Written by Chris Pendleton
BUENA VISTA, VA—For the second time this season the Southern Virginia University men's basketball team had five players reach double-figures as the Knights pushed their home winning streak to a program-record 14 games Tuesday night against the Golden Bears of West Virginia University Institute of Technology.
Southern Virginia's 14-game home winning streak is the longest in the program's 15-year history beginning two seasons ago on Feb. 20, 2008 with the Knights' 74-63 home victory over Bluefield College. Southern Virginia is now 28-3 (.903 winning percentage) in The Barn under fourth-year Head Coach Brian Pendleton—another program record.
Casey Nye led the way for the Knights with 20 points while brothers Jonathan Jacobson and Isaac Jacobson each poured in a season-high 19 points. The youngest Jacobson brother, Anders Jacobson, pitched in 10 points and freshman Justin Langford provided a huge spark off Southern Virginia's bench scoring 12 points to go along with five rebounds and a team-high four assists.
Tuesday's game was tight early as neither team led by more than six points during the opening 17 minutes of play before I. Jacobson hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers giving Southern Virginia (6-6) a nine-point advantage (42-33) with 2:27 remaining in the first half. An I. Jacobson free-throw and another 3-pointer from brother J. Jacobson pushed the Knights' lead over WVU-Tech (10-5) to ten points (46-36) just before intermission.
WVU-Tech began the second half with a 11-3 run, cutting Southern Virginia's advantage to a single basket (49-47) at the 16:31 mark, but the Knights never relinquished their lead as clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch—Southern Virginia made 19-of-24 (79.2%) second-half free-throws after going 5-for-11 from the charity stripe in the first half—secured their third straight victory and 14th consecutive home win.
Ball control played a key role in Tuesday's matchup as the Knights turned the ball over a season-low five times against WVU-Tech compared to the Golden Bears' 14 turnovers, which led to 17 Southern Virginia points.
The Knights also shot a season-best 58.3 percent from behind the arc on Tuesday going 7-of-12 from long-range against WVU-Tech's physical brand of defense.
Men's basketball has two days off before hosting Asbury University (6-8) on Friday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. EDT in Game 2 of the Knights New Year Classic. Southern Virginia will then play Tennessee Temple University (6-8) the following day, Saturday, Jan. 14, at 2 p.m. EDT.
Watch a replay of Tuesday's win and both of the Knights' games this weekend on Southern Virginia Athletics' online broadcast portal.