Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 22, 2007

Men's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 21, 2007

CARSON-NEWMAN - Scott Williams, Andy Tipton and Darren Williams combined for 40 points, but Tusculum made 12 three-pointers in an 81-73 victory over the Carson-Newman Eagles ... The Eagles could only cut the Pioneer lead to seven points during the game. Darren Williams scored 12 points while Kente Hart and Clay Scott contributed 10 points apiece. Deonte Williams was four points shy of a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring six points ... Presbyterian held off Carson-Newman 59-51 to keep the Eagles winless in SAC play. Carson-Newman (7-10, 0-6 SAC) kept the game close thanks to Kente Hart's 18 points. Jordan Dixon added 10 for the Eagles ... Deonte Williams grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Eagles while Clay Scott and Andy Tipton collected two blocks each. Scott Williams had two steals while Dixon led the Eagles with three assists.

CATAWBA - Catawba picked up a pair of wins last week ... The Catawba Indians topped Mars Hill 83-61 on Wednesday then won 70-65 at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday ... Catawba used a 16-1 run over a six minute span midway through the second half to take control of the Mars Hill game ... Leading just 53-48, Catawba scored 13 straight points and never looked back ... The Indians held a 48-39 edge on the boards and had just six turnovers ... Freshman Antonio Houston led five double-figure scorers with 14 points ... Chris Wooldridge posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds ... Freshmen Rob Fields and Donzell Williams reached double figures off the bench, scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively ... Catawba shot 49 percent in the win at Lincoln Memorial, while the Railsplitters hit just 34 percent ... LMU did hold a 49-32 edge on the boards ... Catawba saw LMU rally from an 11-point deficit in the second half, but Wooldridge tied the game at 60-60 with 4:19 to go and Houston connected on a three-pointer with 3:48 left to put Catawba up for good at 63-60 ... Wooldridge added a key three-point play for a 66-62 lead with 2:29 left and sealed the win with two free throws with 23 second remaining ... Houston tallied 19 points, hitting on five three-pointers to lead Catawba ... Wooldridge added a dozen, while Norman Monroe added 11 points and seven rebounds ... Brian Graves had 10 points and dished out six assists ... Wooldridge and Houston lead the Catawba Indians in scoring this season at just over 15 points a contest ... Wooldridge grabs a team-leading 7.4 rebounds a game ... Catawba has won seven of its last nine games and moved above .500 for the year for the first time since winning its opener ... Catawba will close the first half of league play this week as the Indians travel to Newberry on Wednesday and hosts Carson-Newman on Saturday afternoon.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team (11-5, 5-1) has won a season-high five straight games after defeating its lone opponent of the week, Lincoln Memorial, by a 63-55 score on Wednesday evening at the Turner Arena in Harrogate, Tenn. … The Bears and Railsplitters met for only the second time ever and L-R's win was its third consecutive victory against a league foe on the road … Entering this week, the Bears and the Bulldogs of Wingate University are tied for first place atop the league standings … Lenoir-Rhyne junior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) led the Bears with 22 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore guard Tyler Boardman (Clemmons, N.C.) added 11 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Lincoln Memorial … The Bears, leading 23-20 at halftime, never trailed after break and hit all 12 free throw attempts in the final 1:30 of the game to hold on for the win … Lenoir-Rhyne also limited Lincoln Memorial to just 19 percent (six-of-31) shooting in the first half … L-R begins a three-game home stand against South Atlantic Conference opponents this week when it hosts Carson-Newman (Wednesday at 8 p.m.) and Wingate (Saturday at 8 p.m.) … Lenoir-Rhyne leads the all-time series with both Eagles (21-15) and the Bulldogs (39-23) … L-R also has a 17-game home winning streak against SAC opponents during the regular season … Lenoir-Rhyne has beaten Wingate the last four times at home as well … Senior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) is just 94 points away from 1,000 for his career.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - Lincoln Memorial was held to 19.4 percent shooting in the first half and 36 percent in the second half in Wednesday night's 63-55 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne College ... At times it seemed as though the rim had a lid on it in Wednesday's loss to the Bears. The Railsplitters hit only six of thirty-one shots in the first half, yet only trailed 23-20 at the intermission. As the second half got underway, LMU managed to get a few more opportunities at the free throw line which helped scoring somewhat, but again shooting from the field was cold and the Splitters were able to hit only nine of thirty-six shots from the floor ... Turnovers also proved to be a contributing factor in the second half. The Railsplitters had only seven at the intermission, but committed eleven more in the final twenty minutes of play for a total of eighteen by game's end ... Lenoir-Rhyne used solid free throw shooting down the stretch to maintain a margin of between four and eight points down in the late minutes of the game ... The Bears hit 72.7 percent as a team on 24 of 33 shots from the line to help capture the outright lead in the South Atlantic Conference at 5-1 ... Despite a late second half run by Lincoln Memorial, the Catawba Indians came away with a 70-65 win over the Railsplitters Saturday night to move into third place in the South Atlantic Conference standings ... Catawba used solid shooting from the field and good shooting from three point range to capture Saturday's win over Lincoln Memorial. The Indians hit 49 percent their shots from the field and 50 percent of their shots behind the arc en rout to their fourth league win of the year ... Lincoln Memorial's demise could possibly be attributed to poor free throw shooting. The Railsplitters hit only 55.2 percent of their shots from the line on 16-29 from the stripe. Free throws have haunted the Railsplitters several times this season, both in wins and losses ... Catawba's Antonio Houston led all scorers with 19 points. Teammates Chris Wooldridge, Norman Monroe and Brian Graves also scored double figures. Wooldridge finished the night with 12 points, while Monroe had 11 and Graves 10 to help carry CC to the five point win over LMU ... The Lincoln Memorial attack was spearheaded by the inside game of Artavius Mitchell and Joplin Johnson. Each had 14 points to take top honors for the Railsplitters, while shooting guard David Lopez was held under his season average with only 10 ... The Indians move to 4-2 in the South Atlantic Conference and to 9-8 overall, while the Railsplitter fall to 4-3 in league play and 9-7 on the year ... Lincoln Memorial will be in action Wednesday night when the Railsplitters travel to Mars Hill, North Carolina to take on the Lions of Mars Hill College. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost both of its games last week. The Lions are now 6-9 overall and 2-4 in the SAC ... In the first game of the week, Catawba placed five players in double figures and defeated visiting Mars Hill 83-61 on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym. Catawba broke open a close game in the final 12 minutes ... The Lions had pulled within five at 53-48 on a jumper by Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) with 12:03 left when Catawba went on a 16-to-1 run to take control. Freshman Rob Fields (Orangeburg, SC) hit a three-pointer to ignite the run and his tip-in with 8:16 left gave Catawba a 66-48 edge ... The Catawba Indians would lead by 25 twice in the closing minutes. Mars Hill led by five points early in the contest, the last at 9-4 with 14:51 to go ... Catawba would score 10 straight points and never trailed again, taking the lead for good on a jumper by Norman Monroe (Newport News, VA) at 11-9 ... The Indians would lead by as many as 11 points in the early stages of the second half, but three-pointers by Polite and P.J. Gore (Littler River, SC) brought the Lions close ... Catawba used a 48-39 edge on the boards, including a 30-19 edge in the second half, along with committing just six turnovers to 16 for Mars Hill to aid in the win ... Freshman Antonio Houston paced all scorers with 14 for Catawba and Fields added 13 off the bench. Chris Wooldridge (Norfolk, VA) posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Ahmad Murphy (Orangeburg, SC) and Donzell Williams (Salem, VA) also tallied 11 points ... Gore tossed in 11 points for Mars Hill, while Polite scored all 10 of his points in the final half. Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) pulled down 14 rebounds for the Lions ... In the second contest of the week, The Wingate University men's basketball team was able to weather a late rally by Mars Hill College to pick up a 75-70 South Atlantic Conference win on Saturday afternoon in Cuddy Arena ... Wingate senior guard Justin Baker (Lumberton, N.C.) had a season-high 30 points to lead the Bulldog offense. The leading scorer in the SAC, Bulldog junior forward/guard Sean Barnette (Rock Hill, S.C) contributed 21 points and six rebounds for the hosts. Junior forward Bryan Grier (Charlotte, N.C.) grabbed a game-high and season-high 12 boards to aid Wingate's victory ... Mars Hill senior post player Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) recorded a double-double for the Lions with 15 points and 11 rebounds (both team-highs) ... Five players had double-digit point totals for MHC. Lion senior forward Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, N.C.) had 13 points and a team-high eight assists. Mars Hill freshman point guard Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) had 11 points and had three assists for the Lions. Lion sophomore guard P.J. Gore (Little River, S.C.) and freshman guard Doug Green (Mars Hill, N.C.) chipped in 10 points each for the visitors ... Wingate led by as many as 17 points at 33-16 when Baker sank a three-point basket with 7:20 remaining in the first stanza. Mars Hill responded with a 15-4 run, capped by a three-pointer by Green with 3:27 to go in the half. The streak narrowed the gap to a 37-31 Wingate advantage ... The Bulldogs held a 43-36 halftime advantage after shooting 54.5 percent from the floor in the opening stanza. Baker sank his first eight shots from the floor, including three triples and led the Bulldogs with 19 first-half points ... Aline had 11 points and four rebounds for the Lions in the first 20 minutes, both were team-highs. McIver dished out five assists in the opening frame ... Wingate held its biggest lead of the second half at 60-49 when senior guard Shaun Kirkland (Allendale, S.C.) had a tip-in with 11:14 remaining in the game ... Mars Hill then went on an 11-0 run to tie the score at 60-60 with 6:23 on the clock. Wingate responded with an alley-oop dunk by Barnette on an assist from Baker at the 4:06 mark to give the Bulldogs a 62-60 advantage ... Mars Hill was able to tie the score once again at 62-62 on a tip-in from sophomore post player Andy Miller (Franklin, N.C.) with 3:30 remaining ... After the two teams exchanged three-pointers, Mars Hill was able to take its first lead of the game at 68-65 with 2:14 to go on a Polite trifecta. The Lions would maintain the lead until Baker nailed a three-pointer with 40 seconds left to give Wingate a 72-70 lead ... Baker tacked on an old-fashioned three-point play with 14 seconds left to seal the 75-70 victory for the Bulldogs ... Wingate outrebounded Mars Hill 40-32, thanks to Grier's 12 boards and seven caroms by Bulldog sophomore forward Kenny Villines (Fayetteville, N.C.). Wingate senior point guard Bill Smith (Manasquan, N.J.) dished out eight assists. Gore had six rebounds and four steals for the Lions ... MHC will host a pair of league games this week. The Lions will host Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday night before meeting Tusculum College on Saturday afternoon.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team split its two games last week to bring its record to 7-8 overall and 2-4 in the South Atlantic Conference… On Wednesday, the Indians narrowly escaped defeat, ending a three-game losing streak with a 57-54 non-conference win over the Claflin Panthers… The Indians never led by more than three points in the game and were held to 23 first half points - their lowest point total in a half this season - but followed the lead of senior guard Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) who scored 22 points for Newberry to lead all scorers… Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.) recorded the highest rebounding total of any South Atlantic Conference player this season, grabbing 16 boards, including nine in the first half. The Indians outrebounded the Panthers by a 37-33 margin…Chandler was the only Newberry player in double figures… On Saturday, the Indians squandered a 13-point second half lead to drop their fourth straight conference game, losing at Tusculum, 76-64… Newberry was led in scoring by senior guard Alonzo Hinds (Freeport, Bahamas), who scored a season-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from behind the arc… Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) scored 14 points for the Indians, while Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) scored nine… The Indians led, 35-24, at the half, but were outscored 52-29 in the second stanza to drop to 2-4 in SAC play… Newberry plays twice this week, both conference games… On Wednesday, the Indians host Catawba College for an 8 p.m. tipoff in Eleazer Arena… On Saturday, Newberry travels to Clinton, S.C. to play archrival Presbyterian in a 4 p.m. game.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian was 1-1 last week … The Blue Hose opened the week by falling to Wingate on the road before closing out their week by keeping Carson-Newman winless in the SAC this season … Grant Herren averaged a team-high 14.5 points-per-game in the two contests … The Oviedo, Fla. native scored a season-high 19 points in the loss to Wingate … The Blue Hose next play at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27 against rival Newberry at the Templeton Center.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men's basketball team recorded South Atlantic Conference wins over Carson-Newman (81-73) and Newberry (76-64) ... In the Carson-Newman game, senior Larry Minnefee poured in a career-high 27 points. The Pioneers recorded a dozen three-pointers on the evening, including Minneffee's 7-for-8 performance from beyond the arc as Tusculum wins its fifth in a row at Carson-Newman. Minneffee shot 10-for-15 from the floor, while senior teammate Chris Poore accounted for a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds ... The Pioneers jumped out of the gate and shot a sizzling 18-for-26 (69.2 percent) from the floor, including 8-of-10 from three-point land (80 percent) ... TC never trailed in the contest, scoring the first four points of the game and led by as many as a dozen on several occasions in the opening 20 minutes, including 41-29 at the 3:24 mark following back-to-back treys by Minnefee and freshman Corey Poindexter. Poindexter finished with 10 points, including three 3-pointers ... C-N trimmed the deficit to seven points (43-36), but TC senior Gabe Story added a canned a floating jumper as time expired as the Pioneers led 45-36 at intermission ... Tusculum built its advantage back to double digits and held off the Eagles on several occasions. The Pioneers went on an 8-2 run with 6:17 left in the game as Minnefee gave Tusculum its biggest lead at 70-55 with his seventh 3-pointer of the night. Tusculum shot 49.1 percent form the game, including 60 percent from long range (12-20). The Pioneers also won the battle of the boards by a 40-37 margin ... Against Newberry, Tusculum rallied from a 13-point second half deficit as the Pioneers defeated the Indians, 76-64 ... Minnefee led the charge as he poured in 20 points, including 18 in the second half ... Poore posted his second consecutive double-double with 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as the Pioneers posted their second straight league win ... TC shot a sizzling 15-of-23 from the floor in the final 20 minutes (65.2 percent) while limiting the Indians to 37.5 percent shooting, including 32.4 percent in the second half ... Newberry opened the game scoring the first seven points of the game and took a 35-24 advantage into the locker room. Newberry moved out to a pair of 13-point leads in the second half, including 39-26 at the 18:32 mark ... Trailing 45-34 with 14:26 left in the game, Tusculum went on a 9-0 run to trim the Newberry lead to 45-43 after a jumper by Poore with under 10 minutes remaining. Over a six-minute span, Tusculum went on a 27-7 run ... During the rally, Tusculum tied the game at 55-55 following a pair of free throws by Minnefee at the 4:43 mark. Poore gave Tusculum its first lead of the game with 4:06 remaining with his driving lay-up as the Pioneers moved ahead 57-55 ... During the run, Tusculum made 14-of-16 free throws, including 11 in a row while Minnefee and senior Eric Williams canned three-pointers down the stretch ... Williams finished with 11 points, including 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Minnefee shot 7-for-12 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers. Poore was 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-9 at the free throw line ... Tusculum's SAC win at Carson-Newman ended a nine-game conference losing streak dating back to last season (Feb. 8, 2006 vs. Mars Hill) ... Tusculum has hit a three-pointer in 543 straight games, a streak dating back to 1987 ... Junior Jordan Lear is closing in on his 1,000th career-point, entering this week's action needing 31 points to become the 16th player in recorded Tusculum history to achieve this feat ... Tusculum faces SAC co-leader Wingate on Wednesday, before traveling to Mars Hill on Saturday. The Pioneers have won four straight over the Bulldogs, including a pair wins last season.

WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team picked up two South Atlantic Conference home victories last week ... On Saturday, the Bulldogs were able to weather a late rally by Mars Hill College to pick up a 75-70 SAC win in Cuddy Arena on the Wingate campus ... Wingate is 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the SAC. The Bulldogs will travel to Tusculum College on Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tip-off. Wingate is tied for first place in the SAC standings (with Lenoir-Rhyne College) entering this week's play ... Wingate senior guard Justin Baker had a season-high 30 points to lead the Bulldog offense against Mars Hill. The leading scorer in the SAC, Bulldog junior forward/guard Sean Barnette contributed 21 points and six rebounds for the hosts. Junior forward Bryan Grier grabbed a game-high and season-high 12 boards to aid Wingate's victory ... Wingate led by as many as 17 points at 33-16 when Baker sank a three-point basket with 7:20 remaining in the first stanza. Mars Hill responded with a 15-4 run, capped by a three-pointer by Green with 3:27 to go in the half. The streak narrowed the gap to a 37-31 Wingate advantage ... The Bulldogs held a 43-36 halftime advantage after shooting 54.5 percent from the floor in the opening stanza. Baker sank his first eight shots from the floor, including three triples and led the Bulldogs with 19 first-half points ... Wingate held its biggest lead of the second half at 60-49 when senior guard Shaun Kirkland had a tip-in with 11:14 remaining in the game. Mars Hill then went on an 11-0 run to tie the score at 60-60 with 6:23 on the clock ... Wingate responded with an alley-oop dunk by Barnette on an assist from Baker at the 4:06 mark to give the Bulldogs a 62-60 advantage. Mars Hill was able to tie the score once again at 62-62 on a tip-in from sophomore post player Andy Miller with 3:30 remaining ... After the two teams exchanged three-pointers, Mars Hill was able to take its first lead of the game at 68-65 with 2:14 to go on a Stoney Polite trifecta. The Lions would maintain the lead until Baker nailed a three-pointer with 40 seconds left to give Wingate a 72-70 lead. Baker tacked on an old-fashioned three-point play with 14 seconds left to seal the 75-70 victory for the Bulldogs. In the waning moments, Baker scored Wingate's final six points to rally Wingate from the late deficit ... Wingate outrebounded Mars Hill 40-32, thanks to Grier's 12 boards and seven caroms by Bulldog sophomore forward Kenny Villines. Wingate senior point guard Bill Smith dished out eight assists ... Baker averaged 25.0 points per game last week as the Bulldogs won two SAC games. He hit 50.0 percent (18-of-36) of his field goals in the two victories last week, keeping Wingate tied for first in the league standings. In addition, Baker played a team-high 70 minutes last week ... Baker notched 20 points in 84-70 SAC home victory over Presbyterian Wednesday night. He added five rebounds and five assists against the Blue Hose. For the season, Baker is averaging 17.7 points per game. Baker leads the Bulldogs in league play, averaging 20.5 points per game in SAC contests ... Barnette led the Bulldog offense with 21 points against Presbyterian. Baker had 20 markers, while Grier contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Bulldogs. The current leader in field goal percentage in the NCAA Division II, Grier was seven-for-eight from the field against the Blue Hose ... Smith had a game-high eight assists versus PC. Smith entered the week third on the NCAA Division II charts in free throw percentage. Smith has converted 94.9 percent of his charity tosses this year (37-of-39). Barnette is 32nd in the nation in points per game with 20.2. On the team charts, Wingate leads the nation in blocked shots per game with 7.3 rejections per contest. Grier is fourth on the individual blocked shots list (3.3 blocks per game).