Swannanoa, N.C. - The men's basketball returned home after a heartbreaking overtime conference loss to take on Regent University. Energized defense and a barrage of three-pointers propelled the Owls to a 101-87 victory.

The Royals would strike first, taking an early seven point lead. Once the Owls took the lead they never looked back. Leading by as much as 30 points in the second half, the Owls were clicking on all cylinders. The Royals would not go away though. They would eventually cut the Owls lead to 11, before the Owls would push it back up to 20, eventually winning by a margin of 14 points.

The Owls saw four players in double-digits. Jordan Gant paced the Owls with 28 points, six rebounds and five steals, knocking down 5-3 pointers. Freshman Jakorian Martin finished the game with a career high 24 points, knocking down 7-3 pointers of his own. He also pulled down 5 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. Freshman Andrew Dalton tallied his first career double-double as he finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Brent Davis finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Junior point guard Justin Storr led the Owls in the assist category, finishing with 8 assists and 7 points. Fellow junior Trey Brown dished out 6 assists and pulled down 4 rebounds. Junior forward Jaquann Lockhart led the Owls in rebounding, finished with 13 rebounds as he also tallied 7 points. The Owls finished with 22 team assists, pulled down 55 rebounds, and had 15 steals, while turning the Royals over 20+ times.

"We started off slow, but once we started going, we went the full distance. Being so new and so young, we have needed practice this entire month, and we haven't had that. Our guys got a ton of game experience this month though. Going into practice this week our number one focus was rebounding, and we rebounded the ball better today than we have all year. We also put a huge emphasis on toughness. Our guys made that translate for the most part today. Our freshmen came ready to play and our upperclassmen were solid as well. Proud of our overall effort. This is the first time since as long as I have been here as a player or coach that we haven't been ranked at all, and we took that personal. We know where we want to be, we know what we are capable of, and we will not stop until we get there," stated head coach Anthony Barringer.

The Owls are back at home Wednesday, December 5th, as they host conference foe Clinton College. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 P.M.