Tigerville, SC - After beating nationally-ranked Belmont Abbey last weekend, North Greenville was unable to keep the momentum going with an 86-66 loss to the Warriors of Southern Wesleyan University. NGU led by as much as eleven in the first half, but Southern Wesleyan went on to score 54 points in the second half to win by twenty. Jacob Redding led the Crusaders with a 16-point performance.

Southern Wesleyan would begin the game with the first five points, but NGU would follow up with five straight points to tie things back up early on. Up 12-10, Jalon Cokley would help the Crusaders take a comfortable lead with a three pointer and a jump shot to lead by seven. North Greenville would go on to lead by as much as eleven with less than five minutes remaining in the half. However, NGU would not score for the remainder of the half, allowing the Warriors to close out the half with six straight points to make the score 35-32.

The struggles would continue for the Crusaders to begin the second half, scoring no points in the first four minutes. SWU would lead 41-35 before Joe Conley scored a short jump shot to finally put an end to the drought. However, Southern Wesleyan would follow that up with a 12 point run including two dunks to lead 53-37. After falling further behind, North Greenville would close the deficit to 15, but the Warriors would end the game with a 7-3 run to ultimately wind up with a twenty point win. 

NGU will hit the road on Saturday, January 11th to face the Barton College Bulldogs in Wilson, North Carolina.