FINAL SCORE: Washington Adventist 83, Apprentice School 77
RECORDS: Washington Adventist 11-12; Apprentice School 10-9
LOCATION: The Pitt/Takoma Park, MD
IN BRIEF: Junior Jay Melendez scored 24 points and hauled in 16 rebounds on Saturday night but the Builders dropped an 83-77 decision to USCAA Division I National Champion Washington Adventist University.
ON THE COURT

• The Builders started on a good note racing out to a 17-9 lead on a Jordan Wright layup with 12:34 left.
• They held an advantage for most of the first half taking a seven point lead on four different occasions.  The last one of those came with 5:41 left as Melendez topped in a Jamal Curry miss to lead 30-23.
• Wright hit a pair of free throws with 1:41 left to keep the Builders ahead 37-31, but the Shock charged with the last seven points of the half as a Jerry McFadden 3-pointer with 11 seconds left gave them a 38-37 halftime advantage.
• In the second half, the Builders scored six of the first seven points to take a 43-39 lead on a Johnnie Ferebee jumper with 17:33 left.  WAU went on a 14-2 run to lead 53-45 on a Martin Wilson tipin with 14:07 left.
• Apprentice School responded with a 12-3 run over the next 3:16 as a Dante Johnson 3-pointer gave the Builders a 57-56 lead with 10:51 left.
• Over the next four minutes, neither team held more than a four-point advantage.  The Builders tied the game at 63-all on a Ferebee jumper with 9:02 left and pushed it to 67-64 on another Ferebee jumper with 6:08 left.
• The teams went to the foul line a few times over the next nearly two minutes as a pair of Melendez freebies tied the game at 69 with 4:28 left.   A Tony Walton jumper with 3:47 left tied it at 71-all.
• WAU pulled away from there scoring nine of the next ten points as a pair of Martin Wilson free throws put the hosts up 80-72 with 17 seconds left.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Melendez was one rebound from his career high of 17 set twice against Maine-Fort Kent and Johnson University (FL) as a sophomore.
• Ferebee joined him in double figures as he was one assist from a double-double throwing in 14 points and nine assists.
• Johnson was the third double figure scorer as he went for a career-high 13 points hitting all three of his 3-pointers and grabbing four rebounds.
• The Builders were 31-of-78 from the floor (39.7%), 4-of-17 from 3-point range (23.5%) and 11-of-13 from the foul line (84.6%). They outrebounded the Shock 50-37.
• WAU had five in double figures with Eric Lindsey topped them with 21 points while Martin Wilson had a double-double of 14 points and 13 boards.  The shock were 28-of-57 from the floor (49.1%), 6-of-21 from 3-point range (28.6%) and 21-of-36 from the line (58.3%).

ON THE HORIZON
Melendez and Ferebee could potentially break the 1,000 point barrier soon as Ferebee has scored 975 points in his career and Melendez has 978.

NEXT UP
The men are now off until Feb. 11 when they host Mid-Atlantic Christian at 5 pm.  Note the game time change as this was scheduled for a 6pm start originally.