January 10, 2012

Behind Balanced Attack Knights Win Record 14th Consecutive Home Game

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.