Phelps’ 34 points Paces Wallace State Men’s Basketball Past Trevecca Nazarene at Tom Drake Coliseum

HANCEVILLE--Wallace State guard Marese Phelps scored at will Monday night, resuming an early-season trend for the 6-foot-1 guard and the men’s basketball team. 

Phelps scored Wallace State’s first 11 points of the game, poured in seven 3-pointers on the night and finished with a game-high 34 as the Lions rolled to an 89-63 victory over Trevecca Nazarene University’s JV team at Tom Drake Coliseum. 

“I felt it was my responsibility to get us a good lead and help my teammates settle in,” Phelps said. “We were ready to go. Once I got going, the whole team seemed to go harder.” 

It was Wallace State’s second home win in three nights under first-year head coach John Meeks, whose team connected on 13 3-pointers. 

“Right now it’s all offense for us. We’ve made more 3-pointers in two games than it seems we have in practice all year. Our offense is there,” Meeks said. “We’ve got to step up the intensity defensively. Our guys have to buy into playing defense before worrying about offense. I did feel like we played better defensively in the second half, but I told them either we were going to play defense or practice after the game.” 

Behind Phelps’ early assault, Wallace State charged out to a 20-4 lead over the Trojans. The Lions (3-1) pushed the advantage to 39-26 at the half. 

Wallace State extended the cushion to 54-34 with 15:15 remaining in the game after Phelps drilled 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions. Trevecca Nazarene never got within 14 points the rest of the way. 

Phelps came to Wallace State with Meeks from Louisburg College (N.C.) in the offseason and through four games is averaging 29 points per game, by far the best output for the Lions. 

Javan Wells added 17 points to Wallace State’s attack Monday night, while Lazedrick Williams scored 10. Michael Glenn and Austin Collie each added six points. 

For Trevecca, Kevin Ohen led the way with 17 points. Bilal Abdul Raheem contributed 10 points.

Wallace State resumes its homestand Thursday at 7 p.m., hosting Northeast Mississippi College.