Rocky Mount, NC - After a thrilling victory in the opening round of the USA South tournament, the Southern Virginia University men's basketball team paid a visit to the number three seed in the tournament, North Carolina Wesleyan. While the Knights were off to a promising start, the Bishop's tenacious defense and strong play inside proved too much, and Southern Virginia's historic season ended in defeat, 95-67.
After conceding the first two buckets of the game to the Bishops, Christian Goode got the Knights on the board with a corner three. He combined with Tillman Johnson to provide the team an 11-7 lead through the first five minutes. Tyler Kartchner was also off to a good start defensively, recording two steals in addition to his early bucket.
The Bishops battled their way back into the lead and made it increasingly difficult for the Knights to find their way inside for quality looks. With around six minutes remaining in the half, Collin Griffith hit a three-pointer off an inbounds pass from Jude Ballstaedt to trim the Bishop's lead to 28-23. However, the Knights had trouble containing their opponents the rest of the way and faced a 46-27 deficit heading into the locker room.
In the second half, Southern Virginia came together and went toe-to-toe with their opponents. Kartchner established himself in the paint and scored the first four points for the Knights. DJ Green also came alive and found success driving down the lane and scored nearly all of his 14 points in the second half. A relentless pace of play saw both teams trade shots early in the shot clock, with Southern Virginia desperate to put together a surge.
Ultimately, the conference's newly announced defensive player of the year, Khalid Chavis-Hinds, led the pesky Bishop's defense to help close out their semifinal matchup. The matchup could've featured Chavis-Hinds and the newly minted player of the year, Eli Ballstaedt, but the latter was sidelined due to injury and missed the remaining few games in the Knights' schedule. In his absence, Tillman Johnson was superb again in recording his second straight twenty point game.
Tyler Kartchner, the senior center, performed admirably as well and finished with double figures in scoring along with three steals before fouling out. Kartchner closes out his Southern Virginia career as one of the most effective frontcourt players in program history. While the season did not end the way they wanted, this year's version of the Knights was the most successful since joining the NCAA over ten years ago. They recorded their most wins in a season, finishing with 19, during that span. For the most up-to-date information and details on the team, visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_hoops on Instagram.
