Athletes In Action top SAPC in Knights lone exhibition

LAURINBURG, N.C.—All 10 Knights that saw playing time for St. Andrews Presbyterian College scored but Athletes In Action drilled 14 three-pointers to pull away for a 90-66 exhibition win on Tuesday evening in Harris Court.

AIA is a ministry that consists of former collegiate players who spread the word of Jesus Christ through the medium of sports competition. The much larger Athletes In Action squad had a hot hand shooting 55.7-percent including an impressing 14-for-26 (53.8%) from behind the arc.

SAPC shot 37.7% from the floor and 26.1% (6-for-23) from long range. The Knights committed 10 less turnovers than AIA (24-14) and had three more steals (10-7).

“Obviously we have some areas to work on, like every team does right now,” said St. Andrews third year head coach Richie Schueler.

A trio of Knights returnees reached double figures in front of a large home crowd. Junior Antonio Moffitt (Raleigh, N.C.) led the Royal Blue and White with 14 points. Classmate Aaron Christian (New Bedford, Mass.) bucketed 13 and senior Marvin Jackson (Gloucester, Va.) tallied 10 points.

Christian handed out a game-high six assists.

St. Andrews held a slim lead for majority of the first quarter of the game, with a layup by Moffitt giving SAPC its last advantage (17-15) with 10 minutes left in the first half. AIA followed with an 18-4 run to take control of contest. The ministry continued to lead by 10 (41-31) at halftime.

The Knights closed the gap to six a couple times early in the second half but Athletes In Action hit eight of its 14 three-pointers in the second half to slowly pull away to the 24-point victory.

Schueler added, ““I was proud of our fight and pride for the first 32 minutes, but it takes 40 minutes to win a ball game. We’re going to be fine once we make some adjustments and our kids continue to play at a high intensity level.”

St. Andrews got eight points from junior Ryan Streater (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Barry Tucker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) while Streater and senior Marcus Connor (Charlotte, N.C.) both corralled six rebounds. Tucker made a game-high three steals.

Former Western New Mexico University player Trey Clarkson and UNC Wilmington graduate Daniel Mercer led Athletes in Action with 15 points apiece. Clarkson scored all of his points on five made 3-pointers. Mercer shot 7-for-8 from the field en route to his 15 points. A total of five AIA players reached double digits with John Olinger (Willamette University), Dean Hadley (The Master’s College), and Ben Beran (South Dakota State University) all netting 11 points.

AIA held a 40-31 rebounding edge with 6-foot-8 John Vaudreiul (University of Minnesota Duluth) pulling down a game-high nine boards. The Athletes In Action reserves outscored the Knights bench by 30 (54-24).

St. Andrews will begin the 2010/2011 season with four consecutive road games before Thanksgiving. The Knights open up at Fayetteville State University on Monday at 7 p.m.