Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, Catawba, Mars Hill Men Advance In Food Lion SAC Men’s Basketball Tournament

Three of the top four seeds advanced in quarterfinal action of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference men's basketball tournament Wednesday night. Sixth-seed Mars Hill upset third-seed Carson-Newman. Second-seed Wingate fought back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat seventh-seed Newberry.

The semifinals are Saturday at the Catawba Valley Community College multipurpose facility in Hickory, N.C. Top-seed Lenoir-Rhyne will face fourth-seed Catawba at 1 p.m. The other semifinal will have second-seed Wingate facing sixth-seed Mars Hill at 6 p.m.

Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for college students and children.

No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne 97, No. 8 Lincoln Memorial 76

Hickory, N.C. - The No. 22 Lenoir-Rhyne College Men's Basketball Team (22-5) defeated Lincoln Memorial University (8-20), 96-76, Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium in the First Round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

Lenoir-Rhyne, the top seed in the tournament, advanced to the semifinals to play fourth-seeded Catawba on Saturday at 1 p.m., at Catawba Valley Community College. Lincoln Memorial, the eighth seed in the tournament, played its last game of the year.

Senior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte HS) and junior forward Elliott McDowell (Canton, N.C./Pisgah HS) both came off the bench to score 22 and 19 points, respectively, as the Bears defeated the Railsplitters for the third time this year.

Lenoir-Rhyne, which trailed just once in the game, jumped out to a 22-8 lead and took a 49-37 advantage into halftime.

After Lincoln Memorial closed the gap to five points at 58-53 on a lay-up by Terry Delaney (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) with 15:45 remaining, Lenoir-Rhyne took control for good and slowly built its lead to as many 22 points (93-71) late in the second half en route to the win.

Emmanuel Njomo (Fairfax, Va.) led Lincoln Memorial with 20 points while Delaney added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists despite the loss.

Lenoir-Rhyne also forced Lincoln Memorial into 25 turnovers and totaled 14 steals as the Bears earned a berth to the semifinals of the tournament for the fourth straight year.

LENOIR-RHYNE 96, LINCOLN MEMORIAL 76
LINCOLN MEMORIAL (8-20)
Njomo, Emmanuel 9-17 1-1 20; Delaney, Terry 7-10 4-4 18; Whitaker, Ryan 5-8 3-5 17; Brown, Beau 5-12 0-1 12; Joseph, Wadner 1-3 2-2 4; Goins, Trey 1-4 0-0 3; Jones, Ronnie 0-1 2-2 2; Tenev, Boyan 0-0 0-0 0; Warner, Brett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-56 12-15 76.
LENOIR-RHYNE (22-5)
Bratton, Reggie 9-17 4-4 22; McDowell, Elliott 7-8 4-5 19; Hodges, Marcus 4-5 2-2 12; Rudder, Josh 4-7 3-3 12; Blackmon, D.J. 4-4 3-4 11; Crawford, Ryan 1-4 3-4 6; Watson, Donte 2-5 0-0 4; Connelly, Bobby 1-1 0-0 3; Cook, Jonathan 1-1 0-0 3; Goldsmith, Paul 1-1 0-2 2; Kindred, Josh 1-3 0-0 2;
Neal, J.P. 0-0 0-0 0; Shaw, Nathaniel 0-1 0-0 0; Brown, A.J. 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-58 19-24 96.
Lincoln Memorial.............. 37 39 - 76
Lenoir-Rhyne.................. 49 47 - 96
3-point goals--Lincoln Memorial 8-21 (Whitaker, Ryan 4-6; Brown, Beau 2-8; Goins, Trey 1-3; Njomo, Emmanuel 1-2; Jones, Ronnie 0-1; Delaney, Terry 0-1), Lenoir-Rhyne 7-14 (Hodges, Marcus 2-3; McDowell, Elliott 1-2; Rudder, Josh 1-2; Connelly, Bobby 1-1; Cook, Jonathan 1-1; Crawford, Ryan 1-3; Brown, A.J. 0-1; Bratton, Reggie 0-1). Fouled out--Lincoln Memorial-Jones, Ronnie, Lenoir-Rhyne-None. Rebounds--Lincoln Memorial 29 (Delaney, Terry 8), Lenoir-Rhyne 26 (Crawford, Ryan 6). Assists--Lincoln Memorial 15 (Delaney, Terry 6), Lenoir-Rhyne 22 (Rudder, Josh 6). Total fouls--Lincoln Memorial 21, Lenoir-Rhyne 18. Technical fouls--Lincoln Memorial-Jones, Ronnie; Joseph, Wadner, Lenoir-Rhyne-None. A-310

No. 2 Wingate 94, No. 7 Newberry 83

Wingate, N.C. -- The Wingate University Bulldogs overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to top the Indians of Newberry College 94-83 Wednesday night in the first round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament in Cuddy Arena.

The Bulldogs racked up their ninth straight win overall and seventh consecutive SAC tournament victory. Wingate improves to 23-5 overall and advances to the semifinals to take on Mars Hill College Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Hickory. Newberry completes its 2007-08 campaign 12-16 overall.

Wingate senior forward/guard Sean Barnette (Rock Hill, S.C.) poured in 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. He has now scored at least 20 points in six of his eight career SAC tournament games. Junior forward Kenny Villines (Fayetteville, N.C.) also notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go along with five steals and four blocks.

Bulldog redshirt sophomore forward David Johnson (Raleigh, N.C.) scored all 14 of his points in the second half, going five-of-six from the field. He also collected four rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Sam Holmes (Danville, Va.) added 11 points, while sophomore guard Brandon Plummer (Norfolk, Va.) contributed with 10. Junior guard DeMario Mattox (Rocky Mount, Va.) handed out a game-high seven assists for the host Bulldogs.

Redshirt junior forward Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) led the Newberry attack with 24 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Grant Domsic (Winter Park, Fla.) and redshirt senior forward Keith Marshall (St. Stephen, S.C.) posted 13 points each.

Wingate took a 15-11 lead on a jumper from Larry Staley (Charlotte, N.C.) at the 11:21 mark of the first half. Newbery answered with an 8-0 run, capped by a three from Cory Etheridge (Columbia, S.C.) at the 9:53 mark. The triple gave Newberry a four-point lead at 19-15. The visiting Indians put together a 6-0 spurt to take a 38-28 lead with 2:21 remaining.

Wingate got the lead down to seven on a jumper from Plummer with 22 seconds left, but a three from Etheridge with four seconds to go pushed the lead back to 46-36 at intermission.

The Bulldogs came out on fire in the second half, going on a 25-7 run out of the gate to take a 61-53 with 11 minutes remaining. Villines had seven points in the spurt. Barnette had six, while Johnson added five. The Bulldogs would stretch the lead out to 71-60 on a Barnette jumper at the 7:51 mark.

The Indians responded, getting a lay-up from Martin to slice the lead back to seven at 71-64. Wingate had the answer, getting a three from Holmes, followed by a steal and dunk from Barnette to make it 76-64 with 6:23 remaining.

A Martin lay-up got it back down to six with 3:19 to go. Four straight points from Barnette got the lead back up to 10 with 2:32 remaining. The lead would not go below eight the rest of the way.

The Bulldogs shot a blistering 70 percent from the field (21-of-30) in the second half, while they were 34-of-60 (56.7 percent) from the field for the game. Newberry was 34-of-73 (46.6 percent) on the night. The Indians held a 42-38 rebounding advantage, while outscoring the Bulldogs 13-11 in second chance points and 54-40 in the paint. Wingate converted 20 Newberry turnovers into 22 points. The Bulldogs are now 9-0 overall on the season when scoring at least 90 points and 17-1 overall when scoring at least 80.

The Bulldogs will take on the Lions of Mars Hill College Saturday night at the Catawba Valley Community College Multipurpose Complex in Hickory. The Lions topped Carson-Newman College 78-76 Wednesday night.

Wingate swept the season series against Mars Hill, winning 94-89 at Mars Hill and 99-91 in overtime in Cuddy Arena. The winner of the Wingate versus Mars Hill game moves on to face the winner of the Lenoir-Rhyne versus Catawba contest in the Food Lion SAC championship game Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

WINGATE MEN 94, NEWBERRY 83
NEWBERRY (12-16 overall)
Martin, Clemente 10-23 4-6 24; Marshall, Keith 6-8 1-2 13; Domsic, Grant 5-10 0-0 13; Etheridge, Cory 3-7 0-0 9; Bakinde, Stephane 3-6 1-2 7; Valiulis, Vytautas 3-7 0-3 6; Johnson, Kendrick 3-7 0-0 6; Alexander, Matt 1-4 1-2 3; Overmyer, Ty 0-1 2-2 2; Badawi, Sami 0-0 0-0 0; Fisher, Tyler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-73 9-17 83.
WINGATE (23-5 overall)
Barnette, Sean 13-17 4-8 30; Villines, Kenny 4-9 6-8 14; Johnson, David 5-6 2-2 14; Holmes, Sam 3-9 2-2 11; Plummer, Brandon 3-7 4-9 10; Staley, Larry 3-5 0-3 6; Mangum, Ernest 1-1 2-2 4; Turner, Rosco 1-2 0-0 3; Mattox, DeMario 1-4 0-2 2; Thys, Ryan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-60 20-36 94.
Newberry...................... 46 37 - 83
Wingate....................... 36 58 - 94
3-point goals--Newberry 6-22 (Etheridge, Cory 3-6; Domsic, Grant 3-7; Bakinde, Stephane 0-1; Valiulis, Vytautas 0-1; Alexander, Matt 0-1; Martin, Clemente 0-6), Wingate 6-14 (Holmes, Sam 3-6; Johnson, David 2-3; Turner, Rosco 1-1; Plummer, Brandon 0-3; Barnette, Sean 0-1). Fouled out--Newberry-None, Wingate-None. Rebounds--Newberry 41 (Alexander, Matt 7; Johnson, Kendrick 7), Wingate 39 (Barnette, Sean 11). Assists--Newberry 14 (Valiulis, Vytautas 4), Wingate 20 (Mattox, DeMario 7). Total fouls--Newberry 23, Wingate 19. Technical fouls--Newberry-None, Wingate-None. A-504

No. 6 Mars Hill 78, No. 3 Carson-Newman 76

JEFFERSON CITY, TN - The Mars Hill College Lions (13-15) fought back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to upset Carson-Newman 78-76 in the first round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament on Wednesday night in Jefferson City.

Junior Jordan Skinner (Yellow Springs, OH) led the Lions with 19 points, hitting 13-of-14 free throws. As a team, Mars Hill finished 26-of-37 at the line.

Sixth-seeded Mars Hill started fast, scoring the first eight points of the game for a quick 8-0 lead. The Lions stretched that lead to 29-13 near the midway point of the first half, before the Eagles rallied to cut the lead to 39-37 at the half.

The third-seeded Eagles failed to score in the opening three minutes of the second half, as Mars Hill moved out to a five-point advantage at 42-37.

C-N answered with its best stretch of the game, going on a 21-8 run to build its largest lead at 58-50. Back-to-back three pointers by Jesse McMurray and Darren Williams keyed the C-N burst.

The Lions answered by taking care of business at the line, making their next eight free throws to cut the lead to 61-60.

Mars Hill's Jamarl Glen (District Heights. MD) scored his team's next six points as Mars Hill took the lead for good, outlasting C-N at the line.

Glen finished with 15 points. Junior P.J. Gore (North Myrtle Beach, SC) added 16, and sophomore Stoney Polite (Morganton, NC) poured in 15.

Williams led C-N with 15 points, while sophomore Jordan Dixon added 14 and senior Andy Tipton finished with 12.

With the win, Mars Hill advances to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, N.C. MHC will face Wingate at 6 p.m. Carson-Newman's season ends at 18-9 and 8-7 in the SAC.

MARS HILL COLLEGE 78, CARSON-NEWMAN 76
MARS HILL COLLEGE (14-15, 7-9 SAC)
Skinner, Jordan 3-11 13-14 19; Gore, P.J. 3-9 9-10 16; Polite, Stoney 6-13 0-2 15; Glen, Jamarl 7-10 1-2 15; Moton, Jabreel 3-6 2-5 8; Coakley, Akeene 1-5 0-2 2; Brozos, Tinos 1-1 0-0 2; Blake, Tony 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 24-58 26-37 78.
CARSON-NEWMAN (18-9, 8-7 SAC)
Darren Williams 4-8 4-6 15; Jordan Dixon 5-13 4-6 14; Andy Tipton 5-12 1-1 12; Andrew Johnson 3-7 2-3 10; Scott Williams 3-9 2-3 8; Zach Hyatte 2-3 2-2 6; Clay Scott 1-1 2-4 4; Jesse McMurray 1-4 0-0 3; Kevin Hare 1-5 0-2 2; Adam Plavich 1-1 0-0 2; Cameron Sharp 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 17-27 76.
Mars Hill College............. 39 39 - 78
Carson-Newman................. 37 39 - 76
3-point goals-Mars Hill College 4-17 (Polite, Stoney 3-9; Gore, P.J. 1-5; Coakley, Akeene 0-1; Blake, Tony 0-2), Carson-Newman 7-23 (Darren Williams 3-5; Andrew Johnson 2-4; Andy Tipton 1-5; Jesse McMurray 1-4; Kevin Hare 0-1; Cameron Sharp 0-1; Scott Williams 0-2; Jordan Dixon 0-1). Fouled out--Mars Hill College-Glen, Jamarl; Moton, Jabreel, Carson-Newman-Zach Hyatte. Rebounds-Mars Hill College 43 (Coakley, Akeene 8; Skinner, Jordan 8), Carson-Newman 36 (Scott Williams 11). Assists-Mars Hill College 10 (Polite, Stoney 3), Carson-Newman 9 (Jordan Dixon 3). Total fouls-Mars Hill College 24, Carson-Newman 25. A-750

No. 4 Catawba 67, No. 5 Tusculum 63

SALISBURY, NC -- Catawba claimed a 67-63 over visiting Tusculum in the opening round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference men's basketball tournament on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym. The forth-seeded Catawba Indians improve to 17-11 and advance to face top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne in a Saturday afternoon semifinal at Catawba Valley Community College. The fifth-seeded Pioneers end their season at 13-15. It marked the third time in the last five years the teams have met in the first round and each time the team that swept the regular-season series lost the tournament encounter. Tusculum had claimed 82-79 and 65-61 wins over Catawba earlier this year.

Rob Fields (Orangeburg, SC/Orangeburg-Wilkerson HS) came off the bench to equal his career-high of 19 points to lift Catawba. Antonio Houston (Charlotte, NC/E. Mecklenburg HS) scored 14 points and became just the third player in school history to reach 1,000 career points as a sophomore. He has 1,013 points.

A pair of Pioneers posted double-doubles in the loss. Jordan Lear (Zanesville, OH) had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Lavonti Jeter (Alexandria, VA) added 13 points and 10 boards. Kyle Moore (Gainesville, FL) also reached double figures with 14 points.

The game was tightly contested throughout as lead changed hands 10 times and was tied another 10. The largest lead of the game was five points which each team enjoyed on several occasions. Catawba built one its five point leads midway through the opening half went it went on top 21-16 at the 10:38 mark. A three-pointer by Fields in the closing seconds of the half gave the Indians a 32-31 lead at the break.

Tusculum grabbed the lead early in the second half and pushed the margin to 49-44 on a three-pointer and jumper by Lear with 10:17 left. Fields would answer for Catawba with five straight points of his own to knot the game at 54-all with 7:26 remaining. A basket by Norman Monroe (Newport News, VA/Heritage HS) put the Tribe up for good at 56-54 with 6:58 left, but Tusculum stayed close down the stretch.

Jeter cut the TC deficit to 63-60 with 2:03 remaining and a free throw by Ryan Troutman (Mt. Washington, KY) got the Pioneers within 63-61 with 20 seconds left. Fields made two free throws with 18 seconds to play, but Jeter scored with four ticks on the clock to reduce the margin to 65-63. Jason Diggs (Christiansburg, VA/Christiansburg HS) iced the game with two free throws with 3.5 seconds left.

CATAWBA 67, TUSCULUM 63
TUSCULUM (13-15)
Lear, Jordan 6-13 4-4 19; Moore, Kyle 5-10 2-5 14; Jeter, Lavonti 6-15 1-2 13; Troutman, Ryan 3-7 3-4 9; Hobbs, Darren 2-5 0-1 4; Troutman, Robert 1-2 0-0 2; Boone, Jimmy 1-3 0-0 2; Lewis, Jerrell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 10-16 63.
CATAWBA (17-11)
Fields, Rob 7-12 3-3 19; Houston, Antonio 5-13 3-4 14; Reid, Dominick 3-9 0-0 9; Diggs, Jason 2-4 2-2 6; Rutherford, Donald 3-3 0-0 6; Monroe, Norman 2-6 0-2 4; Burns, Cliff 2-3 0-0 4; Rose, Isaac 1-2 1-2 3; Williams, Donzell 1-2 0-0 2; Shoemaker, Trey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 9-13 67.
Tusculum...................... 31 32 - 63
Catawba....................... 32 35 - 67
3-point goals--Tusculum 5-18 (Lear, Jordan 3-5; Moore, Kyle 2-6; Troutman, Ryan 0-2; Hobbs, Darren 0-3; Boone, Jimmy 0-2), Catawba 6-18 (Reid, Dominick 3-5; Fields, Rob 2-6; Houston, Antonio 1-5; Rose, Isaac 0-1; Williams, Donzell 0-1). Fouled out--Tusculum-None, Catawba-None. Rebounds--Tusculum 35 (Lear, Jordan 10; Jeter, Lavonti 10), Catawba 30 (Rose, Isaac 6). Assists--Tusculum 12 (Troutman, Ryan 8), Catawba 10 (Rose, Isaac 2; Monroe, Norman 2; Reid, Dominick 2). Total fouls--Tusculum 16, Catawba 15. Technical fouls--Tusculum-None, Catawba-None. A-103

Printable bracket