February 21, 2006 – ATLANTA – On Senior Night at Forbes Arena, Brandon Childs, the only senior on the squad, showed why he is The Man in the Maroon Tigers lineup.
Flying from one end of the court to the other, Childs threw up an array of layups, jumpers and dunks to the tune of 23 points. By the time he landed, the senior guard had propelled Morehouse to a 96-72 win over the LeMoyne-Owen Magicians.
Childs, along with his parents, Donald and Mamie Bradford, were celebrated at halftime by the Morehouse coaches and fans.
Following the picture-taking and a 44-24 halftime lead, Childs was even more energized, and threw down 17 of his game-high points. Five minutes into the second half, Childs picked the pocket of his point-guard opponent and went in for the second of his crowd-pleasing dunks.
Childs’ energy and enthusiasm was apparently infectious. As a team, the Maroon Tigers scored their highest point total of the season and had the highest shooting percentage of the season (58.3%). At times the Magicians defense seemed to vanish in thin air.
Four other Maroon Tigers scored in double figures. Jason Patterson scored 15 points and was often the beneficiary of Childs’ eight assists.
Forward Peter Price had 14 points and eight rebounds. Center James Beasley, with 13 points and 13 rebounds, recorded his first double-double since opening day.
The blowout victory coach Grady Brewer a chance to empty his bench and play some subs, a week before the start of the conference tournament.
Khalid Shabazz came off the bench to register his second best scoring day of the season with 11 points, to go with three rebounds.
Troy Gwynn was the high-point man for LeMoyne-Owen with 21 points, followed by Cedric Walker with 18, Adrian Pritchett with 12 and Tyrell Curry with 11.
LeMoyne-Owen, which had beaten Clark Atlanta last night, fell to 7-17 (4-14 SIAC).
Morehouse rose to 15-11 (12-9 SIAC) and will travel to Melbourne, FL. Friday to face nationally-ranked Florida Gulf Coast University.
The SIAC tournament will be held in Birmingham, AL, March 1-4. For information about brackets and updated scores, visit the website www.thesiac.com.
