Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - Feb. 5, 2007

Men's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending February 4, 2007

CARSON-NEWMAN - Newberry defeated Carson-Newman, 78-67 to keep the Eagles winless in the South Atlantic Conference ... C-N (7-13, 0-9 SAC) shot just 44 percent from the floor in the game, but Deonte Williams brought the Holt Fieldhouse crowd to its feet early in the game with a steal and tomahawk dunk to give C-N an early 8-5 lead. Newberry went on a 12-3 run to build a 17-11 lead, but Scott Williams and Darren Williams' consecutive three-pointers pulled the Eagles to within 18-17 with 7:45 remaining ... After both teams ended the first half deadlocked at 31-31, the Indians went on a tear in the second half, going 18-of-30 from the field in the second half and making six of 12 free throws. The Eagles would get to within four points at 44-40 midway through the second half, but a 15-3 run by the Indians put the game out of reach as they went on to an 11-point victory ... Scott Williams scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Eagles. Kente Hart scored 13 points and Jordan Dixon added 10 points. Deonte Williams also grabbed nine rebounds while Hart led the team with nine assists.

CATAWBA - The Catawba Indians played only once last week and claimed a thrilling 108-105 overtime win over Wingate ... Brian Graves scored a career-high 32 points and dished out a career-best 12 assists in the win ... The senior hit on 9-of-18 field goals, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc ... It was senior Chris Wooldridge who provided the winning points, tipping in a Graves miss with 16 seconds remaining to snap a 105-105 tie ... Wooldridge finished with 22 points, 18 coming after the half, and added eight rebounds ... Norman Monroe posted his first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds ... Catawba did not trail in the opening half and led by as many as nine near the end of the session ... Wingate would rally and take the lead during an 11-0 run that put the Bulldogs up 57-49 with 13:36 to go ... Graves hit a pair of three-pointers to help Catawba go back on top and added two more triples with around four minutes to play to give Catawba an 87-83 lead ... Wingate scored two baskets in the final minute of regulation to force overtime ... The Catawba Indians trailed 102-98 in overtime with just over two minutes left, but rallied back to take the win ... Catawba held a 55-46 edge on the boards and shot 50 percent after halftime ... Graves moved into third place on Catawba's all-time assist chart with 524 ... He trails Art Rose (605) and Tracey Scruggs (614) ... Wooldridge and freshman Antonio Houston continue to battle for team scoring honors, each averaging just over 15 points a game ... Wooldridge leads the team in rebounding (7.4) and blocks (35) ... Ahmad Murphy continues to have an excellent senior season ... He is averaging 8.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and leads the squad with 47 steals ... Catawba will travel to Tusculum on Wednesday and return home for its third straight Saturday, entertaining Newberry ... Catawba will be hosting a men's basketball reunion for that home game.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team (14-6, 8-2) split its pair of games this week but remained alone atop the South Atlantic Conference standings … The Bears defeated the Pioneers of Tusculum College, 78-66, Wednesday before falling in overtime to the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College (75-72) Saturday afternoon on the road … The loss to PC snapped an eight-game winning streak for L-R … Lenoir-Rhyne's two conference losses have been on the road and an overtime ... Against the Pioneers, junior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) led the way with 22 points while senior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) scored 15 of his 18 points after halftime in the win … The victory over Tusculum was the third straight Lenoir-Rhyne has rallied from a halftime deficit to win … Presbyterian connected on 11-of-20 three-pointers (55 percent) and received a career-high 25 points from Grant Herren in the Blue Hose' victory Saturday … Springs led Lenoir-Rhyne with 20 points and hit scored seven points for the Bears in overtime but it wasn't enough as L-R lost at PC for the third straight year … Bratton added 17 points but Lenoir-Rhyne couldn't maintain an early, 10-point lead (17-7) in the defeat … Springs is just 24 points away from becoming the school's 45th player to score to reach 1,000 points for his Bear career … Lenoir-Rhyne has won 20 straight South Atlantic Conference Regular Season games at home … Bratton, last week's SAC Player Of The Week, has score in double digits in 19 of 20 games this year including 13 straight contests … Lenoir-Rhyne stays on the road to play Newberry (Wednesday at 8 p.m., in Newberry, S.C.) and Carson-Newman (Saturday at 8 p.m., in Jefferson City, Tenn.) … Lenoir-Rhyne has beaten both teams three straight games and leads the all-time series against both squads: Newberry (60-17) and Carson-Newman (22-15).

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Wingate University men's basketball team defeated Lincoln Memorial University 89-86 in a South Atlantic Conference match-up in Cuddy Arena on the campus of Wingate University Wednesday night. With the win, Wingate moves to 14-5 overall and 7-2 in the SAC. LMU falls to 11-8 overall and 5-4 in the SAC ... LMU freshman guard Beau Brown (Athens, Tenn.) led the Railsplitters with a game-high 28 points. Brown also had five rebounds. Lincoln Memorial senior forward Artavius Mitchell (Chicago, Ill.) had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds ... The 'Dogs built an 11-point advantage (57-46) on an inside hoop by sophomore forward Kenny Villines (Fayetteville, N.C.) with 13:51 to play ... The Railsplitters rallied, as junior forward Dominique Petty (Metropolis, Ind.) hit three-point field goals on back-to-back possessions to cut the Wingate lead to 67-66 with 8:50 remaining. The Railsplitters took advantage of three-pointers by senior guard David Lopez (Tucson, Ariz.) and Brown to take an 80-76 lead with 4:02 left in regulation. Smith hit two free throws and a three-pointer to tie the contest at 81-81 with 3:21 to go. Brown hit a jumper to make it 83-81, then Baker tied it on a feed from Smith on the next possession ... After an LMU miss, a lay-up by Barnette at the 1:57 mark gave Wingate the lead for good at 85-83. Barnette made a jumper in the paint to make it 87-83. Lopez hit a three-pointer at 1:09 to cut the LMU deficit to 87-86. Barnette hit one free throw with 27 seconds remaining to give Wingate a two-point lead ... The Railsplitters had two chances to tie (or win) in the waning moments, but could not convert. Baker added a free throw with three seconds left for the final margin ... Wingate led 41-35 at the break. Barnette led all scorers with 12 first-half points. Barnette was two-of-three from three-point range and a five-of-eight from the field. For LMU, Brown led the Railsplitters at intermission with 10 first-half points ... Lavanti Jeter scored the winning basket on a rebound and put-back with three seconds remaining as Tusculum College rallied to defeat South Atlantic Conference foe Lincoln Memorial University 61-58 Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena. Tusculum (10-11, 3-7 SAC) ends a three-game losing streak and avenges last month's loss to the Railsplitters (11-9, 5-5 SAC) to split the season series ... Chris Poore led the Pioneers with 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the floor and grabbed five rebounds. Jeter added a season-best 11 points off the bench, while Gabe Story and Larry Minnefee added nine and seven points, respectively ... LMU's Artavius Mitchell was stellar on the day with his 20 points, shooting 8-for-10 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free line. Beau Brown added 15 points, while Delroy Burke finished with 10 points in the loss ... Brown converted a three-point play with 1:23 remaining in the game to give the Railsplitters a 58-57 advantage. Tusculum's next possession yielded a missed shot as LMU came up with the rebound with under a minute to play. The Railsplitters milked the clock, but were whistled for a shot clock violation with 20 seconds remaining ... Tusculum worked for a final shot as Poore was fouled with five seconds remaining, sending the Greeneville senior to the line. Poore missed both free throws, but Jeter came up with the critical rebound and scored the go ahead basket with three seconds left on the clock ... LMU's in bounds pass went out of bounds, giving the ball back to Tusculum. Minnefee was fouled with 0.7 seconds left as he made both free throws to seal the victory ... Lincoln Memorial jumped out of the gate in the opening half, using a 22-6 run to take a 28-16 lead at the 6:37 mark of the first period, following a three-point play by Mitchell ... Tusculum followed with a 13-1 run itself to knot the game at 29-29 following a jumper by Poore with 1:45 left in the half. LMU got a lay-up by Ronnie Jones and a pair of free throws from Mitchell as the Railsplitters took a 34-31 lead into the locker room ... LMU scored the first five points of the second stanza, including Brown's three-pointer at the 17:12 mark to move out to a 39-31 advantage ... Tusculum wouldn't go away and tied the game at 43-43 on Tyler White's 12-foot jumper with 10:41 left in regulation. The game was thriller down the stretch as the game was tied nine times, while the lead exchanged hands on 11 occasions on the day ... LMU is back at Tex Turner Arena on Wednesday to host Presbyterian College for an 8 p.m. contest.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost a pair of games last week. The Lions are now 7-13 overall and 3-7 in conference action ... In the first game of the week, Martynas Versinskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) came off the bench to score 18 points and pull down seven rebounds to propel Presbyterian College past Mars Hill 66-63 in men's basketball action Wednesday night in Stanford Arena ... MHC jumped out to a 5-0 lead (7-2) with 17:49 on the clock in the first half after Tony Blake (Canton, NC) hit a 3-pointer. PC then scored 10 unanswered points to lead 12-7 with 15:23 left in the first half after Grant Herren (Oviedo, FL) hit a pair of free throws ... PC led for the next seven minutes until a 3-pointer by Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) gave the Lions a 22-20 advantage with 8:42 left in the first half. Versinskas capped off a 12-to-9 run for PC to give the Blue Hose a 32-31 lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the contest ... PC closed out the first frame out scoring MHC 12-to-4 to take a 44-35 lead into the locker room at halftime ... The Lions would not die in the final period and after 18 minutes of tough play, MHC tied the contest at 63-all on another 3-pointer by Polite with 1:16 left in regulation ... After a PC timeout, Sean Dixon (Marietta, GA) hit a jumper at the foul line to give the Blue Hose a 65-63 lead with 50 ticks left ... MHC missed a 3-pointer on their next possession with eight seconds on the clock and Bryan Bostic (Norcross, GA) pulled down the miss and was quickly fouled. Bostic hit the first shot but his second try was off the mark and rebounded by Lion center Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) with 4.7 seconds left in the game. A desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime fell short and PC left with a three-point victory ... Following Versinskas for PC was Herren with 13 points and Drew Biggs (Alpharetta, GA) with 10. Biggs added eight rebounds. PC won the rebound battle, 35-to-19. PC received 39 points from their bench and tallied 10 second chance points ... Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) led Lions scorers with 16 points followed by Polite with 13. Blake added nine points and five rebounds ... MHC hit 51.1 percent (23-45) of their field goals compared to the Blue Hose converting on 45.2 percent (19-42) of their attempts from the floor ... The game saw five ties and seven lead changes ... In the second game of the week, The Newberry College men's basketball team scored 42 second-half points en route to a 64-53 victory over the visting Mars Hill Lions in South Atlantic Conference action in Eleazer Gymnasium Saturday ... Newberry was led by the first career double-double of Cory Etheridge (Columbia, S.C.), who scored 10 points and brought down 13 rebounds, marking the first time the junior reached double digits in the rebounding column ... Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) was the leading scorer for Mars Hill, which dropped to 7-13 overall and 3-7 in conference play ... Neither team had much success in the opening half, as only 11 field goals were scored between the two sides in the first 20 minutes. Newberry took a 22-21 lead into the locker room despite shooting only 23.8 percent from the field in the opening half, while Mars Hill was an abysmal 20.7 percent shooting at halftime ... But the Indians began to find their stride in the second half, shooting 57.7 per cent from the floor in the second stanza. Mars Hill began the second half on a 5-0 run, but Newberry bounced back on buckets in the paint from Eric Nwawel (Cameroon) and Tommy Burke (Newberry, S.C.) ... A Tony Blake free throw with 13:55 to play gave the Lions a 29-28 advantage, but the Indians took the lead for good on a bucket in the paint from Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.) with 12:38 to play ... Newberry stretched that advantage to 11 points with a 13-3 run capped by two free throws from Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) making the score 43-32 in Newberry's favor with 6:29 to play ... The Lions tried to reel the Indians back in, going on a 15-8 run that was punctuated by a Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) triple with 3:13 to play, narrowing Newberry's lead to 50-47 ... Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) responded with a personal 9-4 run, using a tip-in, an alley-oop dunk, a free throw and two other jams to seal the victory. Martin scored 15 points to lead all scorers ... The Indians outrebounded the Lions 40-to-37 in the game and shot an overall 42.6 percent compared to Mars Hill's 28.6 percent ... MHC will host Carson-Newman College at 8 p.m. on February 7 and then play at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday night.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team won both of its game last week to move to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in the South Atlantic Conference… On Wednesday, the Indians completed a season sweep of Carson-Newman with a 78-67 win over the Eagles…It was the first conference victory away from home for Newberry this season… Newberry was led in scoring by Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) and Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas), who scored 16 points apiece. Chandler also recorded a career-high eight assists… The teams went into the halftime break tied at 31-all, and Carson-Newman took a 38-36 lead on an Andy Tipton jumper with 15:56 on the clock…However, the scarlet and gray rattled off a 22-5 run over the next 7:17, taking a 58-43 lead on a triple from Cory Etheridge (Columbia, S.C.)…The Indians extended their lead to 20 points with 5:06 to play on another Etheridge three-pointer to give the Indians the 68-48 advantage…The Eagles responded with an 19-10 run capped by two buckets in the final ten seconds, but it was too little too late, and the Indians emerged victorious…Four Indians recorded double digit scoring efforts following the lead of Chandler and Martin. Etheridge scored 12 points - all from behind the arc - followed by 11 points from Alonzo Hinds (Freeport, Bahamas)…Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.) fell one point short of a double-double performance, scoring nine points while grabbing 10 rebounds… Matt Alexander (Norcross, Ga.) also scored nine points for the Indians... Kendrick Johnson (Orangeburg, S.C.) blocked four shots in 15 minutes of playing time… On Saturday, the Indians avenged an earlier loss to Mars Hill with a 64-53 victory at home…Newberry was led by the first career double-double of Etheridge, who scored 10 points and brought down 13 rebounds, marking the first time the junior reached double digits in the rebounding column… Neither team had much success in the opening half, as only 11 field goals were scored between the two sides in the first 20 minutes. Newberry took a 22-21 lead into the locker room despite shooting only 23.8 percent from the field in the opening half, while Mars Hill was an abysmal 20.7 percent shooting at halftime…But the Indians began to find their stride in the second half, shooting 57.7 per cent from the floor in the second stanza…Mars Hill began the second half on a 5-0 run, but Newberry bounced back on buckets in the paint from Eric Nwawel (Cameroon) and Tommy Burke (Newberry, S.C.). A Tony Blake free throw with 13:55 to play gave the Lions a 29-28 advantage, but the Indians took the lead for good on a bucket in the paint from Spillers with 12:38 to play…Newberry stretched that advantage to 11 points with a 13-3 run capped by two free throws from Chandler after a technical foul on the Mars Hill bench, making the score 43-32 in Newberry's favor with 6:29 to play…The Lions tried to reel the Indians back in, going on a 15-8 run that was punctuated by a Stoney Polite triple with 3:13 to play, narrowing Newberry's lead to 50-47…Martin responded with a personal 9-4 run, using a tip-in, an alley-oop dunk, a free throw and two other jams to seal the victory and bring the hometown crowd to its feet. Martin scored 15 points to lead all scorers…The Indians outrebounded the Lions 40-37 in the game and shot an overall 42.6 percent compared to Mars Hill's 28.6 percent…Newberry takes a break from conference action, as the Indians host the Tornados of Brevard College at 7 p.m. Monday…Conference play resumes on Wednesday with the Indians ending a three-game homestand against Lenoir-Rhyne at 8 p.m…The Indians round out the week on Saturday on the road at Catawba College for a 4 p.m. tip.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian extended its winning streak to four games last week with victories over Mars Hill and league-leading Lenoir-Rhyne … The victory over L-R moved the Blue Hose to within one game of the SAC lead … PC center Martynas Versinskas tied his career high in the victory over the Lions with 18 points … The Kaunas, Lithuania native was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe in the contest and 5-for-8 from the field … Senior Grant Herren set a new career high with 25 points in PC's thrilling overtime victory over L-R on Saturday afternoon … The majority of Herren's points came from the free throw line where he was 13-for-15 … Presbyterian next travels to Lincoln Memorial for their first league game ever in Harrogate, Tenn. … Tip-off between the Railsplitters and Blue Hose is set for 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men's basketball team went 1-1 last week… TC opened the week with a 78-66 road loss at SAC leading Lenoir-Rhyne… The Pioneers answered with a thrilling 61-58 home win over in-state rival Lincoln Memorial… In the LMU game, Lavanti Jeter scored the winning basket with three seconds remaining on a rebound and put-back… Jeter finished the contest with a season-high 11 points… Senior Chris Poore led Tusculum with 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while senior Gabe Story added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds and three steals… Tusculum rallied from a 12-point first half deficit and trailed by as many as eight in the final period… In the Lenoir-Rhyne game, junior Jordan Lear accounted for 22 points, including the 1,000th point of his career… He becomes the 16th player in school history to reach the 1,000-Point plateau at Tusculum… Senior Larry Minnefee added 18 markers in the loss… Tusculum has recorded a three-point field goal in 547 consecutive games, but that streak was in jeopardy against Lincoln Memorial as TC went 1-for-12 from beyond the arc... Since the implantation of the three-point field goal in 1987, Tusculum has been held to only one trey on three occasions, including Saturday… The first game on Jan. 20, 1996 at NCAA Division I Wofford College… The second was Nov. 18, 2003 when TC went 1-for-13 against King College… TC head coach Jim Boone recorded his 345th career win on Saturday as he is the 34th winningest active NCAA II coach.

WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team split two South Atlantic Conference games last week. Wingate is 14-6 overall and 7-3 in the SAC. On Wednesday, the Bulldogs defeated Lincoln Memorial University 89-86 in a South Atlantic Conference match-up in Cuddy Arena Wednesday night ... Wingate junior guard/forward Sean Barnette led the Bulldog offense with 25 points. Barnette also recorded three blocked shots. Wingate senior guard Justin Baker notched 17 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs. Senior point guard Bill Smith contributed 15 points and a game-high seven assists. Senior guard Shaun Kirkland had 12 points and Wingate team-highs in both rebounds (seven) and steals (four) ... The 'Dogs built an 11-point advantage (57-46) on an inside hoop by sophomore forward Kenny Villines with 13:51 to play. LMU hit a jumper to take a late 83-81, then Baker tied it on a feed from Smith on the next possession. After an LMU miss, a lay-up by Barnette at the 1:57 mark gave Wingate the lead for good at 85-83. Barnette made a jumper in the paint to make it 87-83 ... The Railsplitters hit a three-pointer at 1:09 to cut the deficit to 87-86. Barnette hit one free throw with 27 seconds remaining to give Wingate a two-point lead. The Railsplitters had two chances to tie (or win) in the waning moments, but could not convert. Baker added a free throw with three seconds left for the final margin ... Catawba College senior guard Brian Graves posted career-high totals of 32 points and 12 assists as the hosts prevailed 108-105 in overtime over Wingate University Saturday afternoon in SAC action at Goodman Gymnasium ... The Catawba Indians hit a follow shot with 16 seconds left in overtime to break a 105-105 tie and lift the Tribe to the win. After a missed Wingate three-point attempt, Catawba made one of two free throws to make the score 108-105. Wingate's three-point attempt at the buzzer was short ... Catawba led 97-93 early in the overtime session, but a basket by junior forward/guard Barnette and a three-pointer by Baker gave the Bulldogs a 102-98 lead with 2:34 remaining ... The Tribe got back-to-back baskets to tie the score before Smith connected on a three-pointer for a 105-102 Wingate lead with 1:17 left. Catawba tied the score at 105 with 52 seconds left. After a Wingate miss, Chris Wooldridge tipped in a miss by Graves for the winning goal. Wooldridge finished with 22 points and eight rebounds ... Barnette and Grier each had double-doubles for Wingate. Barnette tallied 23 points with 10 rebounds, while Grier had 19 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Baker scored 22 points for the Bulldogs ... The 2006 Food Lion SAC tournament MVP, Barnette had two baskets in the final minute of regulation, tying the score at 91-91 with 24 seconds left. Catawba was unable to get a shot off to end the first 40 minutes. Baker had put Wingate up 80-79 with 5:44 remaining, but Wooldridge had a basket and Graves two three-point field goals for an 87-83 Catawba lead with 3:31 left ... The Wingate men play two home games this week. The Bulldogs host North Greenville University for a non-league encounter Wednesday at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Wingate entertains SAC opponent Tusculum College for a 4 p.m. afternoon matinee. The Wingate University Sports Network will broadcast both games on Red Zone Media ... The Wingate men continue to lead the nation in blocked shots per game, rejecting 7.2 shots per contest. Grier is fourth in blocked shots in NCAA Division II. This year, he averages 3.3 blocks per game. Miles (Ala.) College 7-1 junior center DeMario Williams leads the nation in blocked shots with 3.6 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 282.