Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 8, 2007
Men's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 7, 2007
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Eagles began conference play with two close losses. C-N fell to SAC newcomer Lincoln Memorial, 78-73 at home and then to Newberry, 63-60 on the road ... Against LMU, Kente Hart scored 14 points, but LMU's David Lopez hit a key three-point basket late in the game as Lincoln Memorial defeated Carson-Newman, 78-73 ... The Eagles (6-5, 0-1 SAC) fought back from a 37-26 halftime deficit with a 13-8 run midway through the second half to tie the game at 55-55 on a Scott Williams trey. Clay Scott's layup put the the Eagles to within two points at 67-65 with 3:39 remaining. Kente Hart's two free throws kept the Eagles within striking distance at 69-67 with just more than two minutes to play, but Beau Brown made a key steal which led to Lopez's three points. Andy Tipton and Darren Williams made threes to get the Eagles within three points at 76-73 with 25 seconds to go, but Lopez made two free throws to ice the game for the Railsplitters (6-4, 1-0 SAC) ... The Eagles led Newberry, 31-30 after one half of play, but were held to 35 percent shooting and made just one three-pointer in the game. C-N scored 12 straight points from the free throw line in the second half to stay within striking distance at 56-54 with 4:35 remaining. Andy Tipton ended the Eagles' field goal drought with a jumper to tie the game at 56-56 with 2:51 left in the game. After Clemente Martin made a free throw to give the Indians a one-point lead, Scott made a layup with 1:45 remaining to give the Eagles a one-point, 58-57 lead. Martin made two free throws and Chandler nailed a jumper with 35 seconds left for a 61-58 Newberry lead. Hart's layup with seven seconds left pulled the Eagles to within two at 62-60, but Alonzo Hinds made one of two free throws and Tipton's three-point attempt went off the mark as the Indians claimed the three-point victory.
CATAWBA - Catawba extended its winning streak to four games as it opened league play with a 93-82 overtime win over Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday ... It was the lone game for the Tribe last week ... Catawba trailed by a dozen points midway through the final half, but got going after back-to-back three-pointers by Jason Diggs and Antonio Houston ... Ahmad Murphy would put the Indians ahead on a three-point play with 6:55 left ... The teams traded the lead four times after that and played through four ties ... Murphy put Catawba up 77-75 on a pair of free throws with 49 seconds to go, but Reggie Bratton knotted the game on two free throws for the Bears with 31 seconds left ... Catawba failed to get off a shot at the end of regulation ... Houston scored the first of his 10 overtime points off the opening tip with a put-back basket ... He gave the Catawba Indians the lead for good on a three-pointer at 82-79 with 3:53 left and added a three-point play for an 87-81 edge with 2:56 left ... Houston finished with 25 points, hitting on 8-of-15 shots and 7-of-9 free throws with a pair of three-pointers ... Brian Graves added 18 points, five assists and four steals ... Murphy also reached double figures with 14 points, making 8-of-9 at the line ... As a team, the Catawba Indians converted 34-of-38 free throws for 89.5 percent ... The Indians also enjoyed a 37-28 edge on the boards ... Houston is leading the team in scoring at 16.3 a game, while Chris Wooldridge is adding 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds ... The senior needs just seven blocks to set a new Catawba career mark as with 152 he stands six behind current record holder Alex Luyk ... Graves is hitting for 13.3 points and adds 6.2 assists per contest ... Graves needs eight assists to move past Eric Harris and into fifth place on the Tribe's all-time assist list ... Catawba jumps back into action with three games next week ... The Indians travel to Wingate on Monday, host Tusculum on Wednesday then head to Presbyterian on Saturday afternoon.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team (7-5, 1-1) splits its first two South Atlantic Conference games of the season, both on the road last week … Lenoir-Rhyne fell in overtime to Catawba, 93-82, on Wednesday in Salisbury, N.C., before defeating Tusculum by a 72-62 score Saturday in Greeneville, Tenn. … Against Catawba, the Bears held a 12-point lead (60-48) in the second half but the host school rallied to push the contest to overtime then took complete control in the extra frame … Catawba's Antonio Houston scored a team-high 25 points including 10 in overtime en route to the win ... Lenoir-Rhyne junior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) scored a season-high 29 points, one off his career best, and junior forward Josh Kindred (Holly Springs, N.C.) added 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots in the losing effort … L-R avoided starting 0-2 in SAC play on the season with a key road win over the Pioneers … Senior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) led the Bears with a season-high 24 points and L-R hit 20-of-25 free throws (80 percent) including 12 in a row in the final three minutes to hold on for the win … Lenoir-Rhyne won despite 24 points from Tusculum's Chris Poore … L-R plays three games in the SAC this week including back-to-back home contest against two squads who are 2-0 in league play (Presbyterian and Newberry at 8 p.m., on Monday and Wednesday, respectively) … The Bears finish out the week with a road trip to Mars Hill on Saturday at 4 p.m. … Lenoir-Rhyne leads the all-time series against all-three teams: Presbyterian (32-26), Newberry (59-17) and Mars Hill (51-23) … Entering the PC game, Lenoir-Rhyne has won 15 straight South Atlantic Conference home games and has won 21 of its last 23 games at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball Head Coach Hugh Watson and the Railsplitters traveled to Jefferson City, Tennessee Wednesday night and successfully kicked off the new era in LMU basketball with a 78-73 win over Dale Clayton's Eagles of Carson-Newman ... Lincoln Memorial took control of the game early and relinquished the lead only twice during the game en route to their first South Atlantic Conference win of the year and their sixth win of the season. Senior guard David Lopez (Tucson, AZ) senior center Joplin Johnson (Chicago, IL) and senior point guard Kai Wells (Memphis, TN) were responsible for carrying most of the offensive load against the Eagles. Lopez took top honors in the scoring category with 26 points, including 16 in the second half, while Johnson finished the game with 20 and Wells contributed 10. Aside from controlling the boards, the Railsplitters hit 52.8 percent of their shots from the field and 58.3 percent of their shot behind the arc, while hitting 71.4 of their free throws for the game ... The Railsplitters stood at 1-0 in conference play entering Saturday's home conference opener with the Bulldogs from Wingate. Wingate started the conference schedule off with a loss Wednesday evening, losing at Newberry College 89-79. The loss, while a disappointment, served to fuel the fire for the Bulldogs in their 77-71 winning effort against the Railsplitters Saturday night, and helped Wingate to capture its' first league win of the year ... Lincoln Memorial's David Lopez (Tucson, AZ) led all scorers with 22 points, while freshman Beau Brown (Athens, TN) tossed 16. Railsplitter senior Artavius Mitchell (Chicago, IL) and junior Dominique Petty (Metropolis, IN) each had 10. Senior Joplin Johnson (Chicago, IL) led all rebounders with 13 boards ... For Wingate, Just Baker carried the brunt of the offensive attack with 19 points, while Bill Smith finished with 15 and teammates Sean Barnette and Bryan Grier each added 14. Kenny Villines pulled 10 rebounds to help the Bulldog effort on the glass ... The win drops Lincoln Memorial to 6-5 overall and 1-1 in the South Atlantic Conference heading into Monday night's conference match-up with Tusculum in Harrogate, while Wingate improves to 8-4 on the year and 1-1 in league play.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill's men's basketball team split their games last week. MHC defeated St. Andrews and then lost their first conference game to Presbyterian. MHC is 4-6 overall and 0-1 in league play ... In the first game of the week, the Lions' team got off to a good start for the second half of the season as they rolled to a 73-46 victory over St. Andrews College Tuesday afternoon in Stanford Arena. The win avenged a 70-55 loss the Lions suffered at St. Andrews earlier this season on November 15. Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) hit a layup with 13:17 left in the first half to give MHC a 14-12 lead they would not relinquish the rest of the contest. The Lions went on to lead by nine points (38-29) at the intermission ... In his debut for Mars Hill, Kurtis Walford (Vancouver, Canada) came off the bench and was a big part of the Lions' first half success as he converted on 5-of-7 shots from behind the arc to lead MHC with 15 first half points ... The second half belonged to the Lions. MHC went on a 23-to-10 run in the first 10 minutes of the second frame to lead by 22 (61-39) with 9:21 left in regulation after Thomas Moses (Madisonville, TN) hit a pair of free throws. The Lions cruised down the stretch to the 27-point victory ... MHC scored 32 points in the paint, 21 off St. Andrews' turnovers, 18 off the break and received 31 points from their bench ... The Lions also took good care of the ball committing only 11 turnovers in the game. The Lions hit 52.6 percent (30-27) of their field goals and 40 percent (10-25) of their 3-point attempts. MHC lost the rebound battle, 31-to-27 ... Polite led all scorers with 18 points. He added four assists and three steals. Walford and P.J. Gore (Little River, SC) tallied 17 points apiece while Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) added 10 points in the win. Gore and Aline each posted six boards in the game ... In the second game of the week, Presbyterian College defeated Mars Hill College in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon, 65-42 ... It was a total team effort for the Blue Hose, as only one Presbyterian basketball player scored in double-digits. Sean Dixon (Marietta, Ga.) had the most points for the Blue Hose with 10. The 10 points also amazingly enough tied for the most points accumulated by a single player in the game. Mars Hill's Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) had 10 to the lead the Lions in the loss ... In total, 10 Blue Hose scored in the victory. Grant Herren (Oviedo, Fla.) chipped in with nine total points, while Lithuanian Martynas Versinskas added nine of his own. Thomas Moses (Madisonville, Tenn.) was the Lions second leading scorer in the game with nine total points ... MHC will host Newberry College at 8 p.m. on Monday night, play at Carson-Newman College on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and then host Lenoir-Rhyne College on Saturday at 4 p.m.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team stayed undefeated in Eleazer Arena and opened SAC play with consecutive wins for the first time since joining the league in 1997-98 with wins over Wingate and Carson-Newman…On Wednesday, the Indians limited Wingate to 33.3 percent shooting in a 89-79 upset victory over the Bulldogs to open the conference season… A total of six Indians scored in double figures as Newberry followed the lead of Clemente Martin and Kendrick Johnson to claim the team's third conference opener since joining the SAC… Martin, a sophomore forward from Freeport, Bahamas, scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to record the second double-double by a Newberry player this season…Johnson, a redshirt freshman forward from Orangeburg, S.C., tied the school record for blocks in a game with five in his first start as an Indian. Johnson also scored 13 points and snagged seven rebounds… The Indians outscored the Bulldogs 22-13 in the final three minutes of the game, extending their lead to as many as 13 on a three-point play started on a Martin dunk with 46 ticks left on the clock…A total of ten players hit double-digits between the two teams, and Newberry scored 52 points in the paint… On Saturday, Newberry equaled its longest winning streak since January of 1998, winning its fifth straight game by a slim 63-60 margin over the Eagles of Carson-Newman College… Zach Chandler scored 13 points and Alonzo Hinds chipped in with 12 as Newberry rallied in the second half to win its fifth in a row…Trailing 38-30 early in the second half, Newberry answered with a 21-4 run over the next 7:37 to take its largest lead of the game, 51-42…Carson-Newman clawed back to take a 58-57 lead with 1:57 remaining, but a pair of free throws from Clemente Martin gave the Indians the lead for good with 1:32 to go…Johnson tied the school's single game blocks record with five swats for the second straight game with all five blocks coming in the first half… The Indians play three games this week starting at Mars Hill on Monday night… Newberry (6-4, 2-0 SAC) travels to Hickory, N.C. to face off against sister school Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday before returning home to play conference newcomer Lincoln Memorial on Saturday in a CSTV.com webcast game.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian finished its first week of South Atlantic Conference competition with a 2-0 record … The Blue Hose won a hard fought game last Wednesday against Tusculum before improving to 6-0 on the season at home with a 65-42 win over Mars Hill at the Templeton Center … Bryan Bostic led the Blue Hose in the victory over the Pioneers with 14 points … The Norcross, Ga. native was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc … Sean Dixon had 13 points and five assists in the win … It was a total team effort for the Blue Hose in the victory over Mars Hill … Only one player (Sean Dixon) scored in double-digits as Dixon had 10 … In total, 10 Blue Hose scored in the win over the Lions.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers dropped its first two South Atlantic Conference games of the year following home losses to Presbyterian College (61-59) and Lenoir-Rhyne College (72-62) ... In the Presbyterian game, Chris Poore tallied a dozen points and six rebounds as the Pioneers suffered their first home loss of the 2006-07 campaign. The game was laden with 49 combined fouls and 55 free throw attempts ... Against Lenoir-Rhyne, it was Poore once again to the charge as he accounted for 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Jordan Lear finished with 11 points while Corey Poindexter and Jimmy Boone added nine points each ... Tusculum has made a three-point field goal in 538 consecutive games. Lear has scored in double figures in his last 10 games averaging 15.8 ppg during that stretch ... Tusculum travels to Lincoln Memorial and Catawba this week, before returning home on Saturday for a non-conference tilt against Brevard College ... Tusculum's meeting with LMU will be the 148th time the two schools have met on the hardwood and the first as conference members since the 1988-89 season.
WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team defeated South Atlantic Conference newcomer Lincoln Memorial University 77-71 Saturday night. With the victory, Wingate improves to 8-4 on the year and 1-1 in SAC play ... For Wingate, senior guard Justin Baker carried the brunt of the offensive attack with 19 points, while senior guard Bill Smith finished with 15. Bulldog junior guard/forward Sean Barnette and redshirt junior center Bryan Grier added 14 points each. Wingate sophomore forward Kenny Villines pulled 10 rebounds to help the Bulldog effort on the glass ... Baker led the Bulldogs in scoring both nights last week. For the week, Baker averaged 19.5 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game and 3.0 steals per game. He hit 54.5 percent (12-of-22) of his field goals in two games last week. He hit a season-high 20 points in a tough 89-79 SAC road loss at Newberry Wednesday night. Against Newberry, Barnette tallied 15 markers. Grier earned a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds ... The Wingate men's basketball team is listed in the latest NCAA Division II statistics. Grier is the leading shot blocker in the NCAA Division II with 3.7 blocks per game. Grier led the nation in blocked shots following the 2005-06 season. Grier is the all-time Wingate and SAC leader in career blocked shots with 260 (entering Monday's home game with Catawba College) ... As a team, the Bulldog men are also leading the NCAA Division II men's basketball blocked shots per game category. The team is averaging 7.8 blocks per game (entering the week). Wingate led the nation in rejections in 2005-06 ... Wingate plays its next four SAC games at home. Catawba visits Monday, with Carson-Newman College coming to town on Saturday. Wingate is 4-1 at home this season. The Bulldogs compiled a 10-3 ledger at home in 2005-06. Wingate won the 2006 Food Lion SAC tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs.