Falcons Rip Virginia-Lynchburg 114-61

Box Score RALEIGH, N.C. - Junior guard Amere May (South Haven, MI) scored 28 points to lead a balanced attack as Saint Augustine's University rolled over Virginia University of Lynchburg 114-61 for their fourth straight victory in a non-conference men's college basketball game at Emery Gymnasium on Saturday, December 7, 2013.

Senior guard Joel Kindred (Raleigh, NC) added 18 points and senior center Jonathan Crawley (Richmond, VA) added 13 points, 9 rebounds, three blocks and three assists for the Falcons. Freshman forward Tavarez Hall (Beech Island, SC) registered 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting and seven rebounds off the bench while sophomore forward Daniel Clark (Danville, VA) contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. Reserve senior center Aru Kok (Perth, Australia) made his presence felt in the lane with a career-high six blocks for the Falcons, who amassed 11 blocks as a team.

After five consecutive road games, the Falcons won at home by a lopsided score, which was fine with First-Year Head Coach Tony Sheals. He was especially pleased with Kok's performance.

"It was good to see all the players have fun because we have been in some dogfights lately," said Sheals, whose team won three of five road games during that stretch, "I am really happy with Aru. He hasn't had a chance to play a whole lot this season. He had the opportunity to come in and score some points and get six blocks."

The 114 points and the 53-point margin of victory are the largest for the Falcons since December 15, 2005 when they defeated Washington Adventist University 124-62. The Falcons have reached the century mark three times in nine games this season.

The Falcons (6-3 overall) jumped out to a 27-7 lead on a three-pointer by freshman guard Anthony Gaskins (Greenville, NC) and coasted the rest of the way. He drilled another three-pointer right before the half for a 56-22 halftime lead.

The margin continued to grow in the second half. May scored on a layup to make the score 72-29. The Falcons reached triple digits when Crawley threw down a dunk for a 101-52 lead. The dunk was part of a 34-16 run in the final 10 minutes.

The Falcons played 11 players and each one scored in the rout. They led in nearly every category including field goal percentage (59 to 32), rebounds (58-32), steals (11-6) and assists (23-8). They outscored the Dragons in the paint (72-30), off turnovers (32-11), on second chance points (22-11), on fastbreak points (16-0) and in bench points (39-29). The Falcons also made 7 of 18 three pointers for 39 percent in addition to forcing 21 turnovers.

"I thought we improved in a lot of areas [today]," Sheals said. "We shared the ball, we played well together and we rebounded the ball really well. The only disappointment is the 20 turnovers against a team that mostly played us in zone."

Coach Sheals went deep in his bench as no Falcon played more than 24 minutes. Several reserves stood out including Hall, who scored in double figures for the first time. Gaskins had six points, a game-high six assists, three rebounds and two steals while junior guard Raheem Jolliffe (Fayetteville, NC) scored eight points.

Junior guard John Koger (Greensboro, NC) finished with six points, four rebounds and three assists while Kok added five points to his six blocks. Junior guard-forward Tayron Gibson (Alexandria, VA) had two points, three rebounds and two steals before leaving the game in the first half with a shoulder injury.

"I was happy with the performance of all the kids," Sheals said. "The only bad to come out of this game was the injury to Gibson. He is a very important link to the team, and I hope he is OK."

The Dragons scored the first bucket and led 4-3 before the Falcons took over. Reserve Chris Calvin scored 18 points and Dennis Gravely added 10 points for the Dragons (5-9 overall).

The Falcons will play again before the Christmas break. They host Allen University at Emery Gymnasium on Saturday, December 14 at 1 p.m. It will be the second of four straight home games for the Falcons.

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