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Men’s Basketball: First Half Surge Pushes Royals Past Bobcats, 89-62

Nov. 19, 2012. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Queens University of Charlotte men’s basketball team outscored Lees-McRae College by a 48-25 margin in the first half and held the Bobcats to a field goal percentage of 27.5 percent en route to an 89-62 victory in Conference Carolinas play on Saturday evening.

Queens (1-2, 1-0 CC) posted a field goal percentage of 46.2 percent on the night, including a 51.7 percent clip in the first half, while outscoring the Bobcats by a 30-14 margin in the paint. Lees-McRae won the battle on the glass by a 63-44 margin, including a 30-16 advantage on the offensive boards, as Queens converted 21 Bobcat miscues into 26 points.

Charles Clarke (Orlando, Fla.) paced the Bobcats with a double-double, pouring in 15 points and tallying a game-high 10 rebounds, as DJ Brown (Anderson, S.C.) added 12 markers. Jeremiah Henry (Semmes, Ala.) chipped in eight boards, as Aaron Bluitt (Indianapolis, Ind.) tallied the first points of his Bobcat career with seven markers in seven minutes of action.

Antonio Stabler led the way for Queens with 16 points and seven rebounds, as Brandon Nichols chipped in 14 markers and a game-high four assists. Brent Evans added 11 points and eight boards, while Nate Blackburn and Joby Glymph posted nine points and three steals, respectively.

Queens never trailed in the contest, opening an early 12-6 lead on a Blackburn triple before launching a 16-4 run to push the margin to 28-12 following an Evans layup with 8:58 to go in the half. The Royals would continue to press the attack over the next nine minutes, closing out the half on a 20-13 spurt to take a 48-25 lead into the intermission.

The Bobcats battled throughout the second half, answering an early 10-0 run by the Royals with a 9-2 spurt of their own, which included a clutch triple by Brown with 15:14 to go. Queens countered with a 13-3 run and the Bobcats answered with a 6-0 spurt that was capped by a Bluitt trey, Lees-McRae closed the gap further with a 7-4 stretch which featured Brown’s second trifecta of the night with 5:49 left on the clock.

Brown and the Bobcats would finish strong, outscoring Queens by a 12-9 margin over the final four and a half minutes to cut the lead to 89-62 at the final buzzer.

Lees-McRae returns to the court on Tuesday when the Bobcats travel to Misenheimer, N.C. to take on Pfeiffer University in league play at 7:30 p.m.