ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — The Southern Virginia University men's basketball team fell to N.C. Wesleyan, 88-61, at the Roger Taylor Invitational Friday night.

Brycen Harris led the Knights (1-9) in scoring with 13 points and eight rebounds while coming off the bench. Kimball Cottam tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, and Sam Armstrong also reached double-figures with 11 points. Ricardo Bullock guided the Battling Bishops (2-4) with a game-high 22 points while Aj Frye added 17 points, and Mitch Layton chipped in with 13.

The Knights led early 8-7 at the 15:00 mark of the opening half with a balanced scoring attack after four different Southern Virginia players found the scoring column. However, the Battling Bishops quickly went on an 8-0 run to lead 15-8 just under 13 minutes remaining before extending their lead to double figures. Southern Virginia cut the lead to five (27-32) at the 3:20 mark after seeing its largest deficit at the 6:50 mark (27-15) but once again N.C. Wesleyan responded with their own run to take a 40-30 lead at the break.

Armstrong kept the Knights within reach as he led the team with 11 points at the half while also leading the team with four rebounds. Cottam added six points while Harris and Calvin Seamons combined for nine points off the bench. Southern Virginia's offense struggled early, shooting 36.1 percent (13-for-36) from the field and just 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from three.

The Battling Bishops' Bullock led all scorers in the first half with 12 points.

With the Knights trailing 50-41 with 13:09 left in the game, the Battling Bishops extended their lead on a 10-0 run to lead now 60-41 with 11:33 remaining. From that point, Southern Virginia was unable to close the gap as the N.C. Wesleyan offense added one more final run to seal the game with the 88-61 victory.

The Battling Bishops outshot the Knights 54.4 percent (31-for-57) to 38.8 percent (26-for-67) from the floor and 56.3 percent (9-for-16) to 17.2 percent (5-for-29) from behind the arc.

The Knights conclude play at the Roger Taylor Invitational Saturday, Dec. 7 against Greensboro, Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.