Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - Dec. 11

Men's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending December 10, 2006

CARSON-NEWMAN - C-N earned two victories this week. In a 79-67 victory over North Greenville, the Eagles overcame a two-point halftime deficit to take command early in the second half ... North Greenville's Amonzo Gantt posted a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in the first half and PJ Schumacher hit a three-pointer at the first half buzzer to give the Crusaders the halftime lead. On the first possession of the second half, Darren Williams reclaimed a Carson-Newman lead with a three-pointer. Andrew Nipper's layup gave North Greenville a 43-42 lead, but the Crusaders would not hold another lead ... Clay Scott started a 6-0 Eagle run with a rebound off a Deonte Williams missed free throw and put back to put C-N on top, 57-54. Kente Hart's layup and Scott's pair of free throws put the Eagles up seven points at 61-54 with 9:05 remaining. From there, the Eagles outscored the Crusaders, 18-13 to claim a 13-point victory ... The Eagles shot 19-of-26 from the free throw line and made 10-of-12 free throws in the last three minutes ... Scott finished with 15 points and eight rebounds while Darren Williams and Scott Williams contributed 12 points apiece. Scott Williams grabbed seven boards while Hart and Andy tipton paced the Eagle offense with six assists each ... In a 74-65 win over Maryville, the Eagles shot an impressive 81 percent from the field in the second half and 70 percent from the free throw line to earn their fourth victory of the season ... The Scots took a 38-34 lead at halftime, but the Eagles made a comeback led by Maryville native Andy Tipton. Tipton hit a jumper and Clay Scott scored a layup to pull C-N to within two points of Maryville's lead at 40-38 ... Scott Williams grabbed a missed Matt Glab shot and laid the ball into the net to even the score at 42-42 with 14 minutes remaining in the game. Off a timeout, Tipton nailed another jumper and Scott Williams scored for a 48-45 Eagle lead ... After the Scots pulled to within two points, Kente Hart made two free throws, Scott made another jumper and Tipton scored an easy layup off a Hart assist for a 58-51 Eagle advantage ... The Eagles capped an 8-3 run when Scott jammed a two-handed dunk and Deonte Williams brought the Holt Fieldhouse crowd to its feet with a one-handed tomahawk to give the Eagles a 60-51 lead with 7:30 to go ... Eric Anderson's layup got the Scots to within four with 2:23 to go, but Deonte Williams made two crucial free throws with 1:10 remaining and Scott Williams made a pair with 38 seconds remaining to seal the nine-point victory ... Hart had an impressive week for the Eagles. Hart scored 37 points in two games, was 11-for-15 from the free throw line (73 percent) for the week, and dished eight assists in both games and was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range. Hart was 12-for-19 from the field (63 percent) during the week.

CATAWBA - Catawba split a pair of games this week, defeating Montreat 93-87 then falling at Lander 78-61 ... The win against Montreat snapped a four-game losing streak for the Catawba Indians, who led by 20 with just under four minutes to play ... Chris Wooldridge connected on 9-of-14 shots to score 19 points in the win ... The senior also grabbed seven rebounds with a steal and two blocks ... Brian Graves followed with 14 points and dished out eight assists ... Freshmen Antonio Houston and Rob Fields also reached double figures, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively ... The Catawba Indians shot 57 percent from the field, with freshmen Fields and Donzell Williams combining to go 5-of-8 from three-point range ... Catawba had 24 assists in the win while committing just a dozen turnovers to help offset a 42-30 deficit in rebounds ... Catawba shot just 33 percent (22-of-66) in falling to Lander in its first road game of the season ... Lander hit on 21-of-22 at the line to help secure the win ... Houston tallied 15 points in the loss, while Graves added 10 points and six rebounds ... Wooldridge had nine points and seven boards while adding three blocked shots ... Houston continues to lead the team in scoring at 15.9 points per game ... Wooldridge is averaging 15 points and eight rebounds ... The senior needs just 58 points to reach 1,000 for his career. He has moved into second place on Catawba's all-time blocked shot chart and stands just 16 behind career leader Alex Luyk ... Graves, who is scoring 11.7 points a game has moved into seventh place on the all-time charts in both assists (438) and steals (132) ... The Catawba Indians will travel to USC Upstate on Saturday and host Lander on Sunday to close its pre-Christmas schedule ... The Indians will return to action following the break at the LR/Moretz Sports Classic, facing Barton and Augusta State on Dec. 29 and 30 before beginning conference play by hosting Lenoir-Rhyne on Jan. 3.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team was off last week and will next play on Friday, December 15, when they play Francis Marion in the AASU/Chatham Orthopaedic Holiday Basketball Classic at 3 p.m., in Savannah, Ga. … Lenoir-Rhyne plays Armstrong Atlantic State again the following day (Saturday, December 16 at 8:00 p.m.).

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Railsplitters found out that life on the road can be tough as they went 0-2 this week… At Brevard they got everything right but the final score as they fell 73-66…. Joplin Johnson led LMU with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds… Other scorers in double figures were Beau Brown with 15 points and David Lopez with 10…. The difference in the game? 10 three-pointers made by Brevard…. The road woes continued on Saturday as Benedict put together a 19-6 second half run to win over LMU 81-68…. Lopez led the Railsplitters with 20 points…. Joplin Johnson added in 12 in the loss.

MARS HILL - MHC played only one game last week. The Spartans of USC Upstate came from behind to defeat the Lions' men's basketball team Saturday night in Stanford Arena, 73-70. MHC fell to 3-5 on the season ... Ante Pikunic (Zadar, Croatia) hit a layup with 40 seconds left in regulation to give the Spartans a two-point (72-70) advantage they would not relinquish. The Lions' missed a shot in the lane on their next possession and Preston Eppinger (Stone Mountain, GA) was fouled after he rebounded the miss. Eppinger then hit the first of two foul shots to make the final tally, 73-70. MHC took a desperation 3-pointer with three ticks left but it bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded ... The Lions came out of the gate strong and led 15-2 with 13:02 left in the first frame after Jarred Pickering (Albany Creek, Queensland, Australia) hit one of two free throws. Upstate settled down and went on a 33-to-21 run to close out the first period and send the teams into the locker room with MHC holding a slight, one point (36-35) advantage ... The Lions hit 51.9 percent (14-27) of their shots in the first half. USC Upstate came out of the locker room on fire and scored eight unanswered points to take a 43-36 lead with 16:42 left in regulation after Luke Payne (Spartanburg, SC) hit a shot from behind the arc ... The Spartans biggest lead of the game came at the 13:51 mark when they led by nine points (47-38) when Jabreel Moton (Cincinnati, OH) hit a 15-foot jumper ... The Lions fought back out scoring the Spartans 14-to-2 over the next four minutes to take a three-point lead at the 9:42 mark after Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) nailed a 3-pointer ... The game then saw four lead changes and six ties before Pikunic gave Upstate the lead for good with 40 seconds left in the contest. Jeremy Byrd (Greenville, SC) led USC Upstate with 15 points followed by Pikunic with 12. Eppinger scored 11 points while Payne and Moton added 10 points apiece. Byrd dished out six assists in the win ... Matt Williams (Henderson, NC) led MHC with 14 points and six assists. He scored all of his points in the first stanza. Polite and Elliott McDowell (Canton, NC) added 12 points each in the game ... McDowell came off the bench to record five steals in the loss. P.J. Gore (Little River, SC) was the only other Lion in double figures with 11 points ... After shooting well in the first half, MHC cooled off in the last half to convert on only 39.3 percent (11-28) of their shots. Upstate won the rebound battle, 39-to-34. MHC scored 34 points in the paint, 12 off the break and received 30 points off their bench. The teams combined for 50 turnovers in the contest. A combined 69 points in the game were scored off of those miscues ... MHC will take some time off for Christmas break and return to action on January 2. The Lions will host St. Andrews College at 2 p.m. in Stanford Arena.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team began its first winning streak of the season after a 52-51 victory over Erskine College Saturday ... The Erskine game was Newberry's third consecutive win in Eleazer Arena this season, and 7th straight home win dating back to last season ... Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) sealed the win for the Indians with a three-pointer from the left corner with 7.2 seconds remaining in the game ... The Indians led by as many as nine points with 9:38 to play as a Chandler layup gave Newberry a 45-36 lead ... But Erskine held the Indians scoreless for the next 8:24 going on a 15-0 run capped off by a free throw by Brandon Wright to take a 51-45 lead with 1:20 left to play ... Newberry began its comeback with a thunderous dunk from Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) that he followed up on the next trip down the floor with a steal and a breakaway layup to narrow the deficit to two points ... On Erskine's next trip down the floor, Wright missed a jump shot to give the Indians a chance to tie or win with the shot clock off ... Point guard Alonzo Hinds (Freeport, Bahamas) found Chandler wide open in the corner, and the senior preseason all-conference pick drained the three to give the Indians the victory ... Chandler led Newberry in scoring with 13 points ... Newcomer Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.) broke into double digits in scoring for the first time in his Newberry tenure, as he netted 12 points as well as grabbing eight rebounds ... Martin also scored nine points and snagged eight boards to tie Spillers for the team lead in that category ... Cory Etheridge (Columbia, S.C.) also scored nine for the Indians ... Newberry plays just one more contest before opening SAC play, as the Indians travel to Anderson to face off against the Trojans of Anderson University at 4 p.m. on Saturday ... The Indians' next home game is on Jan. 3, as Newberry hosts Wingate University in the SAC opener for both teams.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian fell 68-64 to USC Upstate in its only game last week … Sean Dixon matched his season high in the loss with 21 points after going 8-for-14 from the field … Bryan Bostic tallied a double-double in the contest with 14 points and 10 rebounds … The 10 boards are a career-high for the Norcross, Ga. native … Grant Herren had a season-high tying 15 points in the game … Presbyterian plays two games next week, traveling to Milledgeville, Ga. to square off against Georgia College & State on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. … The Blue Hose conclude their week with a home tilt against Erskine … Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men's basketball team went 1-1 last week to improve its mark to 5-2 on the season. Tusculum opened the week with an 81-68 home win over Glenville State. Five Tusculum players scored in double figures ... Jordan Lear and Jimmy Boone accounted for 17 points each, while Serge Poppe added 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Chris Poore and Gabe Story added 11 points each, while Eric Williams posted five assists and a game-high 10 rebounds ... Tusculum shot 54 percent from the floor, marking the fifth time in six games (all wins) that TC has shot over 50 percent or better. Tusculum led wire-to-wire as Poppe scored the Pioneers first eight points as TC carried a 42-32 advantage into the locker room ... UNC Asheville placed five of its players in double figures in its 84-66 win over visiting Tusculum. The Pioneers placed four players in double figures led by Lear with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Poore added a dozen points, while Poppe and Lavanti Jeter posted 10 points each in the loss ... UNCA used a 17-6 run over the final six minutes of the first half to take a 48-32 lead at intermission. The Bulldogs jumped out to a pair of 20 point leads in the second period, but the Pioneers got a pair of three-pointers from Lear as TC trailed 66-53 with 6:45 remaining ... UNCA answered with a 13-4 spurt to lead 79-57 to put the game out of reach ... Tusculum has made a three-point field goal in 533 straight games ... Tusculum continues its three-game road trip on Monday when it travels to Athens, W.Va. for a rematch with Concord University. TC defeated the Mountain Lions 80-67 two weeks ago in Greeneville. The Pioneers will wrap up their road swing with Saturday's tilt at NCAA South Atlantic Region foe USC Aiken.

WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team (5-1 overall) was ranked number 23 in last week's NABC/Division II top 25 coaches' poll (released Dec. 5). Wingate was one of four newcomers to last week's poll. The Bulldogs did not play last week due to final examinations, but Wingate will return to the hardwood this week with two contests ... Wingate will visit Anderson (S.C.) University Wednesday for a 7 p.m. (listen at Red Zone Media). Bulldog junior forward/guard Sean Barnette surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his career as the Bulldogs defeated Anderson (S.C.) University 83-61 Monday night, Nov. 27 in Cuddy Arena on the Wingate campus ... Barnette scored 18 points against the Trojans. Wingate senior guard Bill Smith had 15 points and seven assists against Anderson, while junior guard Sam Holmes contributed 14 points and six assists off the bench ... On Saturday afternoon, Wingate will venture to the historic Grady Cole Center in Charlotte to face Queens University of Charlotte in a 4 p.m. tilt. On Dec. 10, 2005, the Wingate Bulldogs and the Queens Royals needed overtime to decide a victor in Cuddy Arena. The Royals prevailed 90-88, with both teams placing four players in double figures ... On Sunday morning, the Wingate men's basketball team will travel to Nassau, Bahamas to participate in the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout. The Bulldogs will take on the defending NCAA Division II national champions, Winona State (Minn.) University, on December 19. Another NCAA tournament team from last season, Drury (Mo.) University, will join Hillsdale (Mich.) College in rounding out the field for the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout ... The four teams in the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout have a combined record of 24-3 overall entering this week's play. Number one Winona State is 7-0 overall, while Drury is 7-1 overall. Hillsdale (receiving votes in last week's top 25 poll) checks in at 5-1 overall.