Nelson Men Complete Commiving Comeback Victory at Buccaneers

The Nelson Warriors' Men's Basketball team (7-4) overcame their third straight sluggish first half to storm back and stun the Park University Buccaneers 65-60 on the road, delivering another signature second-half knockout that has become the trademark of Coach Kole Ebert's squad.

"This was a great team win," Coach Ebert remarked following his team's tremendous comeback. "They battled hard. Unfortunately, we're a little more used to getting behind early than I would like, but the guys have shown that they can still recover. Twice now they had started out slow and come back to win. As champions, no one is going to give us an easy time. We need to face adversity head on and learn from it."

For the third consecutive game, the Warriors dug themselves an early hole. After battling evenly midway through the first half, Park closed the period on a crushing 15-0 run over the final 4:17, turning a one-point Nelson lead into a 33-19 deficit at the break. The Warriors went ice-cold during that stretch, missing all eight field-goal attempts and committing two turnovers, ultimately tying the program-low 19 first-half points set just one game earlier.

Whatever coach said in the locker room worked because when they second half opened, the Buccaneers faced a different team than the one they had in the first half.

Tapping into their inner warrior spirit, Nelson exploded out of the gates with a ferocious 29-13 surge, seizing their first lead since 19-18 at 48-46 and never looking back. Despite opening the second half 0-3 from the field, the Warriors shot a scorching 17-of-29 (58.6%) after the break, flipping the script while their defense suffocated Park, holding the Buccaneers to 9-of-26 from the floor and a dismal 1-of-10 from three over the final 20 minutes.

The dramatic comeback victory was in no small part due to a domination of the glass, winning the rebounding battle 45-33, and keeping turnovers low (12 for Nelson, 11 for Park).

Zoe Holman had a great game overall, tying Keron Bailey's bench effort with a game-high 17 points. Holman added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks to his line, while Bailey recorded his second double-double in three games, finishing with 10 boards.

Calvin Windley and Wyatt Mackay each just missed out on double-doubles themselves, finished with 13 and 10 rebounds, several of which were massive in their team's ability to hold onto the victory down the stretch, while scored 8 and 9 points, respectively.

For the Buccaneers, Tyson Banks recorded 13 points, while Tanner Pate finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Eli Fleming came off the bench for 12 points, all on 4-6 shooting from 3.

The Nelson men travel down the road to Arizona Christian University in Glendale on December 11 at 7pm, before visiting Ottawa University on December 13, at 7pm.

Do not forget to follow Nelson Athletics on X at @NelsonWarriors and Instagram at @nelsonwarriors.athletics.