Men’s Basketball Notes, January 11, 2010
Men's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending January 10, 2010.
BREVARD - The Tornados men's basketball team went 2-1 on the week, defeating Montreat College on Monday night, 95-83 and Lenoir-Rhyne, 77-68, on Wednesday, before falling on Saturday to Lincoln Memorial, 85-70 … On Monday against the Cavaliers, Jonathan Whitson led four Tornados in double-digits with 25 points, going 8-11 from the floor and pulled down nine rebounds … Shane Galloway and Drew Schauss came in from the bench to score 18 and 14 points respectively as the Tornados subs combined to score 40 points in the win … Sam Carlisle added 14 points and two blocked shots as Brevard connected on 51.6 percent (32-62) of their attempts from the floor in the game … On Wednesday against Lenoir-Rhyne, Brevard offset 27 turnovers by dominating the glass as the Tornados outrebounded the Bears 46-11 with Carlisle leading the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds … Josh Roper scored 21 for the Tornados in the game and pulled down eight rebounds and Whitson added 18 points and eight rebounds as Brevard connected on 59.1 percent (26-44) of their field goal attempts in the game … Jacques Dovonou added 16 points in 18 minutes of play as Brevard held a 23-6 rebound advantage at the end of the first half in the game … Against Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, the Tornados were led by Roper's 25 points as the junior guard at one point scored 13 straight BC points in the second half, but Brevard was unable to overcome the Railsplitters in dropping their first SAC game of the season … Dovonou had his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Whitson added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Tornados controlled the glass against the Railsplitters, outrebounding the conference-leader 48-34 … Brevard is back in action three times next week, staying on the road as they travel to face Truett-McConnell on Monday, before continuing conference play on Wednesday and Saturday by facing Catawba and Wingate.
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Eagles went 0-2 on the week, losing at D-I North Carolina A&T in a hard-fought game on Tuesday night, 81-74, and lost on Saturday afternoon, 94-78, at Mars Hill College … The Eagles are now 6-7 overall and 1-2 in South Atlantic Conference play … The Carson-Newman men's basketball team was unable to overcome a second-half rally by North Carolina A&T, as the Eagles dropped an 81-74 decision to the Division I Aggies on Tuesday night at Corbett Sports Center … C-N held a five-point lead midway through the second half before North Carolina A&T went on a 19-4 run and held on for the win … The second half was the difference, as the Aggies shot 66.7 percent (16-of-24) during the final 20 minutes, while the Eagles shot just 37.5 percent (12-of-32) … Junior guard J.J. Wesley (Mobile, Ala.) tallied 24 points to lead the Eagles. Wesley was 8-of-14 from the floor, including 6-for-9 from behind the arc … Sophomore forward Quinche Dowdell (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) tossed in 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Eagles, while senior guard Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) added nine points and four steals in the loss … North Carolina A&T held a 24-15 lead at the 9:03 mark of the first half, but he Eagles battled back and outscored the Aggies 25-13 to close out the half. Junior guard Erwin Staten's (Huntsville, Ala.) layup with 26 seconds remaining gave C-N a 40-37 advantage at the break … The Aggies opened the second half on a 9-4 run to take a 46-44 lead. However, C-N responded as Wesley drained a 3-pointer to push the Eagles back in front … C-N held a 59-54 lead with 11:07 left in the contest, but the Aggies outscored the Eagles 27-15 the rest of the way to pick up the win … The Carson-Newman men's basketball team committed a season-high 27 turnovers, as the Eagles dropped an 94-78 decision to Mars Hill on Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action at Stanford Arena … Junior guard J.J. Wesley (Mobile, Ala.) netted 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Eagles, while Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) tossed in 17 points and Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) finished with 15 points … The teams battled to a 12-12 tie after six minutes of play, but Mars Hill built an 11-point lead with a 14-3 run capped by a Robin McElroy layup at the 8:04 mark … C-N bounced back and outscored Mars Hill 18-10 during the next six minutes. Wesley drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:35 remaining to trim the Lions' lead to 36-33 … Mars Hill took control of the game in the second half. After a Wesley 3-pointer pulled the Eagles to within 54-49, the Lions fired back with a 14-2 run to take a 68-51 lead with 11:44 left in the contest … Dixon leads the Eagles in scoring at 12.7 ppg, while Maxtion is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game … The Eagles return to action at home on Wednesday in a SAC matchup against Wingate … Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Holt Fieldhouse.
CATAWBA - The Catawba men split its league games this week, winning at home 95-89 over Wingate then falling 59-50 at Tusculum on Saturday ... The Indians rolled past Wingate, leading by nearly 20 points with a minute and a half to play ... Donald Rutherford hit on 11-of-12 shots and scored a career-high 25 points ... He also had a team-leading seven rebounds with four assists, four steals and three blocked shots ... Antonio Houston followed with 16 points and Rob Fields added 15 ... Catawba shot 60 percent for the game and 62.5 percent in the second half ... The Indians scored the last seven points of the first half for a 45-39 lead at the break ... Wingate stayed close early in the second half, but a 7-0 burst gave Catawba a 68-55 lead with 12:44 remaning and the Indians kept pulling away from there as Wingate never got within singles digits until the final seconds ... Catawba started slow at Tusculum, hitting just 8-of-30 (26.7 percent) in the first half ... The Indians responded early in the second half and took a 33-32 lead with 14:13 left ... Catawba held a 40-38 lead with 10 minutes to go, but a five-minute scoreless drought left the Catawba Indians in a 48-42 hole ... The Indians never pulled closer then four after that ... Catawba shot just 34 percent for the game ... Stephen Coles scored a career-high 121 points and had seven rebounds ... Dominick Reid added 10 points and four assists ... The loss at Tusculum snapped a season-long three game winning streak for the Indians ... Catawba had scored 100 and 95 points in its two previous games before the Tusculum contest and had shot over 50 percent in the first half of those contests before the rough shooting day at Tusculum ... Houston is leading Catawba in scoring (15.5) and is second in rebounding (5.2) ... He has increased his career scoring total to 1,871 points and needs 110 to move into second place on the conference's all-time scoring list ... Fields is adding 14.4 a contest with Rutherford tossing in 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds ... Catawba will host Brevard on Wednesday and travel to Mars Hill on Saturday for its action this week.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball team (3-11, 1-3) lost both its games last week on the road against Brevard (77-68) and Newberry (74-69) on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively … The Tornados held a 46-11 advantage in rebounds and were led by Josh Roper's 21 points in the victory over the Bears … Jonathan Whitson (18 points) and Sam Carlisle (18 points and 11 rebounds) contributed as well for Brevard, who shot 59 percent (26-of-44) from the field … Junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) led all scorers with 25 points despite the setback for L-R … Newberry's Ryan Barnes tallied a game-high 21 points as the Scarlet and Gray snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Bears … Blackmon scored a team-high 19 points while freshman guard Spenser Sydney (Lincolnton, N.C.) and senior guard Marcus Hodges (Wake Forest, N.C.) added 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the losing effort for Lenoir-Rhyne, who couldn't hold a pair of two, 10-point first-half leads (23-13 and 25-15) … Blackmon, who leads the team in scoring (20.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg), has scored in double digits every games this year and 15 straight dating back to last season … Lenoir-Rhyne is 36-4 in its last 40 league contests at home … Lenoir-Rhyne returns home to face SAC-foes Mars Hill (Wednesday at 8 p.m.) and Lincoln Memorial (Saturday at 8 p.m.) … L-R leads the all-time series with both Mars Hill (46-24) and Lincoln Memorial (7-2) and hasn't lost at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium to the Lions since the 1989-90 season.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitter basketball team spurted out to the early lead and never looked back as LMU defeated Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference action 67-52 Wednesday evening … LMU came out on fire as the Railsplitters shot out to a 23-10 lead following a three-pointer by Cameron Carden with 8:09 to go in the half … Tusculum cut the lead to eleven on a couple of occasions but the Railsplitters held the 38-24 lead at the half … Tusculum chipped away at the lead in the second half, cutting it to ten points on several occasions … Stuart Miller hit two free throws with 1:37 to go to put LMU up 60-48 … Following a timeout by Tusculum, the Pioneers attempted a lay-up that was blocked by D'Mario Curry … Tusculum's Jimmy Boone then fouled LMU's Carlos Sanford with 1:02 to go and Sanford hit both free throws to put LMU up 62-48 … Rob Troutman then hit a long jump shot off a pass from Wes Taylor to cut the lead to 62-50 with 50 seconds to go … Tusculum then called time out to set up the defense … The Railsplitters inbounded the ball to Miller, who was then fouled by Kyle Moore. Miller hit both free throws … LMU's Brandon Armstrong then rebounded a missed three-pointer by Moore and was quickly fouled. Armstrong hit both free throws to put LMU up 66-50 with 39.3 seconds to go … Tusculum hit two free throws and Sanford hit one for the Railsplitters to make the score 67-52 and the Railsplitters held on for the win … LMU (11-2, 2-1 SAC) was led by Miller with 21 points, including 8-8 from the charity stripe … Curry added in 16 points and six blocks … The duo also led the Railsplitters in rebounds with eight apiece … LMU dominated the boards, outrebounding Tusculum 43-28 … Saturday evening's 85-70 home victory over Brevard College has once again put LMU atop the leaders in the South Atlantic Conference … Defensively, LMU limited the Tornados to 38.7 percent shooting from the floor in the first half, including 28.6 percent from 3-point range … The Railsplitters shot a 58.6 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play, hitting 17-29 shots, while knocking down 7-12 shots behind the arc for 58.3 percent to take a 52-32 lead into the locker room … Brevard was only able to get as close as 13 points on three occasions … Junior forward D'Mario Curry's 25 points and nine rebounds were the spearhead of the LMU offensive attack … Senior shooting guard Stuart Miller carried the scoring load for the Railsplitters from the perimeter in the first half, banging in four 3-pointers before ending the night with 12 points … Sophmore forwards Desmond Johnson and Brandon O'Brien each put in 11 points inside the paint to help the LMU cause … Now 12-2 on the year and 3-1 in the South Atlantic Conference, the Railsplitters prepare to play host to Newberry College on Wednesday evening at 8:00 p.m.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill won both of their games last week. They won at Newberry (73-71) on Wednesday night and then won at home in Stanford Arena against Carson-Newman on Saturday afternoon (94-78) … MHC is now 6-6 overall and 2-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. In the first game of the week, Mars Hill held on for a 73-71 victory at Eleazer Arena over SAC foe Newberry College Wednesday night … Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) led the way with 23 points, six steals and four assists. Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) added 20 points in the win. Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) added 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench … Newberry shot 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field, but Mars Hill connected on six more free throws than the scarlet and gray to earn the victory … Both teams shot over 50 percent in the second half of the game … An up-tempo first half saw five ties and 10 lead changes, with neither side able to pull out to more than a one possession lead until the 7:00 mark of the first half … After Sanders tied the game for the fourth time with 9:57 to play at 17-all, Newberry went on a 9-2 capped by a Jeremee Davis (Albany, Ga.) layup to go up by a 26-19 margin. The lead would be Newberry's largest of the game … The Lions responded with a run of their own to take a 30-28 lead with just under two minutes before the break, but Newberry closed the half out on an 8-0 surge with a Barnes three-pointer and a Bakinde triple and the buzzer to go into the locker room with a 36-30 lead … Newberry shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the field in the half with four three-pointers, while Mars Hill was good on 44.4 percent (12-of-27) of its chances with only one three-pointer … Mars Hill struck at Newberry's lead right out of the gate in the second half although the pace was considerably slower in the early stages … A 17-2 run over the opening seven minutes of the half was capped by a Polite three-pointer to give the Lions their largest lead of the night at 47-38. Newberry did not back down though, and battled back with a 13-4 run over the next four and a half minutes to tie the game at 51-all on a breakaway dunk by Huffor after a steal by Rodney Lee (Sarasota, Fla.) … Momentum swung once again with the Lions scoring the next seven points and Sanders' three-pointer giving MHC the 58-51 lead at the 5:53 mark … The guests stretched the lead to eight points with just three minutes left on the clock, but a 7-0 personal run by Barnes cut that deficit to just one point with two minutes to play … Bakinde's jumper with 1:28 to play tied the game at 65-all, but Polite responded with a three-pointer to give the Lions the odd-point lead. After series of free throws and layups, Newberry emerged with the ball and a chance to tie the game with 12 seconds to play after Brittion Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) missed a free throw, leaving Mars Hill with a two-point lead … However, the Newberry offense was unable to produce a clean shot on the other end of the floor, and Huffor's three-pointer fell short to end the game … Both sides made 14 field goals in the second half, with Newberry connecting on 56 percent (14-of-25) of its attempts and Mars Hill making 51.9 percent (14-of-27) of its shots … The difference in the game came from the three-point arc - where Mars Hill made four second-half three-pointers to Newberry's one - and the free throw line - where Mars Hill was 11-of-17 and Newberry was 6-of-12 … In the second game of the week, the Lions defeated Carson-Newman 94-78 on Saturday inside Stanford Arena … Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) hit back-to-back three pointers in the first two minutes of the game to give Mars Hill a 6-2 lead. With the game tied at 12, the Lions went on an 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back fastbreak dunks by Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) … Mars Hill grabbed its first double-digit lead of the contest, 26-15, off a layup by Robin McElroy (Kennesaw, Ga.) with 8:04 remaining in the first half … The Eagles responded with a 13-5 run to get the deficit down to three points … J.J. Wesley (Mobile, Ala.) scored six points, including a fastbreak layup at the 5:33 mark, to make the score 31-28 in favor of the Lions … Sanders hit back-to-back shots from behind the arc to give Mars Hill a 39-33 advantage with 2:31 remaining in the first half. The Lions carried a 44-39 lead into intermission … Sanders had 16 first-half points. Wesley recorded 15 points in the first half … After Sanders drilled a three to open the second half, Carson-Newman cut Lion advantage to five points … 49-44, off a layup by Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) … With Mars Hill leading 57-51, Dallas Johnson (Auburndale, Fla.) found Brittion Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) for a running layup with 12:59 left in the game that triggered an 11-0 spurt … Johnson concluded the stretch with two free throws nine minutes into the game to stretch the difference to 68-51. The margin swelled to as many as 23 points, 94-71, off two free throws by Cody King (Enka, N.C.) with 1:40 left in the game … Sanders finished with a game-high 30 points. Malachi chipped in 15 points and four blocks. Jarred Pickering (Queensland, Australia) tied a career-high with 12 points. Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) added 11 points … Mars Hill had 19 steals compared to only six for Carson-Newman. The Eagles turned the ball over 27 times. The Lions committed only 12 turnovers … This week the Lions will travel to Queens on Monday and then play at Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday before hosting Catawba on Saturday afternoon.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team split its two games last week, with Saturday's win snapping a three-game losing streak … Newberry's record now stands at 6-9 overall and 1-3 in South Atlantic Conference play … Newberry lost a nail-biter to Mars Hill, 73-71, on Wednesday … Ryan Barnes set career highs in the loss with 19 points and 6 rebounds, while Stephane Bakinde scored 13 points and grabbed 8 rebounds … Danny Huffor scored 10 points and Jawuan Lockhart dished out 6 assists … Newberry shot 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field, but Mars Hill connected on six more free throws than the scarlet and gray to earn the victory … Both teams shot over 50 percent in the second half of the game … On Saturday, Newberry picked up its first SAC win of the season with a 74-69 win over Lenoir-Rhyne … It was Newberry's first win over the Bears since 2005 … Barnes established a career scoring high for the second straight game with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting with 5 rebounds … Ray Robinson had 13 points and a game high 7 rebounds, while Bakinde scored 11 points and had 6 rebounds … Aaron Edwards scored 10 points off the bench … Two freshman point guards helped the cause as Jeremee Davis dished out 7 assists and Lockhart scored 9 points with 4 assists … Newberry trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but shot 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the floor in the second half … Newberry won despite taking only 40 field goal attempts … The scarlet and gray hit the road for their only game this week, taking on league-leading Lincoln Memorial at 8 p.m. on Wednesday … The next home game is on Wednesday, January 20 against Tusculum.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers (7-7, 2-2 SAC) split its two South Atlantic Conference games last week … Tusculum opened the week with a 67-52 home loss to in-state rival Lincoln Memorial … The Pioneers bounced back with a 59-50 win over visiting Catawba College … In the LMU game, senior Kyle Moore accounted for 22 points, while junior Rob Troutman added 14 points, including 10-of-11 shooting at the foul line in the loss … LMU opened the game with a 15-4 run and never trailed in the contest from that point … TC shot 29.2 percent … Moore established a new school record in the game, posting his 357th career free throw made, breaking the previous mark of 356, set by former All-SAC forward Tim McPhail (1996-2000) ... Moore led all scorers with 18 points in Tusculum's win over Catawba in a rematch of last year's Food Lion SAC Tournament championship game … TC was perfect from the free throw line (13-of-13), including 10-of-10 in the second half … Tusculum jumped out to a 17-point lead in the first half, but fought off a second half charge, after surrendering the lead briefly to even its over and league records … Senior forward Josh Bennett accounted for 17 points, including 13 in the opening half … Troutman accounted for 11 points, going 4-for-5 from the field … Sophomore Justin Steigerwald had a solid line with four points, seven rebounds and a career-best 10 rebounds … He also played in a career-best 39 minutes … Senior forward Wes Taylor also hauled in 10 boards to go along with his four markers … Tusculum's 13-of-13 effort at the line marks the second-best perfect outing at the line for the Pioneers in school history … Tusculum's 13-of-13 free throw effort is the second-best performance by the Pioneers in recorded school history … TC shot 14-of-14 against Clinch Valley on Feb. 21, 1995 … The last time Tusculum was perfect at the line was Feb. 23, 2000 when the Pioneers went 2-of-2 at Presbyterian … Four of Tusculum's last five games have been against teams that advanced to the 2009 NCAA Division II Tournament (Augusta State, Bellarmine, Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba) … Moore has made 366 career free throws, which are tops in school history and 10th in the SAC Record Book … Moore has also connected on 231 career three-pointers at Tusculum, which are second most in TC history and third in SAC history (needs 14 more to break SAC record held by former Lenoir-Rhyne standout John Wadsworth - 244 from 1992-96) … Tusculum has limited the opposition to under 60 points on eight occasions this season, going 6-2 in those outings … Tusculum's seven losses have come against teams with a combined 64-21 record … The Pioneers have made a three-point field goal in 625 consecutive games … Moore has scored 1,421 points in his 73-game career at Tusculum, which is ninth in school history … Tusculum will close out its four-game home-stand this week with a pair of contests at Pioneer Arena … TC will step outside of league play on Tuesday when they host Mid-Continent University in the first-ever meeting between the Pioneers and Cougars (8-8) … Tusculum will host arch-rival Carson-Newman on Saturday.
WINGATE - On Wednesday night, Catawba outlasted Wingate 95-89 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action at Goodman Gymnasium. Wingate falls for the first time in league play, slipping to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in the SAC. The Bulldogs visit Carson-Newman College Wednesday, Jan. 13 for an 8 p.m. contest. Wingate hosts Brevard College Saturday, Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. ... The Catawba bench outscored the Wingate reserves 54-31. Wingate freshman forward Odell Turner continued his strong play, leading the visiting Bulldogs with 22 points. He narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Classmate Quan Alexander added 13 points. Freshman guards Paidrick Matilus and Ethan Kincaid contributed 11 points each. Kincaid posted six rebounds and five assists on his statistical ledger Wednesday night ... Catawba shot 60 percent (36-of-60) for the game and raced away from a two-point edge early in the second half. Leading 51-49, the Indians used an 8-1 spurt for a 59-50 lead with 15:23 remaining. Catawba upped the margin to 68-55 with 12:44 left ... The Indians eventually stretched the lead to 18 points before Wingate trimmed the deficit to six with several late baskets in the final minutes. Catawba was up 95-78 with 1:28 remaining ... Wingate rallied from an early nine-point deficit and took a 39-38 lead on a lay-up by Kincaid with 1:20 left before the break. Catawba reeled off the final seven points of the half to take a 45-39 lead at intermission. The Bulldogs kept pace with the Indians early, hitting 50 percent of their shots in the opening half. Wingate hit 38.9 percent in the second half, when Catawba heated up to can 62.5 percent ... Turner leads the Bulldogs with 13.1 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game. Turner also sports a team-best 25 blocked shots. Five Wingate players are averaging double figure points entering this week's play: Turner, Matilus (11.5), senior guard Larry Staley (11.2), sophomore guard Jaime Vaughn (10.6) and Alexander (10.1) ... Wingate and Carson-Newman split two games last year. On Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009, four Bulldogs hit double digits as Wingate earned an 87-74 victory over the visiting Eagles in Cuddy Arena. Carson-Newman hit 12 three-point field goals as the Eagles prevailed 80-74 Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009 in Jefferson City ... The Bulldogs also split the season series with the Brevard Tornados last year. On Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009, Brevard earned a hard-fought 59-56 home victory over visiting Wingate. Vaughn led the Bulldogs with 13 points off the bench. On Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009, Wingate picked up its fourth straight victory with an 81-72 triumph over Brevard. Staley matched his (then) career-high with 14 points.