Men’s Basketball Notes, February 22, 2010
Men's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending February 21, 2010
BREVARD - The Tornados went 1-1 on the week, staying in the mix for the hunt for the SAC regular season title by topping Carson-Newman on the road on Wednesday, 76-59, while falling on Saturday afternoon to Tusculum, 68-52 … Four Tornados scored in double figures led by Sam Carlisle's 23 points as Brevard used a 13-0 run in the first half in cruising to the 76-59 win over South Atlantic Conference opponent Carson-Newman in Holt Fieldhouse … Carlisle connected on 11 of 15 shots from the floor and led the way with nine rebounds in setting a new personal best scoring record … Josh Roper added 18 points and Jonathan Whitson had 13 as the Tornados connected on 53.4 percent of their field goal attempts … Drew Schauss added 10 points in the first half as Brevard went up 39-21 in the opening 20 minutes on their way to going up by 28 points on their way to the win … On Saturday, Roper, Carlisle and Nathan Whitmire all scored double figures, but Brevard connected on just 42.9 percent of their attempts in falling to Tusculum … The Tornados kept the game close, bringing the game back to within one point at 34-33 with 13:43 remaining in the second half, but a 15-5 run by Kyle Moore put Tusculum ahead for good … Brevard finished up the 2009-2010 regular season at home, hosting Newberry on Wednesday and Catawba on Saturday inside Boshamer Gymnasium for Senior Day.
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Eagles split a pair of South Atlantic Conference games on the week to improve to 10-15 overall and 5-9 in league play…The Eagles dropped their Wednesday night affair to Brevard, 76-59, but bounced back to beat Lincoln Memorial on Saturday afternoon on senior day, 78-75…The Carson-Newman men's basketball team fell behind by double digits early in the first half and never recovered as the Eagles lost to Brevard, 76-59, on Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Holt Fieldhouse…The Eagles shot just 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from the floor in the first half, as they trailed by as many as 23 points…C-N was unable to pull closer than 16 points the rest of the contest…Brevard shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) for the game as it dominated the paint, outscoring C-N 50-20 on the inside…Seniors Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) and Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) netted 13 points apiece to lead the Eagles, while junior guard Erwin Staten (Huntsville, Ala.) tallied 11 points…Carson-Newman guard Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) poured in a game-high 25 points as the Eagles beat rival Lincoln Memorial, 78-75, in Holt Fieldhouse on Saturday evening…With the win, Carson-Newman improves to 10-15 overall and 5-9 in South Atlantic Conference play, while LMU falls to 19-7 and 9-6 in SAC play…C-N survived a wild closing sequence to hang on for the win. The game saw five ties and 18 lead changes, including eight in the final 5:34, as the Eagles broke a five-game losing streak…After a pair of free throws by Tray Okoth (Richmon, Va.) gave the Eagles a 73-70 lead with 2:39 to play, LMU answered with five-straight points to take a 75-73 lead with a minute to play. Tony Martin (Cincinnati, Ohio) knocked down a pair of free throws and sophomore Cameron Carden (Clearwater, Fla.) knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the night to give the Railsplitters the lead in the final minute…C-N's Cameron Sharp (Knoxville, Tenn.) answered with a deep three-pointer with the shot clock winding gave the Eagles a 76-75 lead with 26 seconds to play…LMU would get two shots at the bucket down by one, but a Carden three and a Brandon Armstrong jumper both missed the mark…After a pair of Dixon free throws pushed the C-N lead to three with two seconds to play, sophomore Desmond Johnson (Lynch, Ky.) found Carden open for a game-tying three as time expired, but the shot failed to find the mark…The final minutes of the game were a reflection of the entire 40 minutes. Neither team led by more than seven points…LMU led 57-52 with 9:52 to play in the game, but six Eagles would score down the stretch, including two three-pointers by Sharp, as C-N battled back…Sharp's first three during the stretch gave C-N a 61-60 lead at the 7:46 mark, and sent the game into a back-and-forth battle for the final eight minutes…Dixon finished 7-of-14 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc, for his 25 points…He also had five rebounds. Sharp closed his night 5-of-10 from the floor, 3-of-6 from long range, for his 18…Carson-Newman wraps up its regular season with a pair of road trips, at Catawba on Wednesday night and at Wingate on Saturday…The games tipoff at 8 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
CATAWBA - The Catawba men was able to split a pair of league games last week to stay in a virtual tie for the SAC lead heading into the final week ... Catawba lost 80-73 at Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday and rebounded to top Lenoir-Rhyne 69-58 ... Catawba is one of three teams with five losses entering the final week and faces one of those teams, Brevard, on Saturday in the regular-season finale ... the Indians never led at Lincoln Memorial and shot just 36 percent in the loss ... Catawba trailed by double digits in the first half, shooting just 29 percent ... The Indians were able to pull within one on several occasions in the second half, but never pulled even ... LMU led by 10 with half a minute to play only to see Catawba get within five and had possession with 20 seconds remaining, but Antonio Houston missed a three-pointer and the Railsplitters hit four free throws to ice the game ... Donald Rutherford posted a double-double in the loss with 17 points and a dozen rebounds ... Dominick Reid added 15 ... LMU had a big advantage at the line, making 25-of-32 to just 8-of-16 for the Indians ... Catawba used five three-pointers midway through the second half to surge ahead of Lenoir-Rhyne ... Down, 41-29, the Indians canned the long range shots over a five-minute span to go on top 56-45 with 8:25 left ... Three of those from behind the arc came from Rob Fields, who finished with 21 points ... Rutherford added 18 ... After 13 first-half turnovers, Catawba made just four miscues in the second half ... Houston (16.3), Rutherford (15.6) and Fields (15.1) combine to produce nearly 60 percent of the Catawba Indians' offense ... Houston leads Catawba with 57 three-pointers and is hitting on 48 percent from long range in league games ... Fields continues to pace the league at the line, making 88.3 percent and ranking among the top 25 in NCAA II ... He has the fifth-best percentage among those with at least 100 attempts ... Rutherford leads the Indians in rebounding at 6.7 per game and is shooting 57 percent from the field ... Catawba will close out its regular-season home slate on Wednesday, hosting Carson-Newman ... The Indians will travel to Brevard on Saturday in a contest the could decide the league title ... Catawba defeated both teams in the initial meetings this season.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne University Men's Basketball Team (6-18, 4-10) saw its three-game winning streak snapped when Catawba handed the Bears a 69-58 loss Saturday afternoon in a South Atlantic Conference contest at Goodman Gymnasium in Salisbury, N.C. … Catawba's Rob Fields came off the bench to score 21 points including three second-half three-pointers while reserve Donald Rutherford added 18 points as the Indians completed the season sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne … L-R, which led 36-33 at intermission, received a team-high 12 points from freshman guard Alex Watkins (Charlotte, N.C.) despite the loss … Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore forward Jeff Thomas (Efland, N.C.) added 11 points while junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) added 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists to increase his double-digit scoring streak to 25 games dating back to last year … Blackmon, who leads the team in scoring (20.6 ppg), rebounding (6.8 rpg) and assists (2.6 apg) this year, has moved up to 43rd in Lenoir-Rhyne's all-time scoring list with 1,045 points … Lenoir-Rhyne returns home to face Wingate on Senior Day Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m., before heading to Mars Hill (Saturday at 4 p.m.) for the regular season finale … Prior to the Bulldog contest, L-R will honor its two seniors for 2009-10: Ryan Crawford (Stuarts Draft, Va.) and Marcus Hodges (Wake Forest, N.C.) … Lenoir-Rhyne leads the all-time series with both Wingate (43-26) and Mars Hill (46-25) … However, the Bulldogs and Lions won earlier this season over the Bears by scores of 70-60 and 85-82, respectively.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team remained in the hunt for the SAC regular season title Wednesday evening, avenging their January 20 88-85 loss to Catawba College with 80-73 win over the Indians in South Atlantic Conference play … The Railsplitters took control early in the first half behind the play of junior forward D'Mario Curry … By the end of the first 20 minutes of play, LMU carried a 32-25 lead into the locker room and Curry led all scorers with 10 points and had pulled eight rebounds in what would eventually be his fourteenth double-double of the season … Despite opening up a nine point lead with more than fourteen minutes to play in the second half, Catawba put together a run behind the inside play of Donald Rutherford and the outside play of Dominick Reid … LMU managed to again extend the lead to five before Catawba trimmed it to a one point game with 8:02 on the clock … Following the layup by Catawba's Antonio Houston that cut the LMU lead to one, it was sophomore Cameron Carden's free throws at 7:39 that started a Railsplitter run that pushed the lead back out to 10 points by the 2:48 mark … LMU's lead grew to 11 points in the final two minutes before coming away with the 80-73 win down the stretch … D'Mario Curry's 24 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks took top honors in all three categories … LMU junior Marc-David Vil drew the responsibility of guarding Antonio Houston most of the night and limited him to only 11 points … However, Vil put in a season-high 11 points offensively in 34 minutes on the floor … Senior guard Stuart Miller and sophomore forward Brandon O'Brien both contributed 10 points in the winning effort … It was a back-and-forth affair, but in the end the Carson-Newman Eagles outlasted the LMU Railsplitters 78-75 Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action … LMU (19-7, 9-6 SAC) had four players in double figures, led by Desmond Johnson with 19 points … Cameron Carden hit for 14 points, Brandon Armstrong scored 13 and D'Mario Curry added in 10 points and three blocks … The Eagles, playing their last home game of the season, came out on a mission and led for most of the first half … LMU kept it close, however, and only trailed 33-32 at the half … The second half saw the Railsplitters surge out to a seven point lead, which they held for a large portion of the half … The Eagles kept chipping away and grabbed a lead late in the game … Down 73-72 with a minute to go, Carden hit a three to put the Railsplitters up 75-73 … The Eagles answered back with the three-pointer of their own to take the 76-75 lead … LMU then had two open looks at the basket, but neither fell and Carson-Newman ended up with possession of the ball … LMU fouled and the Eagles got both free throws to seal the 78-75 win … LMU will have a week off before closing out the regular season next Saturday at Newberry. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 0-1 last week. The Lions fall to 13-11 overall and 8-6 in the conference … Wingate University's Larry Staley (Charlotte, N.C.) had a game-high 20 points, while Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C) had 15 points and 17 rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated Mars Hill College 85-62 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Wednesday night in Cuddy Arena … Mars Hill senior guard Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Lions … Junior forward Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks … The Bulldogs used a 15-4 run midway through the first half to turn a two-point deficit into a 26-17 lead at the 6:54 mark. Staley scored the first six points of the spurt, then capped it with a tip-in to give Wingate a nine-point lead … A three pointer from Polite trimmed the lead to five with five minutes remaining. Wingate pushed the lead back to eight at halftime, highlighted by a dunk from Turner with 44 seconds left in the half. A three from Jaime Vaughn gave the Bulldogs a 52-39 lead seven minutes into the second half. Wingate's lead would remain in double figures the rest of the way … A 7-0 spurt, capped by a three-point play from Paidrick Matilus, put the Bulldogs on top 63-46 with 9:11 remaining … The final margin was the largest lead of the night for Wingate. The Bulldogs shot 42.4 percent from the field, while knocking down 26-of-30 from the free throw line (86.7 percent) … Wingate held a 50-43 rebounding edge, and a 40-20 advantage in points in the paint … The Bulldogs outscored the Lions 21-2 in fast break points, and held Mars Hill to 27.9 percent shooting from the field.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team split its two games last week, losing on the road at Tusculum, 68-59, and beating Wingate at home, 71-69, on a last-second shot... Entering the final week of the regular season, Newberry is tied for eighth place in the South Atlantic Conference with a 4-10 league record and a 9-16 overall record... In Wednesday's loss at Tusculum, Ray Robinson and Danny Huffor tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points apiece.. Stephane Bakinde scored 12 points and blocked five shots in the loss... Newberry shot 42 percent (21-of-50) from the field in the game, compared to Tusculum's 45.7 percent (21-of-46)... Tusculum connected on nine three-pointers, seven from Kyle Moore, while Newberry only made three triples... On Saturday, Coleman Young hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to take down Wingate at home... Newberry was led by a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double from Bakinde as well as an excellent performance from point guard Perry Nelson, who dished out nine assists and scored eight points... Nelson's biggest assist of the game came on the final play, as he made a perfect pass to find Young in the corner... The game-winner was Young's only made basket of the game... Aaron Edwards and Ryan Barnes each scored 12 points and Robinson rounded out Newberry's double-digit scorers with 10 points... For the game, Newberry made 22-of-49 (44.9 percent) of its shots and was 9-of-18 (50 percent) from behind the three-point line... Wingate was 22-of-55 (40 percent) from the field... With Lenoir-Rhyne's loss to Catawba, Newberry is now tied with the Bears for eighth place in the South Atlantic Conference with identical 4-10 conference record with two games to play... The top eight teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament, leaving the ninth place team at home... Newberry will continue on its quest for the conference tournament berth on the road on Wednesday at Brevard and closes out the season at home on Saturday against Lincoln Memorial.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers (16-10, 10-5 SAC) went 2-0 last week and took over sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference… Tusculum posted wins over Newberry (68-59) and Brevard (68-52) as the Pioneers have recorded its second four-game winning streak of the season… The Pioneers have won eight of their last 10 games and are 11-4 in January and February… Senior guard Kyle Moore averaged 28.5 points per game during the week, while establishing another school and league record… Moore has connected on 106 three-point field goals this year, which are a new Tusculum and SAC single-season record… He breaks the SAC mark he set last season when he made 101 three-pointers and established a new TC record, surpassing the previous best set by former All-Region forward Shane Banks (102 in 1998-99)… In Tusculum's win over Newberry, Moore tallied 25 points, including seven treys in completing the season-sweep over the Scarlet & Gray… Senior guard Jimmy Boone accounted for 10 points and three assists… Junior forward Rob Troutman added nine points, while sophomore guard Justin Steigerwald finished with nine markers, nine rebounds and seven assists… In the Brevard game, Moore tallied 32 points, while matching a career-best with his nine treys in the 16-point victory over for the former SAC-leading Tornados… Moore went 11-of-23 from the field, including 9-of-18 from downtown… It marks the third time this year he has made nine trifectas, which are tied for the third most in school and league history… Troutman added 15 points, while Steigerwald and senior forward Jose Bennett added six markers each… Moore score 20 points in the second half, including five 3-pointers in a 15-5 Tusculum run that vaulted the Pioneers out to a double-digit lead… Tusculum shot 77.8 percent from the free throw line, including its last 10 attempts in the final five minutes of the game… Moore is the league's all-time leader in career three-point field goals made (295, 2nd in Tusculum history)… In his 85 career games at Tusculum, Moore has scored 20 or more points 43 times (17 this year) and 30 or more points on 15 occasions (10 times this year)… Since coming to Tusculum, he has scored 1,769 points, which are fourth in TC history and seventh most in conference history… Moore is averaging 25 points per game this season, which is tops in the league and third in the country (NCAA II)… His 25 ppg is also the fifth-best of all NCAA divisions… Including his freshman year at Winthrop, Moore has tallied 1,819 points in his collegiate career… Moore has made at least five 3-pointers on 12 occasions this season (TC is 10-2 in those games)… Jimmy Boone has played in 3,039 minutes at Tusculum, breaking the 3,000-minute plateau on Saturday against Brevard… Tusculum head coach Jim Boone has recorded 397 career victories, which are the 30th most amongst active NCAA Division II coaches… Tusculum has limited the opposition to under 60 points on 13 occasions this season, going 11-2 in those outings… TC is also 11-4 when scoring 60 or more points this year… Sophomore center Tommy Klempin has started in 31 games during his Tusculum career (TC is 23-8 in those games, including 11-4 this year)… Tusculum will close out its regular season on Wednesday as the Pioneers take on cross-mountain rival Mars Hill… The Pioneers can claim at least a share of the SAC Championship with a win over the Lions… It would be TC's second SAC title… Tusculum defeated Mars Hill 80-70 last month in Greeneville.
WINGATE - The Wingate University men's basketball team split two South Atlantic Conference games last week. On Wednesday, senior guard Larry Staley had a game-high 20 points, while freshman forward Odell Turner had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated Mars Hill College 85-62 in Cuddy Arena … Turner also went nine-for-10 at the free throw line while collecting five assists, three steals and two blocks. Freshman guard Paidrick Matilus added 14 points, while sophomore guard Jaime Vaughn contributed with 12 points … The Bulldogs used a 15-4 run midway through the first half to turn a two-point deficit into a 26-17 lead at the 6:54 mark. Staley scored the first six points of the spurt, then capped it with a tip-in to give Wingate a nine-point lead … A Mars Hill three-point field goal trimmed the Lion deficit to five with five minutes remaining. Wingate pushed the lead back to eight at halftime, highlighted by a dunk from Turner with 44 seconds left in the half … A three from Vaughn gave the Bulldogs a 52-39 lead seven minutes into the second half. Wingate's lead would remain in double figures the rest of the way. A 7-0 spurt, capped by a three-point play from Matilus, put the Bulldogs on top 63-46 with 9:11 remaining. The final margin was the largest lead of the night for Wingate … The Bulldogs shot 42.4 percent from the field, while knocking down 26-of-30 from the free throw line (86.7 percent). Wingate held a 50-43 rebounding edge, and a 40-20 advantage in points in the paint. The Bulldogs outscored the Lions 21-2 in fast break points, and held Mars Hill to 27.9 percent shooting from the field … Newberry College hit the game-winning three at the buzzer to give the host scarlet-and-gray a 71-69 victory over Wingate Saturday afternoon. Matilus and freshman forward Quan Alexander had 15 points each to lead the Bulldogs. Staley added 10 points, while Turner had eight points and 10 rebounds … The Bulldogs used a 12-0 run in the first half to take a 17-8 lead at the 10:37 mark. Staley got it started with a lay-up, while Alexander scored the final five points of the spurt. Newberry responded with a 16-2 run to take a 24-19 lead with 6:49 remaining in the half … Wingate battled back, regaining the lead on a pair of free throws from Alexander with three minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to five on a Turner free throw 1:52 before intermission. A Newberry lay-up tied the game with 20 seconds left in the half. Wingate took a 35-33 lead into halftime on a jumper from freshman guard Ethan Kincaid with three seconds left … A three from Matilus gave the Bulldogs a 45-39 lead five minutes into the second half. Newberry battled back, taking the lead on a lay-up with 11:23 remaining. The Bulldogs responded, taking a four-point lead at the 8:47 mark on a jumper from Staley. Wingate pushed the lead to 61-53 on a jumper from freshman forward Jesse Jackson with 7:18 remaining … The scarlet-and-gray had the emphatic answer, going on a 13-0 run to take a five-point lead with under three minutes remaining. A dunk made the score 68-63 Newberry at the 2:22 mark … Vaughn drained a three at the 1:36 mark to cut the lead to two. Turner then came up with a steal to get the Bulldogs the ball back with one minute left. Each team traded missed shots; with five seconds remaining, Vaughn drained another three to put Wingate up 69-68. Newberry called time-out and set up the game-winning play … Newberry shot 44.9 percent from the field, while knocking down nine-of-18 from beyond the arc (50 percent). Wingate shot 40 percent from the field, and hit five-of-16 shots from three point range. Newberry held a 33-32 rebounding edge and 17-3 advantage in second chance points … The Bulldogs return to action Wednesday, traveling to Lenoir-Rhyne University for an 8 p.m. start. Wingate earned a 70-60 victory over the Bears Jan. 22, thanks to 22 points from Vaughn.