MISENHEIMER — After multiple game cancellations due to the USA South Athletic Conference’s COVID-19 protocol, the Pfeiffer men’s basketball team was finally able to see the court in an official matchup Friday night — and it responded with a convincing victory over Greensboro College.
Featuring an experienced roster with nine seniors, the Falcons topped the Pride 99-78 fueled by a 52-point second half.
“It sure was fun to get to play somebody else because we’d exhausted all the ways of making things competitive in a practice situation,” Pfeiffer coach Pete Schoch said. “Early in the season is when you really find out things about your team — what works and what didn’t — and opening with a league opponent like that, I was concerned. I was really encouraged, and the camaraderie of the kids was really good.”
With 6-of-10 shooting from the field, senior guard Jamaal David led the Falcons (1-0, 1-0 USA South) with 19 points alongside a team-high eight rebounds and three assists; David converted five shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
Fellow senior guard Sean Scott made 5 of 6 from the field to add 18 points to go with five rebounds, while freshman forward Dorian Miles recorded 13 points and seven boards.
Pfeiffer had productive performances from its bench with junior guard Nick Ruggiero (13 points), senior guard Jerome Savoy (12 points) and freshman guard Elan Muniz (11 points) all reaching double digits in the scoring column.
“It’s nice to be around a group of kids that are pulling for each other and want to win,” Schoch said. “The first thing that made me really happy was their attitude. It was team–first and really supportive of each other. I was pleased with their ball movement throughout the game, and I think defensively they gave a pretty good effort.”
Greensboro College guard Bradley Pierce led both squads with 24 points on 8–of-14 shooting, achieving a career-high in scoring.
While the Pride (4-9, 1-4 USA South) eclipsed the Falcons in overall shooting percentage (53%), they were outrebounded by Pfeiffer by a wide 43-24 margin. As a team, the Falcons converted 48% of their shots from the field (34 of 71), 41% of their 3-point attempts (14 of 34) and 81% of their free throws (17 of 21).