BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Junior Julius Clark and sophomore Jacob Hogarth each scored 15 points, but it was not enough as the Gardner-Webb (0-3) men's basketball team dropped a 92-81 contest against visiting North Greenville on Monday evening inside Paul Porter Arena.
The Runnin' Bulldogs shot a 43.8% clip from the floor after knocking down 28-of-64 shots, including 7-for-26 from distance. North Greenville owned the glass, outrebounding GWU by a margin of 41-28. NGU's Zayden Edwards led all scorers with 25 points while Jacob Brown pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the Trailblazers.
North Greenville started the scoring with a deep three before the Dawgs used a 6-0 run, capped by a thunderous one-handed slam by sophomore guard Jacob Hudson, doubling up the Trailblazers early in the first half.
From that point, NGU caught fire from behind the arc, knocking down four triples while building a 19-13 lead with 11:30 left on the clock in the first. A single free throw trimmed the deficit to five, but North Greenville scored the next 10 points while building its biggest lead of the half, 29-14.
A layup by Hudson followed by nine straight points from Clark narrowed the Gardner-Webb deficit to 31-25, but the Trailblazers continued to knock down shots, maintaining a comfortable lead. Savion Brown beat the first half buzzer with a corner three, sending the visitors into the locker room leading 51-40.
Hogarth started the second half for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a hoop-and-harm before back-to-back layups from Colin Hawkins and Ace Talbert cut the lead to 55-50 just over two minutes into the second half.
After the Dawgs cut the NGU lead to a single possession, the Trailblazers connected on three more shots from behind the arc, ballooning the advantage back to double-digits, 67-56, heading into the under-12 media timeout.
Every time Gardner-Webb made a push, the Trailblazers answered with knockdown shooting from deep. The Runnin' Bulldogs closed the gap to 74-68 but that was as close as the score would get with NGU hanging on to hand the Dawgs a 92-81 loss.
The Runnin' Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, November 15 as they hit the road to take on the Phoenix of Elon. Game time is set for 8 p.m.
