The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MALACHI McCoy’s Benedict Tigers had their worst shooting outing of the season in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament finale and finished as runners-up.

McCoy finished with 13 points and a game high 15 rebounds in a 76-62 loss to Savannah State in the SIAC title game Saturday night in the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

With the loss, the Tigers dropped to 22-7 and will now await an at-large bid for the NCAA Division II Tournament.

After shooting just 24 percent, Benedict trailed 46-15 at the half and never recovered.

“We just didn’t respond well. We got punched in the mouth early,” said Benedict head coach Artis Maddox.

“We missed layups, made turnovers. You just can’t have that when you’re trying to win championships. Kudos to Savannah State, they forced us into those turnovers and forced us into those missed layups. We were trying to chip away at it. We did a great job the first 10 or 12 minutes of the second half, but then we got in foul trouble and started putting them at the line.”

McCoy was named to the All-Tournament team. In the opener against LeMoyne-Owen he finished with 10 points and six rebounds, followed by 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in a win over no.19 Miles College.

McCoy’s breakout season was filled with career highs, averaging 10.9 points and a team-leading 8.9 rebounds per game. He also leads the team with 41 blocked shots.

As a freshman he averaged 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and last year in the COVID shortened season he averaged just 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

The Berry Islands native said he’s seen the team continue to grow over the course of the last three seasons he has been with the programme. “I’ve grown, I’ve seen the team grow. When I came here we were a 14 win team,” McCoy said. “To go from that to 23 wins, I think it’s pretty good.”