DANVILLE — Playing on the Dick Shockey Court at the Mary Miller Center has become a second home for the Davidson-Davie Storm.
In their sixth straight appearance at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament, the Storm is now 5-0 in first-round games after a 75-69 triumph over the Manta Rays from Florida State College-Jacksonville.
But, it was anything but easy, for Davidson-Davie. The Storm trailed for most of the first half and they needed some free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.
Lamonte Cousar, a 6-foot-6 freshman, came off the bench to score a game-high 25 points for the Storm (30-3) to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. Also scoring in double figures for Davidson-Davie was Aden Taylor with 16 and Ethan English contributed 11.
FSC-Jacksonville (28-6) was led in scoring by Chrisean Oree with 19 points off the bench, while Jordan Smith had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Davidson-Davie advances to play top-seeded Pima in the quarterfinals.