MURFREESBORO – While Lynchburg College was busy shooting out the lights with a torrid 54 percent shooting, Chowan College was held to just a 35.5 percent mark.

The end result was the Braves were unable to claim the Chowan Shootout title for the third consecutive year as they dropped an 82-71 decision to the Hornets.

The Braves led 34-30 at the break, but Lynchburg eased their way into the lead when Todd Crown hit a three-pointer with 16:58 to play in the second half off a steal from Pat Prior.

Chowan answered on a hoop from Trayvon Lathan and the two teams battled back and forth until Prior hit a lay-up with 14:54 top lay and was followed by Crown grabbing a steal and turning it into a lay-up seconds later to push Lynchburg to a 46-42 advantage.

A steal by the Hornets’ Ryan Pehanick a minute later resulted in another Prior score to push the Lynchburg edge to six (48-42).

Chowan rallied to within one (50-49) after a triple from Joseph Cowan and a pair of free throws from Marcus Artis.

The Hornets answered with a 9-0 run during which Chowan committed five turnovers. The stretch, which posted Lynchburg to a 69-60 lead, was paced by buckets from Dedrick Craft, Pehanick and Andy Albright as well as a shot from the charity stripe by Crown.

Roland Brown finally stopped the Lynchburg run with a hoop at the 8:46 mark. The next five minutes saw each team match the other bucket for bucket with Lathan finally trimming the Lynchburg margin back to eight (69-61) with 3:12 to play.

Four consecutive free throws from Albright gave Lynchburg a double-digit lead at 73-62, but the Braves fought back with a pair of free throws by Cowan and a trey and two free throws from Brown to trim the lead to 76-69.

Chowan would get no closer, however as the Hornets used timely free throw shooting to seal the victory.

Brown, who had 12 points on the night, started the contest with a three-pointer, but Lynchburg answered with five points from Craft who hit a lay-up before burying a trey of his own.

Chowan took the lead back on four shots from the charity stripe (two each from Lathan and Perry) before an Artis hoop with 16:20 to play.

The Hornets countered with a trey from Albright, but Lathan rolled off four in succession, two on a lay-up and two from the charity stripe to give Chowan a 13-8 edge.

The margin remained near the same for the next four minutes, before a pair of free tosses from Prior and a Craig Wermuth field goal tied the game with 6:07 to play in the first half.

A Lathan hoop gave Chowan a short-lived lead as Craft answered with a three-pointer to put Lynchburg up 27-26.

Chowan rolled off five straight points off hoops from Artis and Wayne Hambrick and a free throw from Titus Stepney.

A three-pointer by Pete Manos cut the lead to 31-30, but the Braves answered on a triple by Perry to grab a 34-30 edge at the intermission.

Lynchburg (82)

Dedrick Craft – 20, Andy Albright – 14, Todd Crown – 13, P. Prior – 9, R. Pehanick – 7, R. Fairchild – 6, P. Manos – 5, C. Wermuth – 4, D. Sheaffer – 4

Chowan (71)

Trayvon Lathan – 15, Roland Brown – 12, Joseph Cowan – 11, Andy Perry – 10, M. Artis – 8, O. Johnson – 4, J. Wilkinson – 4, T. Stepney – 3, B. Womack – 2, W. Hambrick – 2