Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 29, 2007

Men's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 28, 2007

CARSON-NEWMAN - C-N dominated the first half against L-R, building a 38-27 lead after Darren Williams swished a buzzer-beating trey to end the half ... The Eagles shot 48 percent from the field, 63 percent from three-point range, and went a perfect nine-for-nine from the free throw line in the first half. Williams scored a team-high 19 points and Kente Hart added 18 for the Eagles ... L-R rallied for a 74-70 win over the Eagles, who are still searching for their first SAC victory of the season ... Against Catawba, the Eagles trailed by 21 at halftime. Darren Williams brought the Eagles within 56-43 on a three-pointer with 15:39 remaining, but Catawba would answer and jump ahead 65-45 with 13 minutes to play ... Carson-Newman wouldn't go quietly and reduced the deficit to 11 points at 78-67 on a layup by Jordan Dixon with 5:59 to go, but a late run by Catawba pushed the Indians' lead back to 20 at 95-75 with 1:40 left ... Kente Hart led Carson-Newman with 19 points and added eight assists. Deonte Williams posted a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Scott Williams finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Andy Tipton had 11 points off the bench ... The Eagles continue to be one of the top free throw shooting teams in the conference. Prior to Saturday's game against Catawba, The Eagles were making 75 percent of their free throws. The Eagles are close to the team record for free throw percentage. The 1977-'78 squad led the NAIA with a 78 percent free throw percentage.

CATAWBA - The Catawba Indians split their two games last week, falling 83-77 at Newberry and defeating Carson-Newman 97-81 ... Senior Chris Wooldridge led the Indians against Newberry with 19 points and nine rebounds ... He also blocked a pair of shots to become Catawba's all-time leader in that category ... After three more against Carson-Newman,, the senior has 163 in his career ... Freshman Antonio Houston, continues to battle Wooldridge for team-high scoring honors ... He tossed in 18 vs. Newberry and followed with 23 against Carson-Newman ... Two others also reached double figures at Newberry as Ahmad Murphy tallied 16 and Brian Graves 15 ... Graves added five assists, five rebounds and four steals ... Catawba rolled to the win over C-N, making 53 percent from the field ... Murphy and Graves followed Houston with 21 points apiece ... Murphy's was a career-best, topping the 16 points he had set at Newberry just three days before ... He also picked up five steals ... Graves finished with a double-double, equaling a career-best 11 assists ... Wooldridge scored 11 points, while Norman Monroe added 10 points and eight rebounds ... The Catawba Indians broke a school record with 13 blocked shots vs. C-N, besting the old mark of 12 which had been done three previous times, including once vs. the Eagles ... Houston is scoring 15.7 points a game for the Indians with Wooldridge adding 15.4 ... Wooldridge is hauling in 7.4 rebounds a contest ... Graves is dishing out just over six assists a game ... Catawba will take its bye game in mid-week then will host Wingate on Saturday afternoon.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team (13-5, 7-1) pushed its winning streak to seven games with home victories over Carson-Newman (74-70) and Wingate (79-67) on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively … With the victories, Lenoir-Rhyne are now alone atop the South Atlantic Conference standings and have now won 19th straight league regular season games at home … L-R struggled against the Eagles, who are winless in SAC play, and fell behind by 11 points at the break (38-27) … However, Lenoir-Rhyne scored the first 11 points of the second half to tie the contest and the two teams battle back and forth the rest of the way before the Bears finally pulled it out … Junior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) led all scorers with 26 points and hit a three-pointer from the corner with nine seconds to give Lenoir-Rhyne the lead for the good and senior guard Eric Mauldin (Albemarle, N.C.) blocked a three-point attempt with 1.9 seconds left to seal the win … Bratton continued his excellent play of late to lift the Bears to the victory over the Bulldogs, establishing career-highs (33 points and 15 rebounds) as L-R won despite trailing at the break for the second straight game … Senior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) added a double-double as well (20 points and 12 rebounds) and the Bears held the Bulldogs without a field goal for nearly five minutes late in the contest en route to the win … Bratton has scored 81 points (27 ppg) in his last three games and is averaging 20.3 points per game against league foes this year … Bratton has also scored in double figures in 17 of 18 games this year … Springs is just 62 points away from becoming the 45th L-R player to score 1,000 points in his career … Lenoir-Rhyne has also won 26 of its last 28 game at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium … L-R hosts Tusculum on Wednesday at 8 p.m., to wrap up a three-game homestand before traveling to Clinton, S.C., to take on Presbyterian Saturday at 4 p.m. … The Bears won both contests against the schools (72-62 over the Pioneers and 75-61 against the Blue Hose) earlier this year … Lenoir-Rhyne also leads the all-time series with both: 10-8 vs. Tusculum and 33-26 vs. Presbyterian.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - Chris Williams and Artavius Mitchell each posted a double-double to pace Lincoln Memorial University past Mars Hill College in men's basketball action in Stanford Arena on Wednesday night, 82-62 ... The Lions fell to 6-10 overall and 2-5 in the SAC while the Railsplitters improved to 10-7 on the season and 5-3 in the conference ... Williams scored 20 points with 10 boards while Mitchell tallied 15 points and 12 rebounds. David Lopez rounded out the double-figure scorers for LMU with 13. He also had eight rebounds ... Mitchell hit a couple of shots at the charity stripe with 18:26 left in the first half and LMU would never relinquish the lead. LMU led by as many as 18 points (35-17) with 4:18 left in the first stanza after Dominique Petty converted an old-fashioned 3-point play ... The Railsplitters led 41-27 at the intermission ... MHC roared back in the second half out scoring LMU 24-to-5 in the first seven minutes of the final period ... Jamison McIver's layup at the 13:12 mark cut the Lions deficit to 51-46. LMU then answered with an 8-to-1 run to extend their advantage to 12 points (59-47) with 9:50 left in regulation after Mitchell hit a layup ... Andy Miller scored for MHC on the Lions' next possession to trim the Railsplitters lead to 10 points (59-49) but that was as close as Mars Hill would get ... Rebounding played a significant role in the game. LMU won the battle of the boards, 54-to-24. LMU's offensive rebounds led to 20 second chance points ... MHC also struggled shooting the ball converting on only 36.5 percent (23-63) from the floor and 17.4 percent (4-23) from behind the arc ... Both teams scored 36 points in the paint while LMU received 32 points from their bench ... The Railsplitters trailed for nearly the entire second half before senior David Lopez hit his fourth three pointer of the game with only 12 seconds remaining to give the Railsplitters a 66-65 win over visiting North Greenville University ... Lincoln Memorial and North Greenville went to the locker room tied at 37 before the Crusaders came out in the second half to lead until the final minute. With 5:32 remaining in the game, Lincoln Memorial trailed by its largest deficit of the game but managed to mount a come-back to capture over the final minutes to capture the Railsplitter's eleventh win of the year ... As has been the case this season, David Lopez led the way with 16 points, but didn't have his typical night shooting as he was only 5-15 from the floor. Also earning top scoring honors for the Railsplitters were senior Artavius Mitchell and senior Kai Wells. Mitchell was 6-10 from the floor and finished with 13 points, while Wells ended the night with 10 and handed out 6 assists ... North Greenville's Amonzo Gantt led all scorers with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Jordon Richmond and Austin Randel each added 12 points respectively ... The win, which was a non-conference victory for Lincoln Memorial, improves the Railsplitter's record to 11-7 overall as they prepare for Wednesday night's road game with Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina. The Railsplitters will be battling with the Bulldogs for second place in the South Atlantic Conference race. Tip-off is slatted for 8:00 p.m.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill split its games last week. The Lions are now 7-10 overall and 3-5 in league play ... In the first game of the week, Chris Williams (Fort Washington, MD) and Artavius Mitchell (Chicago, IL) each posted a double-double to pace Lincoln Memorial University past Mars Hill College in men's basketball action in Stanford Arena on Wednesday night, 82-62. Williams scored 20 points with 10 boards while Mitchell tallied 15 points and 12 rebounds. David Lopez (Tucson, AZ) rounded out the double-figure scorers for LMU with 13. He also had eight rebounds ... Mitchell hit a couple of shots at the charity stripe with 18:26 left in the first half and LMU would never relinquish the lead. LMU led by as many as 18 points (35-17) with 4:18 left in the first stanza after Dominique Petty (Metropolis, IN) converted an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Railsplitters led 41-27 at the intermission ... MHC roared back in the second half out scoring LMU 24-to-5 in the first seven minutes of the final period. Jamison McIver's (Taylorsville, NC) layup at the 13:12 mark cut the Lions deficit to 51-46. LMU then answered with an 8-to-1 run to extend their advantage to 12 points (59-47) with 9:50 left in regulation after Mitchell hit a layup ... Andy Miller (Franklin, NC) scored for MHC on the Lions' next possession to trim the Railsplitters lead to 10 points (59-49) but that was as close as Mars Hill would get ... Rebounding played a significant role in the game. LMU won the battle of the boards, 54-to-24. LMU's offensive rebounds led to 20 second chance points. MHC also struggled shooting the ball converting on only 36.5 percent (23-63) from the floor and 17.4 percent (4-23) from behind the arc ... Both teams scored 36 points in the paint while LMU received 32 points from their bench ... Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) and McIver led MHC with 13 and 11 points in the contest, respectively. Aline added nine rebounds ... In the second game of the week, Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) scored 22 points hitting 6-of-11 three-point attempts to lead the Lions past Tusculum College Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena ... Kurtis Walford (Vancouver, Canada) hit a 3-pointer with 10:36 left in the first half to give MHC a 12-10 lead they would hold onto the remainder of the first half. MHC led by as many as 10 points (28-18) in the first stanza after Andy Miller (Franklin, NC) hit a high percentage shot in the lane with 3:29 left in the first period ... The Lions would take a six-point (30-24) lead into the locker room at the intermission ... Tusculum opened the second half by out scoring MHC 9-0 to take a three-point advantage (33-20) with 18:09 left in the contest when Larry Minnefee (Valrico, FL) scored inside. The Pioneers would go on to lead by eight points (50-42) at the 10:54 mark after Chris Poore (Greeneville, TN) hit a layup ... MHC then out scored the Pioneers 10-to-2 over the next three minutes (7:10) to take a 53-52 lead after Thomas Moses (Madisonville, TN) hit a jumper ... The lead would change hands four times before Polite put the Lions ahead for good at the 2:43 mark by hitting a 3-pointer ... The Pioneers turned the ball over on their next possession when Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) stole the ball and assisted Polite on a layup at the other end of the floor to give MHC a four-point lead with 2:08 left in the game ... A 3-pointer by Jordan Lear (Zanesville, OH) trimmed the Lions lead to just a single point (65-64) with 33 ticks left but P.J. Gore (Little River, SC) connected on a pair of free throws after being fouled on the ensuing in-bounds pass ... In the final 18 seconds of the game, Tusculum took two 3-pointers that could have sent the contest into overtime but both shots missed their mark and MHC held on to the 67-64 victory ... The game saw three ties and 11 lead changes. Tusculum won the rebound battle, 36-to-33. Both teams shot basically the same from the field. MHC hit 46.3 percent (25-54) of their attempts while TC hit 45.3 percent (24-53) of their shots. MHC hit 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) 3-point attempts ... Polite added six rebounds and four assists in the win. Gore followed with 12 points and seven boards while Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) added seven points and eight rebounds ... This week, MHC will play at Brevard College on Monday night at 8 p.m. then host Presbyterian on Wednesday night (8 p.m.) before playing at Newberry on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.).

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team split a pair of games last week to fall to 8-9 overall and 3-5 in the South Atlantic Conference, defeating Catawba, 83-77, on Wednesday, and falling by a 70-43 margin at Presbyterian on Saturday… The Indians scored a season-high 50 first half points in the victory over Catawba Wednesday night… Newberry was led in scoring by the Bahamian duo of Clemente Martin and Alonzo Hinds, who each scored 17 points… Hinds fell just short of a double-double, dishing out eight assists… Two free throws from Catawba's Ahmad Murphy tied the game at 43-all with 3:51 left in the first half, but Newberry went on a 7-1 run to end the half with 50 points, marking the Indians' highest point total in a half this season… Newberry stretched its lead to 10 points with 11:38 left in the game on a layup by Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.), who finished one point short of his second career double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds… Sophomore guard Matt Alexander (Norcross, Ga.) scored a career-high 11 points off the bench for Newberry to round out four players in double figures… On Saturday, Presbyterian held the Indians to their lowest point total since Newberry lost to Lenoir-Rhyne, 64-41, on February 12, 2003… Martin was the only Indian to reach double digit scoring, as he scored 10 points…The Blue Hose scored the first nine points of the game before Martin hit the first Newberry bucket with 17:04 left in the first half…The Indians narrowed the deficit to six points on a layup by Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) with 1:18 left in the half. However, Newberry fouls allowed PC to extend its lead to 14 at the half, 38-24…Presbyterian kept the momentum going into the second half, effectively sealing a win with a 22-4 run over the first 7:02 of the second half to extend the lead to 60-28 with 11:42 remaining. Both teams emptied the bench, as every player on both teams saw action in the second half…Keith Marshall (St. Stephen, S.C.) and Chandler tied for second on the Newberry scoring charts with seven points apiece… Newberry plays twice this week, starting the second journey through conference opponents on Wednesday night at Carson-Newman… The Indians will celebrate Military Appreciation Day as they host Mars Hill on Saturday afternoon..

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian won its second game in a row in its only contest last week, easily downing rival Newberry 70-43 at the Templeton Center … The Blue Hose are now 8-1 at home this season and 33-3 in the last two-plus years in the friendly confines of the Templeton Center … In a very balanced team effort, PC was led in the win over Newberry Bryan Bostic, who finished the contest with a game-high 15 points … Sean Dixon was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe in the contest to conclude the contest with 14 points … Presbyterian travels to Mars Hill on Wednesday before concluding their efforts on the week with a home tilt against Lenoir-Rhyne.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men's basketball team suffered two South Atlantic Conference losses last week. The Pioneers (9-10, 2-6 SAC) dropped an 82-72 home decision to Wingate, followed by a 67-64 loss at Mars Hill ... Tusculum has played in 12 games this season that have been decided by 10 points or less, including eight games by four points or fewer ... Tusculum has made a three-point field goal in 545 consecutive games ... Tusculum recorded its 4,000th three-pointer in the Wingate game. The 4,000th trey was scored by junior Jordan Lear, one of his five treys on the night. Lear enters this week's action with 997 career points and will be looking to become the 16th player in recorded Tusculum history to score 1,000 points ... The Pioneers will open the second half of the league season on Wednesday as they take on SAC leader Lenoir-Rhyne. TC returns home on Saturday when they host in-state foe Lincoln Memorial.

WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team split two South Atlantic Conference games last week. On Wednesday, junior forward/guard Sean Barnette hit a game-high 22 points, leading five players in double digits as the Bulldogs defeated Tusculum College 82-72 in Pioneer Arena on the Tusculum campus ... Barnette was one of two Wingate players to notch a double-double Wednesday. The 2006 Food Lion SAC tournament MVP had 10 rebounds to go with his 22 points. Bulldog redshirt junior center Bryan Grier (Charlotte, N.C.) had 14 points, 12 rebounds and a season-high (tying) seven blocked shots against Tusculum ... Bulldog senior guard Justin Baker had 16 points and six assists versus the Pioneers. Wingate senior point guard Bill Smith had 11 points and four assists, while junior swingman Sam Holmes recorded 10 markers off the Bulldog bench ... On Saturday, Wingate dropped a tough 79-67 South Atlantic Conference decision at Lenoir-Rhyne. The Bears (13-5, 7-1 SAC) earn sole possession of first place in the league standings with the victory. Wingate is 13-5 overall and 6-2 in the SAC entering the second half of the season. For Wingate, Baker and sophomore forward Kenny Villines led the way with 13 points each. Grier and Barnette contributed 11 points each ... In the second half, Lenoir-Rhyne shot 52.9 percent (18-of-34) from the floor to rally from a 33-28 halftime deficit. In the first half, the game was tied three times and the lead changed hands eight times before Wingate settled for the five-point lead ... An old-fashioned three-point play by Grier gave Wingate a 36-28 advantage with 18:14 remaining in the contest. The eight-point bulge was Wingate's largest of the evening ... The lead changed hands nine times in the second half (and 17 times in the contest) as the 2010 fans in Shuford Gymnasium were treated to high quality basketball. Lenoir-Rhyne took the lead for good at 61-59 when sophomore guard Tyler Boardman hit an inside hoop with 4:49 left in regulation ... Wingate returns home Wednesday, hosting SAC newcomer Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) University for an 8 p.m. contest. The Bulldogs visit Catawba Saturday for a 4 p.m. afternoon matinee ... The Wingate University basketball teams are ranked in this week's NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional polls. In the most recent listing, the Bulldog men chart in the number eight position. Ten teams are ranked in the poll ... The Wingate University Sports Network will partner with Red Zone Media for 100 Internet broadcasts during the 2006-07 academic year. Bulldog fans can listen to this week's games on Red Zone Media ... The Bulldogs continue to chart near the top of the NCAA Division II statistics. Smith is one of the top free throw shooters in the land, converting 86.7 percent of his charity tosses this year (39-of-45). In addition, Smith leads the Bulldogs in assists ... Grier is near the top of the NCAA list in field goal percentage. The Vance High School product is hitting 70.2 percent of his field goal tries this season (87-of-124) ... In addition, Grier is listed in the top five in blocked shots in NCAA Division II. Grier led the nation in blocked shots following the 2005-06 season. Grier was averaging 3.45 blocked shots per game entering the week. In addition, he is contributing 12.2 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game for Wingate. Grier is the all-time Wingate and SAC leader in career blocked shots with 277 ... As a team, the Bulldog men are leading the blocked shots per game category. The team is averaging 7.3 blocks per game (entering the week).