Guilford Wins In NCAA Men's Basketball Debut

GAME STATISTICS

Baltimore, Md. (3/2/07) - Ben Strong led five Guilford College students in double-figure scoring with 24 points in the Quakers' 101-81 win over Manhattanville in an first-round NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament game in Johns Hopkins University's Goldfarb Gym. Guilford (22-4) advances to play Johns Hopkins in Saturday's second round in Goldfarb. The Blue Jays (24-4) reached the second round with an 84-72 comeback win over Villa Julie in Friday's second game.

Strong scored seven points during a 12-0 Guilford run in the opening minutes that opened a 22-7 Quakers' edge 12:34 before halftime. The Valiants (23-6) never drew closer than nine points and trailed 53-36 at halftime. Strong had 16 points at the break on six-of-nine field-goal shooting. Jordan Snipes added 11 of his 18 points in the opening half. The Quakers made 20-of-31 field goals (64.5%) in the first half, while Manhattanville shot 13-for-37 (35.1%).

Caleb Kimbrough's three-pointer 80 seconds into the second half opened a 58-36 lead, but the Valiants trimmed the deficit to 60-48 with 15:41 left in the game with a 12-2 run. Manhattanville made eight free throws during the spurt.

A Clay Henson trifecta followed by Justin Strickland's traditional three-pointer and a putback by George Neville restored the Quakers' edge to 70-50 with 13:04 remaining. Manhattanville pulled no closer than 14 points as Guilford went on to its sixth 100-point game of the season.

Strong, who shot nine-of-12 from the floor and made all six free throws, added nine rebounds. The Quakers, ranked second among Division III rebounding margin leaders, enjoyed a 46-32 advantage on the glass. Eric Belkoski scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Guilford. Rookie Tyler Sanborn enjoyed the finest game of his brief career with a career-high 10 points and seven boards in 12 minutes off the bench. Strickland finished with 12 points on five-of-seven shooting from the floor.

Donte Chisholm led the Valiants with 19 points, 13 in the second half. Brian Fink contributed 18 points and Cody Moffett notched a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 10 boards. The Skyline Conference champions shot 37.1% from the floor, seven-of-25 from three-point land.