MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In its first game at the 2014 Southern States Athletic Conference Championships, the No. 3 seed Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team poured in a season-high 14 3-pointers and point guard Darius Woods scored a career-high 28 points in an 88-70 thrashing of No. 2 Faulkner (Ala.) University Thursday night at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
In a game that did not tipoff until 11:15 p.m. Thursday night and did not finish until after 1 a.m. Friday morning, the RedHawks (18-10) torched the nets with a season-high 14 triples on just 27 attempts to shoot a sizzling 51.8 percent from beyond the arc.
After opening the game on a 7-0 run, the RedHawks fell behind after a 9-0 run from the Eagles with 15:44 remaining in the first half.
With a tightly-contested game seeming likely, the RedHawks began to separate themselves midway through the period, opening up a 14-point lead with 7:04 remaining in the period. The Eagles would close the frame to pull within 10 as the RedHawks held a 39-29 lead at the break.
In the second half, however, the sharp shooting continued for the RedHawks, who continued to knock down triple after triple to build a 32-point lead with 12:48 remaining in the contest.
And while the Eagles would slowly chip away at the lead, the deficit was too much to overcome as the RedHawks cruised to the 18-point victory.
Woods, who was held scoreless in the club's 72-63 loss at Faulkner on Nov. 16, followed up an 11-point first half with 17 points in the game's final 20 minutes to post in his career-best scoring night.
In addition to a blistering 7-of-9 effort from the floor, Woods best performance came at the free throw line, where the junior was perfect in his 12 attempts. Woods also added eight assists and notched four steals in the win.
As a team, the RedHawks sank 24-of-31 shots from the line in addition to a 25-of-49 effort from the floor.
Joining Woods in double figures were fellow guards D'Angelo Tucker and Brandon Hunter, who scored 18 points each. Tucker notched all 18 of his points from beyond the arc while Hunter sank four field goals and added 10 points at the free throw line.
Big man John Taylor scored 15 points and hauled in eight rebounds for the RedHawks, who tracked down just 25 boards for the game. The senior forward even got in the act from beyond the arc for the RedHawks, sinking 4-of-5 shots from distance.
The 14 3-pointers marked a high under the direction of second-year head coach Scott Combs and marked the most in a RedHawk contest since a win over Carver Bible (Ga.) College on Feb. 3, 2010.
Ayo Madamidola scored 23 points – 19 of which came in the second half – to lead the Eagles (16-15) in scoring.
With the win, the RedHawks advanced to Friday night's SSAC Conference Tournament semifinal against No. 1 seed William Carey (Miss.) University, a club that swept the two regular season meetings against the RedHawks.
Tipoff in Friday night's semifinal is set for 8 p.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery.
