Men’s Basketball Notes, January 18, 2011
Men's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending January 17, 2011
ANDERSON - Anderson split its decisions on the week, earning a come-from-behind 111-106 win past in-state rival Newberry on Wednesday then dropped an 84-73 road decision at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday … Five Trojans averaged double figures on the week, with Kevis Cornwell (16.0 ppg.), Denzail Jones (15.0 ppg.), Nick Trull (12.5 ppg.), Oskars Ernsteins (12.5 ppg.) and Trey Britton (11.5) each reached the double-figure plateau … AU rallied from a 16-point deficit midway through the second half to earn the home win past the Wolves and had its three-game win streak snapped Saturday at LMU with the setback … The Trojans will look to get back in the win column when they close out their brief two-game road swing at Tusculum on Wednesday.
BREVARD - The Brevard College Tornados men's basketball team went 2-0 on the week, defeating Catawba in Goodman Gymnasium in Salisbury, N.C. on Wednesday, 80-75, and Lenoir-Rhyne at home in Brevard, N.C. on Saturday afternoon in overtime, 85-83 ... The wins put the Tornados at 7-3, 5-1 in conference play in the 2010-2011 season ... On Wednesday night, Josh Roper scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half and Darius Moose pulled down a career high 12 rebounds as the Tornados survived a late second-half run by the Indians taking the win, 80-75 ... Roper led Brevard with 27 points, hitting eight of 17 field goal attempts, including four three-pointers as the senior carried the team to a 39-24 first half lead ... Drew Schauss added 11 points, hitting three three-pointers in the second half, while Gaither Hendrix had nine points to go with seven assists ... Roper added eight rebounds for the Tornados as Brevard and Catawba split the battle of the boards at 46 apiece. The Tornados shot 47.5 percent (28-59) from the floor and 40.9 percent (9-22) from the three-point line in their fourth conference victory of the season. Catawba forced 18 Brevard turnovers in the contest as three Indians players recorded multiple steals in the game, while the Indians went 72.4 percent (21-29) from the free throw line in the game ... Roper took over again for Brevard on Saturday, overcoming late free throw shooting woes to convert a pair from the charity stripe with 1.5 seconds left in the overtime period, while Jon Hathcock's shot as time expired hit one of the Boshamer Gymnasium ceiling light fixtures as Brevard overcame a second half deficit to defeat the visiting Lenoir-Rhyne Bears on Saturday afternoon, 85-83 ... Roper again led all scorers with 31 points, hitting nine of 15 shots from the field and 11 of 15 from the free throw line in recording his eighth career 30+ points game and third on the season ... Josh Jordan recorded the first double-double of his career, scoring 12 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds, and Hendrix added 17 points while Schauss poured in 15 as the Tornados won their third consecutive SAC game ... Brevard takes to the road in conference play next week, traveling to Harrogate, Tenn. on Wednesday and Tex Turner Arena to face SAC leader, Lincoln Memorial, before finishing up their road trip on Saturday in Wingate, N.C. and Cuddy Arena as Brevard takes on the Bulldogs of Wingate University.
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Eagles compiled a 2-1 record on the week ... The Eagles fell to rival Tusculum College, 61-54, on Wednesday before rebounding to close out the week with a 99-89 victory over Newberry College at Holt Fieldhouse on Saturday and a 60-58 win at Lenoir-Rhyne on Monday ... C-N is now 6-8 on the season and 3-3 in SAC play ... The Eagles struggled to only 19 first-half points their loss to Tusculum ... The visiting Pioneers controlled the tempo and forced 15 Carson-Newman turnovers in turning an 11-point halftime lead into their sixth win of the season ... Antonio Sullivan scored all 15 of his points on five three-pointers for Carson-Newman, finishing as the only Eagle in double figures ... Bradley Tumer tallied eight points and a game-high nine assists while Brandon Evans hit all three of his field-goal attempts and recorded eight points off the bench ... Both teams finished at 44 percent shooting from the field in the game, but the Pioneers enjoyed a 32-25 edge in rebounding and took advantage of their free-throw opportunities, as the top foul-shooting team in the South Atlantic Conference (76.3 percent) went 17-for-23 overall at the line including 10-for-10 in the final minute ... The Eagles held the lead for most of the first five minutes before the Pioneers tied the contest at 6-6 on a three-pointer by Rob Troutman ... He added two more three-pointers to help the Pioneers extend their advantage to 22-16 with 4:24 left in the half, part of an 11-0 run that saw Tusculum build a 28-16 lead at the 2:30 mark ... The Pioneers went to halftime with a 28-19 lead ... Tusculum took its biggest lead of the game at 30-19 on the Pioneers' first possession of the second half, and never surrendered the advantage despite seeing the Eagles rally within 34-31 with 12:24 left and 43-41 with 6:34 to go ... The Eagles knocked down a season-high 14 3-pointers and held Newberry to a season-low 27.7 percent shooting in their 99-89 victory over the Wolves on Saturday ... The teams combined for 144 shots, with 94 of those coming on the Newberry end, while the 99 points were a season-high for the Eagles ... C-N torched the nets at a 58 percent clip and made 66.7 percent (14-of-22) of its attempts from behind the arc ... Freshman guard Ishmael Sanders, Sullivan and sophomore Joe Meady produced career-highs to lead the way...Sanders fired in a game-high 23 points and went 4-of-5 from deep, while Sullivan netted 22 points, going 6-of-7 from 3-point range ... Meady added 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks, and senior Erwin Staten pitched in 10 points...Newberry lost despite setting three SAC records on the day ... The Wolves forced 39 turnovers, including a record 26 steals, and they pulled down a SAC record 33 offensive rebounds ... Newberry scored 46 points off C-N's turnovers and had 29 second chance points ... However, Newberry was unable to get things going offensively, shooting just 27.7 percent (26-of-94), including a miserable 5-of-42 effort from 3-point range ... Newberry held a 19-13 lead at the 12:04 mark of the first half, but C-N answered with a 10-0 run capped off by a layup by Staten that gave the Eagles a 23-19 advantage ... The teams played through three more ties before Sanders drilled a 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the half to give the Eagles a 41-38 lead ... Antoni Magdos converted a 3-point play with eight seconds remaining to trim C-N's lead to 43-41 heading into the locker room ... C-N opened the second half on a 13-3 run and took its biggest lead of the game on a jumper by Staten at 56-44 with 15:29 left ... The Wolves scrapped back behind a 12-2 run, pulling to within 58-56 at the 13:33 mark ... After C-N pushed its lead back to 10, Newberry made one last run as it trimmed the Eagles' lead to 80-77 with 4:48 remaining ... However, C-N went on an 11-0 run to put the game away ... The Eagles held off a late rally by Lenoir-Rhyne to claim a 60-58 victory on Monday afternoon ... The Eagles led 50-38 with 8:35 remaining, but the Bears stormed back to pull to within 55-53 at the 1:41 mark on a 3-pointer by R.J. McClure ... However, C-N pushed its lead back to five points after a made free throw by Tumer and two made free throws by Kevin Hare, and a last-second defensive stop sealed the win ... The win was C-N's first at Lenoir-Rhyne since Feb. 18, 2004 and it also gave the Eagles back-to-back conference wins for the first time since Feb. 2008 ... The Eagles shot 39.1 percent from the floor (18-of-46), including a 9-of-21 effort from behind the arc, while Lenoir-Rhyne shot 38.3 percent on the day (23-of-60) ... The Bears were just 3-of-16 from 3-point range..Sullivan tossed in 18 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead C-N ... Sullivan has reached double figures in seven straight games and has made at least three 3-pointers in six straight contests ... Meady added a career-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, while John Holleman, Hare, Sanders and Tumer chipped in six points apiece ... The Eagles return to the hardwood on Wednesday at Mars Hill ... Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
CATAWBA - The Catawba men are still searching for their for first post-holiday win as the Indians dropped a pair of home league games last week ... Catawba fell 80-75 to Brevard and 59-54 to Tusculum ... Shooting was the big issue for the Tribe over the past week ... Against Brevard, Catawba was connecting on as low as 22 percent in the second half before making a late run to improve to 32 percent for the game ... The Indians trailed by 20 points with 11 minutes left before cutting the margin to 65-62 at the 4:24 mark ... That would be as close as Catawba could get ... Keon Moore had a double-double in the loss with 22 points and 10 rebounds ... Justin Huntley added 17 points and Lee Martin a double-double of 10 points and 11 boards ... Moore also led the Indians vs. Tusculum with 14 points, but the Indians shot just 38 percent compared to 58 percent for the Pioneers ... The largest margin in the contest was seven points with Tusculum leading most of the way ... Dominick Reid did return to see some action against Tusculum after missing two games with a concussion ... The Indians are shooting just 40 percent on the year and are being out-rebounded by over five per game ... Catawba will hit the road for both games this week, traveling to Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday and Newberry on Saturday..
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne University men's basketball team (2-12, 1-5) lost a pair of South Atlantic Conference road games last week, falling to Wingate (66-58) on Wednesday and Brevard (85-83 in overtime) on Saturday … The Bears lost 60-58 at home to Carson-Newman in a game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 8 … Freshman forward Allan Jones (Clemmons, N.C.) tallied a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds) while freshman guard Bryce Hawkins (Charlotte, N.C.) added 14 points and hit four three-pointers in the second half to keep the Bears in the game despite the loss … Junior forward Jeff Thomas (Chapel Hill, N.C.) tallied a career-high 27 points while Jones added another double-double (a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds) in the overtime setback to the Tornados … Brevard's Josh Roper led all scorers with 31 points and hit the game-winning free throws with 1.5 seconds left in the extra frame to lead the Tornados to the win … Against Carson-Newman, the Eagles led 50-38 with 8:35 remaining, but the Bears stormed back to pull to within 55-53 at the 1:41 mark on a 3-pointer by R.J. McClure (Canton, N.C.). However, C-N pushed its lead back to five points after a made free throw by Bradley Tumer (Mt. Dora, Fla.) and two made free throws by Kevin Hare (Lexington, S.C.), and a last-second defensive stop sealed the win … Jones has averaged 17.0 points per game in his last eight outings and has scored in double digits in every one of those contests … Jones (13.5 ppg) is second on the squad in scoring … Lenoir-Rhyne looks to snap a six-game losing streak when it hosts league-rivals Catawba (Wednesday at 8 p.m.) and Lincoln Memorial (Saturday at 6 p.m.) this week … The Bears lead the all-time series with the Indians (103-85) and Railsplitters (8-3).
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - Eleventh-ranked LMU pushed their record to 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the SAC when they defeated the Mars Hill Lions 105-73 … The Railsplitters scored the first basket of the game and never trailed … At the half, LMU led 50-26 … The second half continued in the same direction, as the Railsplitters held Mars Hill to nine points in the first ten minutes of the half … LMU used their stifling defense to take a commanding 44-point lead and withstood some late Lion charges to hold on for the 105-73 win … The Railsplitters were led in scoring by Desmond Johnson, who finished with 17 points … D'Mario Curry and Vincent Bailey both added 15 points, while Brandon Armstrong and Darryl Garrett each contributed 14 … Johnson led all players with 14 rebounds and Armstrong trailed closely behind, finishing with 13 boards … Bailey also notched a double-double, finishing with 11 rebounds … On Saturday, Anderson came to town for the first meeting between the two schools since 2000 and the first as SAC members … The Railsplitters came out quickly and established a 20-8 lead with eleven minutes remaining in the half … A four minute offensive drought by the Railsplitters helped Anderson to cut into the lead, but despite their offensive struggles LMU never trailed in the first half, taking a 39-33 advantage into the locker room … The Railsplitters continued to hold a single-digit lead throughout the opening minutes of the second half … Hot shooting enabled Anderson to take a 52-50 lead with twelve minutes remaining in the game … LMU was able to quickly regain control of the game with the inside-out combination of forward D'Mario Curry and Cam Carden … With a series of quick baskets and clutch shooting, the Railsplitters assumed control of the game with nine minutes remaining … The Railsplitters would never trail in the game from that point, winning 84-73 and moving to 14-0 on the season and 6-0 in the SAC … The Railsplitters were led by the commanding performance of D'Mario Curry, who led all players with 30 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks … Cam Carden notched 18 points on six three-point baskets … Darryl Garret and Desmond Johnson also finished with double-digits with 12 and 10 respectively … Brandon Armstrong's impact was felt on the glass, notching 11 rebounds … LMU will look to continue in their unblemished season on Wednesday, January 19th, as Brevard comes to Tex Turner Arena. That game is set for an 8 p.m. start.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 1-1 last week to take their season record to 5-9 on the season and 2-4 in the SAC. Mars Hill lost on the road Thursday night to No. 11 Lincoln Memorial University, 105-73 … Sammy Emile led MHC with 18 points hitting four shots from behind the arc. Donterious Hughes followed with 13 points and five boards. Dion Malachi rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Lions with 10 points and eight rebounds … On Saturday afternoon, Mars Hill hit 12 three-point field goals and survived a Wingate University rally to collect a 87-82 SAC in Stanford Arena … Sammy Emile hit five-of-six triples en route to a game-high 25 points. Emile posted his 25 markers in a reserve role, leading four Lions in double figures. Donterious Hughes had 20 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Tarron Stewart had 14 points and four assists off the bench, while Dion Malachi contributed 13 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots … The Lions hit 58.2 percent (27-59) of their field goals including converting on 75 percent (12-16) of their shots from behind the arc … MHC edged the Bulldogs on the boards, 34-31. Dion Malachi leads the SAC in blocked shots (30) and is third in field goal percentage and fourth in rebounding … Donterious Hughes and Sammy Emile rank second and third in the league in scoring, respectively … Mars Hill will host SAC rival Carson-Newman College on January 19. The Lions will provide a live video and audio webcast of the game. The Coca-Cola Tip-Off Show will begin at 5:30 p.m. prior to the start of the women's game. MHC will then plat at SAC foe Tusculum College on Saturday at 4 p.m. The radio webcast will begin at 1:30 p.m. prior to the start of the women's contest.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry Wolves found themselves on the wrong end of two wild games last week, dropping to 6-8 overall and 1-5 in SAC play with road losses at Anderson and Carson-Newman … On Wednesday, Newberry dropped a 111-106 loss to Anderson … Newberry had four players in double digits scoring and shot over 50 percent from the floor in the loss and scored 100 or more points for the fourth time in six games … Tony Davis scored 24 points, Brandon Riley had 20 points, Danny Huffor scored 17 points and Shamel Akins netted 14 points … Newberry led by 16 points (87-71) with 9:16 to play, but Anderson went on a 17-1 run over the next 4:07 to tie the game at 88 apiece ... The Wolves shot 50 percent from the field (34-of-68), 54.2 percent from behind the three-point line (13-of-24) and 80.6 percent (25-of-31) from the charity stripe but still couldn't get the win … The hot shooting from Wednesday night disappeared in Tennessee, as the Wolves lost to Carson-Newman, 99-89, setting SAC records for steals, offensive rebounds and field goal attempts in the process … Newberry shot only 27.7 percent from the floor, while C-N shot 58 percent from the floor … Newberry took a whopping 94 shots in the game, breaking the previous SAC record of 93 set by Mars Hill against Belmont Abbey in November 2008 … Newberry also grabbed 33 offensive rebounds, obliterating the previous record of 24 set by Elon twice in 1992-93 .. The Wolves also notched 26 steals, breaking the record of 23 set by Catawba against Bluefield State in December 2004 … Riley led Newberry with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, Ray Robinson scored 16 points and had 8 rebounds and Davis had 15 points with 8 boards … Newberry returns to Eleazer Arena for a pair of crucial SAC games against Wingate on Wednesday and Catawba on Saturday.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers (7-9, 4-2 SAC) recorded a pair of conference road wins last week at Carson-Newman (61-54) and Catawba (59-54) … Tusculum is riding a three-game winning streak, all coming on the road ... In the win at Carson-Newman junior guard Justin Steigerwald matched his career high with 19 points and added a game-high eight rebounds along with five assists … Senior forward Rob Troutman continued his hot shooting from long range by hitting three three-pointers and finishing with 17 points, sophomore guard Dionte Grey set a career high with 12 points and junior guard Kevin Vest hit a pair of clutch baskets in the final three minutes as the Pioneers picked up their ninth consecutive win at Holt Fieldhouse and defeated the Eagles for the 13th time in the last 18 meetings between the schools … Junior center Tommy Klempin finished with seven points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes of play for the Pioneers, while Vest battled his way to six points and three boards in 34 minutes … In TC's 59-54 win at Catawba, Klempin led the Tusculum attack shooting 7-of-11 from the floor for his 15 points … Steigerwald added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Vest scored nine points and dished out seven assists in the victory … The Pioneers finished the afternoon shooting 58.1 percent from the floor, including 15-of-25 in the first half (60 percent) in the first half and 56 percent in the second half, canning 25-of-43 shots … Tusculum's four league victories have all come on the road, marking the first time the Pioneers have gone undefeated in its first four SAC contests since joining the conference in 1999 … TC is 26-14 (.667) at Pioneer Arena over the last three seasons … Troutman scored his 800th career point at Tusculum in Saturday's win at Catawba (804 pts.) … TC has made a three-point field goal in 655 consecutive games … Six of Tusculum's wins have been decided by seven points or less, including TC's three-game winning streak … The Pioneers have limited the opposition to under 60 points on 19 occasions over the last two seasons, going 15-4 in those outings … Since 2008-09, Tusculum has posted the best league record in the South Atlantic Conference at 24-14 … Tusculum returns to Pioneer Arena for a four-game home-stand, beginning with Wednesday's against SAC newcomer Anderson … The Pioneers will welcome Mars Hill on Saturday.
WINGATE - Wingate University sophomore guard Paidrick Matilus hit 17 points off the bench to lead the Bulldogs to a 66-58 South Atlantic Conference men's basketball victory over Lenoir-Rhyne University Wednesday afternoon in Cuddy Arena. Matilus hit six-of-12 field goals and three-of-five three-point field goals during the afternoon matinee … Four Bulldogs hit double figures Wednesday. Sophomore forward Odell Turner had 13 points and eight rebounds, while classmate Quan Alexander had 12 points and eight boards. Wingate junior guard Jaime Vaughn completed the quartet with 10 points … Matilus had 11 points in the first half, as the two teams battled to a 28-28 deadlock. Thomas had all 10 of his points in the opening frame. After intermission, Wingate shot 57.9 percent from the floor (11-of-19) to take the hard-fought victory. Vaughn converted an old-fashioned three-point play at the 19:32 mark, giving the hosts the lead for good at 31-28 … Two Matilus free throws put Wingate up 39-32 with 15:35 remaining. The Bears cut the deficit to 41-40 with 12:07 to go. The Bulldogs pushed the margin to 50-41 on a Vaughn free throw with 6:44 to play. The nine-point advantage was Wingate's biggest lead for the contest. The Bears were not finished, as Lenoir-Rhyne nailed back-to-back trifectas to make the score 54-51 Bulldogs at the 4:37 mark … A steal and dunk by Vaughn nudged the lead to 60-53 at the 1:42 plateau. The Bulldogs led by as many as nine in the waning moments. Alexander scored five of his 12 points in the final 50 seconds to keep the Bears at bay … Wingate outrebounded Lenoir-Rhyne 36-29, thanks to the aforementioned eight boards each by high school teammates Turner and Alexander. Sophomore point guard Ethan Kincaid and freshman forward Jeffrey Parker had four rebounds each. Kincaid filled out his statistical ledger with seven points and five assists. Parker had four of Wingate's six blocked shots … Mars Hill College hit 12-of-16 three-point field goals and survived a furious Wingate University rally to collect a wild 87-82 South Atlantic Conference men's basketball victory Saturday evening in Stanford Arena … Wingate had five players hit double digits Saturday. Vaughn led the way with 20 points. The All-SAC performer hit three-of-five from downtown. He filled out his statistics ledger with three assists, three steals and two rebounds. Turner had 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds … Bulldog freshman forward Robert Carpenter equaled his career-high with 14 points. He topped the Wingate charts with four three-point field goals. Alexander added 11 points and five rebounds. Wingate redshirt freshman forward Mike Tankersley rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points … On the season, Turner is averaging team-best totals of 13.5 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. Wingate has four double-digit scorers. Vaughn averages 13.0 points per game, while Alexander (11.5) and Matilus (10.7) round out Wingate's double-digit scorers. The Bulldog quartet is listed in the top 30 of the South Atlantic Conference's scoring charts. Only undefeated Lincoln Memorial (five) has more scorers in the top 30.