FINAL SCORE: Apprentice School 93, Mid-Atlantic Christian 64

RECORD: Apprentice School 10-6, Mid-Atlantic Christian 4-9

LOCATION: Chesson Gym – Elizabeth City, NC

ON THE COURT: Jay Melendez scored 21 points in 22 minutes of action to lead four in double figures as the Apprentice School used a 21-7 run over a nine minute span of the second half to pull away from Mid-Atlantic Christian University for a 93-64 U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association win on Wednesday night.

The Mustangs opened quickly out of the gate as they held a 7-4 lead on a Michael Anderson 3-pointer with 17:42 left.  Layups from Tony Walton and Lavonte Thomas put the Builders up 8-7 with 16:25 remaining.

Mid-Atlantic used an 11-4 run midway in the first half to get back into the contest at 21-20 on a David Barron 3-pointer with 9:09 left.  The Builders started to regain composure of the game and pushed the advantage to 45-30 on a Thomas jumper with one minute remaining and held a 45-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, MACU got within 13 points on a pair of Anderson free throws with 16:56 left to trail 54-41.  A Melendez layup a minute later got the Builders going on the 21-7 run that saw the margin grow to 75-48 on a Melendez layup with 7:50 left.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Johnnie Ferebee just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine assists for the Builders.
• Tony Walton had 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while junior Jamal Curry also had 12 points but hauled in a game-high 17 rebounds.
• The Builders, who were out-rebounded at half 20-18 by the smaller Mustangs, turned it around in the second half on the boards owning a 39-20 advantage in the second half for a 57-40 margin on the game. That produced a points in the paint advantage for the Builders of 60-22.
• The Builders had nine turnovers on the night which is almost a season-low, only an eight turnover performance at Chowan in November has been lower this year.
• Apprentice School was 41-of-90 from the floor (45.6%) 4-of-18 from 3-point range (22.2%) and 7-of-8 from the foul line (87.5%). 
• Mid-Atlantic Christian, who was paced by Anderson with 20 points, was 24-of-65 from the floor (36.9%), 7-of-20 from 3-point range (35%) and 9-of-20 from the foul line (45%).

NEXT UP

Friday night the Builders will hit the NEW home floor at the Apprentice School Gym as they'll face USCAA 5^th-ranked Lindenwood-Belleville at 8pm in the second game of the 2014 MLK Classic.