Desmond Parker's jumper to double LC's lead to six points (66-60) with 4:20 remaining. Methodist once again pulled within three points at 73-70 with 1:18 to play, but Dugger answered with another layup and free throws by Denzel Robinson and Dugger pushed LaGrange's advantage to seven points (77-70) with 26 seconds left on the clock. Corbett's layup with 18 seconds left made it a five-point game (77-72), but LaGrange hit 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
 
LaGrange finished at an even 50.0 percent shooting for the game (26-52), including 41.7 percent from long range (5-12). Methodist shot 37.5 percent on the game (30-80) and made just 6-of-23 shots from beyond the arc (.261). LaGrange also went to the line 37 times, making 24 (.649), while the Monarchs were just 8-of-18 at the charity stripe (.444). Methodist held a 48-35 edge on the boards, including a 25-7 advantage on the offensive end.
 
Corbett finished with a team-high 16 points and added nine rebounds. Hilliard had 11 points and eight assists, and Bryan Hockaday had eight points and 12 rebounds.
 
Baxter scored a game-high 17 points for the Panthers and added seven rebounds. Dugger (16), Robinson (14) and Mitchell (12) also scored in double figures for LC. Robinson chipped in five assists, and Dugger had seven boards and a pair of blocks.
 
Methodist returns to the court on Sunday when it hosts Huntingdon at 3:00 pm.