Men's basketball rolls behind Sullivan domination

LAURINBURG, N.C. - The inside-out dominance of Markelo Sullivan moved No. 5-ranked Union one step closer to a perfect regular season in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

Sullivan scored a career-best 30 points on a highly efficient 13-19 true shooting and the Bulldogs improved to 21-0 in the AAC with a 94-75 win over the Knights on the road Tuesday.

Sullivan missed a layup on the Bulldogs' opening possession, but quickly moved past that misstep, connecting on a layup try on the following possession before turning his attention to the 3-point line. Sullivan hit 6-of-9 3-point tries on the night with five of those makes coming in the opening 7 minutes, 7 seconds as he scored 18 of Union's first 29 points.

He capped his dominant night with another layup with 3:22 to play, his final basket before heading to the bench having helped the Bulldogs build an 89-70 lead. He made 11-of-17 from the field and hit both of his two free throw attempts, while also recording six assists, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Sullivan's play overshadowed a dominant second half from Terrin Hamilton. After going scoreless with just two rebounds in the first half, Hamilton scored 18 point with seven boards in the second, making 7-of-10 from the field.

Deonte Douglas added 18 points with Markelle Turner scoring 11 to go along with six assists.

DJ Mercer also continued to give the Bulldogs a scoring boost off the bench with 10 points. Mercer is averaging 14.3 points over the last four games, scoring in double-figures three times in that stretch.

Now 23-1 overall Union, which is now more than a calendar year removed from its last AAC loss, needs just three more wins to secure an unbeaten run through conference.

Next up will be a Thursday road tilt at Tennessee Wesleyan at 6 p.m. Thursday will be a makeup game from a contest originally slated to be played last Saturday.