BREVARD, N.C. - Despite shooting over 45 percent from the floor for the game, the Brevard College Tornados (2-11, 0-7 SAC) were unable to overcome a hot start by the Anderson Trojans (7-6, 5-2 SAC) start, falling by a final of 97-82.
Junior guard Shelby Parris (Burlington, N.J.) finished with a team-high 19 points, while fellow juniors Stevie Williams (High Point, N.C.) and D.J. Bostick (Marietta, Ga.) each finished with double-digit point totals, dropping 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Senior Omar El Diraoui (Beirut, Lebanon) pulled down a team-high eight boards, tying Anderson's Randall Shaw for the game-high. While senior Harry Singh (Hanover Park, Ill.) recorded a both, a season and game-high six steals on the evening. Additionally, the Tornados would get offensive outbursts from freshmen Levi Lamb (Atlanta, Ga.) and Jakob Bergen (Winston-Salem, N.C.) as the pair finished with eight and seven points, respectively.
Anderson would finish the night shooting nearly 77 percent from the floor as Shaw dropped a career-high 45 points on 17-21 shooting and 8-10 from behind the three-point arc.
The Trojans kicked off the evening on a 9-0 run, before El Diraoui hit two free throws to cut Anderson's lead to seven. However, the Trojans would benefit from a 17-4 lead heading into the first media timeout of the evening.
Following the break, Parris would connect on back-to-back layups, trimming the lead to 17-8, but Shaw would connect on consecutive threes to extend the lead back to double-digits on the Trojans next two possessions.
Brevard would cut the Anderson lead back to nine points with 2:59 remaining in the first half, when Parris drove the lane, putting the ball off the glass and into the Tornados net.
However, the Trojans would push their lead back to 14 points with 22 seconds remaining, before Parris connected from deep to cut Anderson's lead to 11 at 50-39 heading into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, Anderson would continue its hot shooting from the floor, extending the Trojans' lead to as many as 20 points before the 12-minute media break.
The Tornados would battle the entire second half, trimming the Trojans' lead down to 14 points on several occasions, but each time, Anderson would find an answer with either Shaw or Lex Davis, Anderson ended taking the 97-82 final decision.
Brevard will look to get back into the win column and continue its strong offensive play at Catawba this Saturday, January 7, with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
