Weekly SAC Men’s Basketball Notes - February 19, 2007

CARSON-NEWMAN - Did not report

CATAWBA - The Catawba Indians won three games last week and moved into a tie for the league lead with two games remaining ... Catawba opened the week on Monday with an 83-64 win at Mars Hill, took an 89-67 win over Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday and capped the week with an 81-73 victory at Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday ... The wins increase Catawba's current winning streak to seven games ... Catawba helped hold Mars Hill to 33 percent shooting, while connecting on 50 percent in Monday's win ... The Catawba Indians also had just eight turnovers ... Antonio Houston scored 15 points to lead four double figure scorers ... Norman Monroe posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds ... Brian Graves added 11 points and eight assists ... The Indians erased a five-point second-half deficit in its win over LMU, outscoring the Railsplitters 49-22 over the final 13 minutes ... Catawba shot the ball well again, hitting on 53 percent for the game and 65 percent in the second half ... Houston led the charge with 21 points, hitting a trio of three-pointers ... Graves added 14 points and Chris Wooldridge just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds ... Wooldridge had the key basket in the win at Lenoir-Rhyne as he tipped in a miss with 2:08 left to give Catawba a 74-72 lead ... He followed with a jumper to give the Indians a 76-72 edge with 1:28 to go ... The tip-in by Wooldridge sapped a stretch of 13 lead changes over a nine and half minute span in the second half ... The game featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes ... Houston again led the way with 21 points, while Graves tallied 18 points and dished out six assists ... The win was only the 17th for Catawba in 50 years of play at Shuford Gym ... Houston leads Catawba with a 15.8 scoring average and has hit on 51 three-pointers in 125 tries (41 percent) ... Wooldridge adds 15.1 points and a team-high seven rebounds ... Graves is scoring 13.2 points and leads the SAC with a 6.3 assist average ... Catawba will close the regular season with a trip to Carson-Newman on Wednesday and a home game against current SAC co-leader Presbyterian on Saturday.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team (16-8, 10-4) dropped out of first place in the South Atlantic Conference race this week … The Bears split their pair of games, defeating Lincoln Memorial (59-44) on Monday at home before falling to Catawba (81-73) on Saturday night in front of 2,355 fans on Shuford Memorial Gymnasium's 50th anniversary …The loss to Catawba snapped Lenoir-Rhyne's 21-game game home winning streak against South Atlantic Conference regular season foes … L-R is one game behind Presbyterian and Catawba for first place in the league … Lenoir-Rhyne held Lincoln Memorial scoreless for over a 12-minute span spanning both halves … During the stretch, the Bears reeled off 17 straight points … Senior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) led L-R with 13 points while senior guard Eric Mauldin (Albemarle, N.C.) added 12 points on four treys … With the victory, the Bears swept the series from the Railsplitters …Lenoir-Rhyne was out-scored by Catawba, 11-1, in the final three minutes in the battle for first place in the league Saturday night … Junior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) and Springs scored 22 and 20 points, respectively, but it wasn't enough … Catawba took both games of the season for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign ... Bratton has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and 23 out of the team's 24 contest this season … Antonio Houston tallied 21 points and Catawba forced 20 turnovers in the victory … Lenoir-Rhyne travels to Wingate, N.C., to take on Wingate University Wednesday at 8 p.m., before hosting Mars Hill in its regular season finale on Senior Day Saturday at 8 p.m.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - Following a close first half of play, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team trailed 31-24 at the half in Monday night's South Atlantic Conference road game against league-leading Lenoir-Rhyne College ... The Railsplitters were still very much in the game as the second half got underway, but a scoreless stretch of eight minutes and fifty-four seconds to open the second half quickly took away any chances of leaving Hickory with an upset. The Bears extended their home conference winning streak to 21 games by playing their trademark consistent style of basketball ... L-R hit 47.8 percent from the field, 41.2 percent behind the three point line and 80 percent of their shots from the free throw line to move to 16-7 overall and 10-3 in the SAC, remaining the No. 1 team in the league ... To add insult to injury, the Bears crushed LMU on the boards by pulling 40 rebounds to Lincoln Memorial's 22, including 15 offensive rebounds ... The Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball suffered its sixth consecutive defeat Wednesday evening in an 89-67 loss to the Indians of Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina. After trading leads with Catawba throughout much of the first half, the Railsplitters went into the intermission trailing by only five, 36-31 ... When the second half got underway, LMU came out running and gunning and took the lead at 16:22 on a lay up by senior Artavius Mitchell. The game remained tied until 13:03 when the Indians stepped on the gas and extended the lead to 22 points by games end for the final 89-67 margin ... It was a typical LMU-Carson-Newman game on Saturday night, which means throw out the record books and hang on. In a game which saw the Eagles lead by as much as ten points and the Railsplitters lead by 21, it came down to a short jumper with 7 seconds to go in overtime by LMU's Beau Brown to seal a 120-118 win by LMU ... It was the most points scored by LMU since February of 1987 and the fifth highest point total in LMU history. As far as the LMU-Carson-Newman series goes it was the highest combined point total in a series dating back to the 1920's. The previous high point total was in a 117-101 win by LMU at Carson-Newman on Jan. 24, 1987. The 118 points was also the most ever given up by an LMU team to the Eagles ... LMU built up a 79-58 lead with 14:42 to go but then saw C-N systematically started chipping away at the lead, eventually tying the game with 30 seconds to go in regulation on free throws by Kente Hart. Brown tried to get a shot off before the buzzer, but it fell short and the game went to OT ... Hart again tied the game at 118 with 26 seconds to go and the same situation again presented itself, except that this time Brown used a screen and faked out the defender to set up an open lane to the basket for a lay-up with 7 seconds to go. The Eagles had two chances to tie the game again after that but neither shot went in and LMU escaped with the 120-118 win ... LMU's Dominique Petty, Chris Williams and Artavius Mitchell combined for 69 Railsplitter points. Petty led the way with 24 points while Williams came off the bench to add 23 and Mitchell put in another 22 before fouling out of the game. Also in double figures for the Railsplitters were David Lopez, Beau Brown and Ronnie Jones. Lopez and Brown each knocked down 15 points on the night while Jones finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds ... Leading all scorers in Saturday night's game was Carson-Newman's Scott Williams who turned in 32 points by games end. Also in double figures were Kente Hart (18 points), Andy Tipton (17 points), Tipton also pulled 11 rebounds to lead the Eagles, and Clay Scott (15 points) ... The Railsplitters are now 12-13 on the year and 6-9 in South Atlantic Conference play heading into Tuesday night's non-conference road match-up with North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. The Railsplitters will return home next Saturday night to take on Newberry College in the regular season finale.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost three games last week. The Lions fell to 8-17 on the year and 4-10 in the SAC ... In the first game of the week, A big second half for Catawba led to a 83-64 loss for Mars Hill College Monday night in Stanford Arena. The first half was closely played with MHC holding a seven point lead (28-21) with 5:37 left in the first half after Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) hit a shot in the paint. Catawba then out scored MHC 16-to-3 in the final minutes of the first stanza to take a 37-31 lead into the locker room at the intermission. The second half belonged to Catawba. They led by as many as 23 points (73-50) with 5:11 left in the contest after Ahmad Murphy (Orangeburg, SC) hit a foul shot ... Catawba out scored the Lions 46-33 in the second period. Catawba scored 42 points in the paint, 20 second chance points and edged the Lions in rebounds, 39-to-38. Antonio Houston (Charlotte, NC) led Catawba with 15 points followed by Brian Graves (Newport News, VA) and Murphy who scored 11 and 10 points in the game, respectively ... Catawba shot 50 percent (32-64) from the floor in the game. Andy Miller (Franklin, NC) came off the bench to lead MHC with 18 points and six rebounds. Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) added 14 points in the loss ... MHC converted on only 33.3 percent (21-63) of their shots from the floor ... In the second game of the week, Sean Barnette (Rock Hill, SC) scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead Wingate University past Mars Hill College in men's basketball action Wednesday night, 96-79. Justin Baker (Lumberton, NC) hit a 15-foot jumper with 18:47 left in the opening period to give Wingate a 2-0 lead and the Bulldogs would never trail again ... Wingate led by as many as 10 points (27-17) after Sam Holmes (Danville, VA) hit a 3-pointer but MHC went on a 13-to-4 run to trim the deficit to just a single point (31-30) after Jarred Pickering (Albany Creek, Queensland, Australia) hit 1-of-2 foul shots. Wingate out scored MHC 6-to-3 to end the first frame and take a 37-33 lead into the locker room at the intermission ... After eight minutes of close play, Barnette gave Wingate a double-digit lead (63-53) at the 11:57 mark by hitting a shot in the lane. MHC cut the lead back to seven points (69-62) with 7:58 left in regulation after Andy Miller (Franklin, NC) scored inside but that was as close as the Lions would get ... Wingate went on a 14-to-5 run over the next three minutes of play to go ahead by 16 (83-67) and seal the win ... Following Barnette for Wingate was Bill Smith (Manasquan, NJ) with 18 points and Baker with 16. Shaun Kirkland (Allendale, SC) ended the contest with 10 points and seven rebounds. Wingate won the rebound battle, 45-to-37 ... Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) led MHC with 23 points and five rebounds followed by Miller who came off the bench to score 20 points and pull down 11 boards for his first career double-double. Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) rounded out the double-figure scorers for MHC with 15 points ... In the third contest of the week, P.J. Schumacher was fouled and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 with 0.8 seconds left in regulation to lift North Greenville University past Mars Hill College in men's basketball action in Stanford Arena Saturday afternoon. The first half was closely played until the final eight minutes of the period ... Jordan Richmond gave NGU a 25-24 lead with 7:55 on the clock and then MHC went on a 24-to-13 run to close out the first stanza and take a 10-point lead (49-39) into the locker room at the intermission. The teams combined to hit 19 three-pointers in the first half ... MHC scored first in the second frame with 18:24 on the clock after Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) hit a layup and go ahead by 12 points, their biggest lead of the game. NGU then out scored the Lions 16-to-3 over the next six minutes to take 55-54 advantage with 12:24 left in the contest after Adam Griggs hit a layup ... Neither team led by more than three points after that point. After Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) hit a pair of foul shots with 2:29 on the clock to give the Lions a 70-67 lead, Richmond nailed a shot from behind the arc on the Crusaders next possession to tie the contest at 70-all at the 2:18 mark ... After two missed long range attempts, a missed layup and the same number of offensive boards, Tony Blake (Canton, NC) found Polite for an open 3-pointer which he sank to give MHC a 73-70 lead with just 35 seconds left in regulation ... After not being able to find an open 3-point attempt, NGU settled for a layup by Nipper with nine seconds left. Having only four team fouls, NGU was forced to foul quickly on two occasions to set up a 1-and1 by the Lions ... After the Crusaders put the Lions in the bonus, MHC turned the ball over on the in-bounds pass with four seconds left to give the ball back to NGU that led to Schumacher's game-winning shots at the charity stripe. Schumacher led NGU with 23 points hitting six 3-pointers. He added five rebounds and four assists ... Amonza Gantt recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Richmond scored 17 in the win. NGU out rebounded MHC, 40-to-35 ... Polite led MHC with 25 points followed by Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) with 15 and P.J. Gore (Little River, SC) with 13. Aline scored six points and pulled down 11 rebounds ... MHC recognized their senior players before the game. Aline and McIver played their last regular season contest in Stanford Arena this afternoon ... MHC will play at Tusculum College on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and then travel to Lenoir-Rhyne College on Saturday night, also at 8 p.m.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team had a week of peaks and valleys, as the Indians fell to Tusculum, 64-42, on Wednesday, and defeated Wingate, 87-84, on Saturday… Wednesday's loss to Tusculum marked the lowest point total by a Newberry team since January 27, 1992, when the Indians lost, 48-42, to Francis Marion… It was the least amount points ever scored by the Indians at home since the team moved into Eleazer Arena in 1981-82… Cory Etheridge (Columbia, S.C.) was the only Indian in double figures, scoring 14 points to go with five rebounds… Newberry shot only 15-of-50 (30 percent) from the floor, while the Pioneers were good for 25-of-45 (55.6 percent) shooting from the field… The Indians responded in a big way on Saturday, winning their first game at Wingate since 1998, Newberry's first year in the South Atlantic Conference… Newberry was led by Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas), who scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds…Senior guard Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) scored 14 points for the Indians, with junior forward Terrance Spillers (Charleston, S.C.) scoring 10 points and snagging eight rebounds, while Etheridge also scored 12 points for Newberry…Freshman center Kendrick Johnson scored seven points, but also blocked two shots to come within one block of tying Jon Stackhouse's Newberry single-season record for blocks…Johnson will have a chance to break that record at home, as the Indians host Presbyterian College Wednesday night for the final conference meeting between the two teams before the Blue Hose move to Division I. Tipoff in Eleazer Arena is slated for 8 p.m… The Indians close out the regular season with their longest road trip of the year, as they meet up with the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn. on Saturday at 8 p.m.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian extended its winning streak to eight games last week with three league victories on the week … Presbyterian is now tied with Catawba for the league lead as both teams have an identical record of 11-3 in SAC action … All three Blue Hose wins last week were at home … The Tusculum victory was the final regular season home game of the year for PC … The Blue Hose finished this season 12-1 at home … Presbyterian is now 45-7 over the last four years at home and 36-3 since the start of the 2004-05 campaign … Sean Dixon led or tied for the team lead in scoring in all three wins … Dixon started off the week by scoring a team-high 21 points in the win over Wingate … He followed that up by scoring a team high 15 in the win over Carson-Newman and a team-high tying 11 in the victory over Tusculum on Saturday.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men's basketball team (12-14, 5-10 SAC) went 2-1 last week. The Pioneers opened with a pair of wins. TC defeated Carson-Newman 86-74 in the 101st recorded meeting between the two East Tennessee schools. Two days later, the Pioneers followed with a 64-42 road win at Newberry. Tusculum ended the week with a 53-50 setback at SAC co-leader Presbyterian ... Tusculum has played in 15 games this season that have been decided by 10 points or less. Nine of those 15 games have been decided by four points or fewer ... Larry Minnefee is averaging 13.8 points per game in his last 11 games. Lavanti Jeter has accounted for 12.5 ppg in his last six outings. Jeter posted a career-best 23 points against Carson-Newman in his last home game. Jeter is also shooting 25-for-37 from the floor in his last five games (67.6 percent) ... Jordan Lear reached a personal milestone last month at Lenoir-Rhyne reaching the 1,000-point plateau for his career. Lear became the 16th player in recorded school history to score 1,000 points. He enters this week's action with 1,021 points to his credit ... Chris Poore is scoring 16.5 points per game in his last four contests. Poore is also averaging 7.8 rebounds per game during that same four-game span. Tusculum leads the South Atlantic Conference in field goal percentage defense (.411) ... Tusculum has made a 3-point field goal in 552 consecutive games. Chris Poore reached 1,000 career points in last year's SAC Tournament quarterfinal at Catawba. Poore has notched 1,416 points during his collegiate career, including 777 points in his 55 games at Tusculum (14.1 ppg) ... Gabe Story has blocked 51 shots in his two seasons at Tusculum. His rejection tally is already the fourth most in school history ... Since the 2001-02 season, Tusculum is 46-8 when scoring 80 or more points ... Tusculum hosts Mars Hill this Wednesday in the TC's regular season finale. It will be the final home game for Tusculum seniors Larry Minnefee, Chris Poore, Serge Poppe, Gabe Story, Tyler White and Eric Williams.

WINGATE - Wingate lost two tough SAC contests last week. In between the heart-breaking losses, Wingate picked up a huge SAC road win at Mars Hill. On Saturday, the Bulldogs fell 87-84 to Newberry. Wingate (17-8 overall, 9-5 SAC) was led by senior guard Justin Baker and his season-high 32 points. The Bulldogs had four players score in double digits ... Bulldog junior guard/forward Sean Barnette scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs past Mars Hill 96-79 in SAC men's basketball action Wednesday night in Stanford Arena. Barnette averaged a double-double last week for the Bulldogs, with 23.0 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game. He hit 50.0 percent of his field goals last week (22-of-44) ... Barnette was recently named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III men's basketball first team (college division), selected by CoSIDA. He leads the SAC in scoring with 20.6 points per game. The Northwestern High School graduate is listed in the SAC top 10 in seven statistical categories ... On Monday night, Presbyterian avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs with an 88-77 home-court triumph. Barnette led all scorers with 24 points. The 2006 All-SAC standout converted nine-of-14 field goals and four-of-five three-pointers Monday night. Bulldog senior forward Shaun Kirkland had 15 markers, while senior point guard Bill Smith netted 13 points ... Wingate is 10th in the latest NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional poll (released Feb. 14). Lenoir-Rhyne (fifth) and Presbyterian (ninth) also represent the SAC in the regional listing. The Bulldogs will have a chance to move up the charts, as Lenoir-Rhyne comes to town Wednesday (Feb. 21) for an 8 p.m. contest ... Grier is fifth in the NCAA Division II in blocked shots per game. The 2005-06 NCAA Division II leader in rejections, Grier is averaging 3.1 blocked shots per game this season. Thanks to the efforts of Grier and his teammates, Wingate is the number one team in NCAA Division II in blocked shots. The Bulldogs average 6.7 blocks per game ... Smith is 24th in the country in assists per game, averaging 5.0 assists per contest. Barnette is 33rd in scoring with his 20.6 points per game average. Barnette is the top scorer in the South Atlantic Conference ... Wingate possesses the top offense in the South Atlantic Conference, averaging 83.1 points per contest. The Bulldogs are getting it done on the defensive end as well, holding 22 of 25 opponents below 50 percent from the floor this season. Presbyterian (51.8 percent Monday, Feb. 12 at PC) is the only SAC opponent to shoot over 50 percent against the Bulldogs this year ... Barnette has scored in double figures in 30 consecutive contests, dating to last season. Baker has a streak in progress as well; he has tallied double digits in 21 straight games (also dating to the 2005-06 season) ... Baker has 996 Wingate career points entering this week's play. The senior shooting guard is averaging 19.1 points per game in SAC play with two league contests remaining. His 32 points against Newberry Saturday marked the third time he has surpassed 30 points in his Bulldog career ... Last season, Baker had 30 points in a tough loss at Lenoir-Rhyne on Jan. 18, 2006. He amassed a career-high 35 points in a 95-76 victory at Carson-Newman on Jan. 28, 2006.