CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball Team suffered its first defeat of the 2020-21 campaign at the hands of No. 19 Queens on Saturday afternoon. In a last minute rescheduling, the Royals came away with an 88-68 victory inside Curry Arena.

GAME INFORMATION:
Final: Queens 88, Lenoir-Rhyne 68
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (2-1, 2-1 SAC) | Queens (3-2, 2-1 SAC)
Location: Curry Arena

STATS AND INFO:
- The game was agreed upon by both teams about 27 hours before tip-off as the Royals were originally scheduled to take on Mars Hill. However, due to COVID-19 protocols, that game was postponed and the Bears and Royals decided to play 
- Queens shot 61.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from long range in the victory. The last time an opponent shot over 60 percent from the field in a game was Lincoln Memorial who hit on 60.3 percent of their field goal attempts on Dec. 18, 2019
- After hitting 26 free throws in their most recent game, Lenoir-Rhyne only hit two from the charity stripe. 
- The 23 total rebounds by Lenoir-Rhyne is the lowest amount since grabbing just 22 boards at Chowan back in Dec. 30, 2016
- Queens now owns an 18-10 edge in the head-to-head series and are 10-4 against LR in Charlotte

FIRST HALF:
- Queens hit on 61.5 percent of their field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes, while the Bears shot 42.9 percent from the field
- LR grabbed an 18-16 advantage before Queens went on a 20-8 run to take the upper hand
- Despite the hot shooting, Queens took just a seven point lead into the break at 41-34 after Armon Muldrew scored just before the halftime buzzer

SECOND HALF:
- Queens flexed their muscle to start the second half and pusthed the lead to 55-38 just four minutes into the second half
- Lenoir-Rhyne cut the lead to 12 at 61-49 off an R.J. Gunn 3-pointer with 13:54 but the Bears wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way
- Queens extended the lead to as much as 21 in the second half

ABOUT THE BEARS:
- Darius Simmons led the Bears with 16 points and now needs just 28 more points to reach 1,000 for his career
- Gunn poured in 13 points and sits at 955 for his career
- Zim Fields made his first start of the season and scored 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting
- Muldrew scored nine points of the bench, a career-high early in the career of the freshman

NOTABLE ROYALS:
- Malcolm Stevenson paced the hosts with a 21-point, 7-rebound performance where he went 8-for-13 from the field and 4-of-5 from long range
- Gavin Rains had 14 points and seven boards and went 6-for-7 from the floor
- 11 different players scored for Queens

UP NEXT:
The Bears jump right back to action on Saturday against another ranked opponent when No. 2 Lincoln Memorial comes to town for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff.