SAINT LEO, Fla.- An impressive 20-point performance from
Carson Smith helped lead the Lynn men's basketball team to a tight-knit 74-66 victory on the road at Saint Leo Wednesday evening. Smith and the Fighting Knights shot an impressive 45% from the field while knocking down nine threes for 36% from long-range.
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The Blue and White extended its win streak to four, improving to 12-4 overall and 7-3 in Sunshine State Conference play.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Saint Leo led by a slim 3-0 margin to open the game within the first two minutes of play.
- A three-point jumper from Braydon Iuli kickstarted an 11-0 run for Lynn with Osei Price and Carson Smith both knocking down threes to put the Blue and White up 11-3 with just under 15 to play in the half.
- With the Lions mounting a 7-0 run, Sveinn Birgisson sunk a shot from distance to put the Fighting Knights up by four, 14-10 with 13:21 left in the period.
- A fastbreak layup from Saint Leo's Tae Wilson capped off a 6-2 run in favor of the Lions to tie the game up for the first time since the 17:45 mark, 16-16 with 11 minutes left to play.
- Price responded quickly with five points in under a minute, dropping a three-pointer and a layup to put Lynn up by five in the blink of an eye, 21-16.
- Back-to-back threes from Smith gave the Blue and White its highest lead since the start of the first half, 29-21 with 7:09 left in the period.
- Price closed out scoring for Lynn in the first half with a quick three-pointer before Saint Leo responded with a layup as the Fighting Knights went into the locker room at halftime with a seven-point lead, 40-33.
- Lynn opened up the second half with a 6-0 run to build its lead up to double-digits, 46-33 following layups from Leo Beath, Smith and Birgisson.
- Saint Leo mounted a second-half comeback that pulled Lynn's lead back to single digits with the Lions going on a 7-0 run 49-42 with 13 minutes left to play.
- A mid-range jumper from SLU's Brady Corso cut Lynn's lead to just one possession with less than six minutes to play, 59-56.
- Saint Leo's Logan Ryan tied up the game at 59-59 following a big three-pointer with less than five minutes left in the contest.
- Beath broke a nearly four-minute scoring drought for the Fighting Knights with a clutch three-pointer to put the Blue and White back in front, 62-59.
- Following Beath's big-time three, Lynn covered some ground on a 6-2 run that forced Saint Leo to take its final timeout with 2:23 remaining, 68-61.
- Despite a valiant second-half effort from the Lions, a pair of free throws from Iuli sealed the 74-66 win for the Fighting Knights on the road.
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FIGHTING KNIGHT STATS
- For the game, Smith shot 7-12 from the field (46.6%), 3-7 from distance (42.2%), and 3-6 from the charity stripe (64.9%).
- Beath recorded his second double-double of the season, pulling down a season-high 16 rebounds with 10 points.
- 13 of Smith's 20 points came in the first half.
- Defensively, Smith swiped a team-high three steals in the contest.
- Beath and Iuli combined for eight assists with each recording four apiece.
- Four Fighting Knights (Smith, Iuli, Price, Beath) recorded double-digit scoring in the contest, combining for 58 of Lynn's 74 total points.
- The four aforementioned top scorers each played at least 30 minutes.
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UP NEXT:
The Fighting Knights will return home to host Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, January 25 at 4 p.m.
