Crusaders' Meyerchick Sinks Rams Late

HATTIESBURG, Miss-- William Carey held off the University of Mobile 67-63 in SSAC West men's basketball action Saturday.

Mobile (12-10, 5-2) remains in the top spot in the SSAC West by one game and will return to action at home Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 pm against Belhaven University.

Donte Walker led the Rams with 13 points and 9 rebounds thanks to a 7-of-8 effort from the free throw line, while Brock Dockery, Matthew Turner and Ji Kimbrough each tallied 12 points for Mobile.

Kevin Branch led William Carey with 13 points, Jonathan Woodland added 14 rebounds and Drew Meyerchick finished with 11 points, including their last five points.

The Rams opened the game by running out to a 12-3 lead 6:30 into the contest, and the team held an 18-10 lead with 9:24 left before William Carey woke up. The Crusaders went on a 12-1 run over the next 5:52 to take a 22-19 lead thanks to five points from Meyerchick. William Carey took a 28-24 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Mobile grabbed a couple of early one-point leads, but William Carey used a 10-0 run to take command and held the lead until Mobile fought back for a 54-53 advantage with 4:16 left on a pair of Bentley Hylton free throws.

The teams traded leads nine times the rest of the way with Mobile last holding a 63-62 lead with 34 seconds remaining on a pair of freebies from Dockery. That's when Meyerchick's heroics started. He answered with a 3-pointer 16 seconds later and then iced the game with a pair of free throws in the final seconds after the team had gone 1-for-8 on their previous eight free throw attempts to leave the door open for Mobile.