Men’s Basketball Notes, January 19, 2010
Men's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending January 17, 2010.
BREVARD - The Tornados went 2-1 last week, defeating Truett-McConnell on the road on Monday, 79-68, falling to Catawba 93-75 on Wednesday and winning a thrilling 88-87 contest on Saturday against Wingate ... Jonathan Whitson and Sam Carlisle got the Tornados going against the Bears on Monday as Whitson scored 27 points in 23 minutes of play and Carlisle had 14 points and 18 rebounds as Brevard outrebounded the Bears 32-9 in the first half on their way to the win ... The Tornados and Bears were tied after the first seven minutes at 12 apiece as Roper and Whitson each hit three-pointers to counter five Bears scoring in the opening minutes ... Brevard went on a 20-9 run in the following six minutes to go up by 11 at 32-21 on a layup by Roper with 6:29 left on the clock ... Brevard would retain the lead throughout the remainder of the game, but a late comeback by Truett-McConnell brought the game within single digits at eight points, but free throws by Donald Hudson, Drew Schauss and Carlisle sealed the win ... On Wednesday, Roper led Brevard with 25 points and Whitson had his fourth double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but a balanced Catawba attack defeated Brevard on Wednesday ... The Tornados had the game within five points at 41-36 near halftime, but Rob Field converted three free throws to give the Indians the 47-38 halftime lead ... Catawba opened up a 21-point lead in the second half and the Tornados would twice cut it down to 11 points, but the Indians sealed the game on the line ... Against Wingate on Saturday, Roper and Whitson led an injury-depleted squad to victory in tying and setting school records against the Bulldogs before a last-second blocked shot by Darin Dellinger sealed the win ... Roper tied Whitson's record of 33 points in a game and Whitson's record of 13 made field goals in a game and put in the game-winner with a free throw with six seconds left and Whitson added his fifth double-double of the season with 30 points and 10 rebounds, setting a school record with 14 straight made free throws in the game ... The Tornados have had one player with a double-double in each of their past five games ... Brevard is home on Wednesday to take on Carson-Newman.
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Eagles went 1-1 on the week, dropping a midweek game at home to Wingate, 93-81, and bouncing back to knock off rival-Tusculum, 62-58, on Saturday afternoon in Greeneville, Tenn ... The Eagles are now 7-8 overall and at an .500 in the South Atlantic Conference ... The Carson-Newman men's basketball team dropped its third-straight game with a 93-81 loss to Wingate on Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Holt Fieldhouse ... The Eagles (6-8, 1-3 SAC) lost despite having six players reach double figures in scoring and shooting 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the floor ... Sophomore forward Quinche Dowdell (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) paced C-N with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and a 3-for-5 effort at the charity stripe ... Dowdell has been one of the Eagles most consistent scorers in their last four contests, averaging nearly 12 points per game ... Cameron Sharp (Knoxville, Tenn.) tossed in 15 points and dished out six assists, while Tray Okoth (Richmond, Va.) and Erwin Staten (Huntsville, Ala.) pitched in 12 points apiece and Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) and Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) added 10 each in the loss ... Wingate pushed its lead to 35-16 by the 7:31 mark of the first half and it carried a 50-36 advantage into the locker room ... The Eagles scrapped back in the second half as they went on an 11-4 run during the first four minutes capped off by a 3-point play from Dowdell that trimmed Wingate's lead to 54-47 ... But the Bulldogs put the game out of reach by outscoring C-N 21-10 over the next eight minutes. Bradley Van Staalduinen (Pantego, N.C.) finished off the run with a layup with 8:45 remaining to give Wingate a 75-57 advantage ... C-N was unable to cut the Bulldogs' lead below double digits the rest of the way ... The Carson-Newman men's basketball team rallied in the final minute to defeat rival Tusculum, 62-58, on Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action at Pioneer Arena ... With the game tied at 58, senior forward Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) made a layup with 16 seconds left in regulation to give the Eagles the lead. Senior guard Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) then sank two free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the win ... With the victory, C-N improves to 7-8 on the season and 2-3 in the conference, while Tusculum falls to 8-8 overall and 2-3 in SAC play ... During its three-game losing streak, C-N averaged 20 turnovers per contest. On Saturday, The Eagles committed a season-low nine turnovers ... The Eagles shot 48.9 percent (22-of-45) for the game, while they held the Pioneers to 39.6 percent (19-of-48) shooting ... Sophomore guard Cameron Sharp (Knoxville, Tenn.) led four Eagles in double figures with 14 points, while Dixon and Erwin Staten (Huntsville, Ala.) finished with 12 points apiece. Maxtion chipped in 10 points in the win ... The Eagles held a 28-27 lead at the half, but Tusculum battled back early in the second half with an 8-3 run capped off by a Troutman 3-pointer that gave the Pioneers a 35-31 advantage ... Tusculum led 53-49 with 4:49 remaining before C-N began to chip away at its lead. The teams tied the game twice during the final three minutes before Maxtion's layup with 16 seconds left gave C-N the lead for good ... Dixon continues to lead the Eagles at 12.4 points per game, while Maxtion is averaging 12. 1 ppg ... C-N returns to action on Wednesday in a SAC matchup at Brevard. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m ... The Eagles and Tornados split two meetings last season.
CATAWBA - The Catawba men won both its outings last weeks, topping Brevard 93-75 and holding off Mars Hill 103-99 ... The Indians got career days from several young players during the week ... Freshman Stephen Coles delivered a career 18 points in the win over Brevard ... He scored Catawba's first 10 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field in the first half ... Sophomore Justin Huntley provided the big lift in the second half, finished with a career best 17 points ... Catawba stayed close the the Tornados on the boards with only a three rebound deficit, while capitalizing on 21 Brevard turnovers to outscore the visitors 32-14 off miscues ... Freshman Lee Martin turned in the career day at Mars Hill as he scored 21 points without missing a shot ... he was 9-for-9 from the field, one being a three-pointer, and added a pair of free throws ... Rob Fields led the way with 23 points with nearly half coming from the line ... The league leader at the stripe made all 11 attempts and helped salt the game away with four in the final 30 seconds ... Antonio Houston collected a pair of milestones in the Mars Hill win and hit two crucial three-pointers in the final five minutes ... He snapped a 79-all tie with 4:59 to go on his first three-pointer that gave Catawba the lead for good and added a second with 1:59 remaining for a 81-83 edge ... The senior scored 14 points and collected his 100th double-figure scoring game in his career ... The total lifted his career points total to 1,900 ... Donald Rutherford added 12 points and dished out a career-high six assists ... Catawba shot 59.7 percent in the win over the Lions, including 65.6 percent in the second half ... Catawba will stay at home for both games this week, hosting league-leading Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday and Newberry on Saturday afternoon.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball team (3-13, 1-5) dropped a pair of South Atlantic Conference home contests last week as the Bears fell to the Lions of Mars Hill (85-83) and the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial (69-63) on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively … The setbacks pushed the Bears losing streak to five contests … Danny Sanders and Dion Malachi scored 19 points each for Mars Hill, who defeated Lenoir-Rhyne on the Bears' home court for the first time since the 1989-90 season … L-R senior guard Marcus Hodges (Wake Forest, N.C.) and junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) tallied 23 points apiece but it wasn't enough … Lenoir-Rhyne couldn't hold a 12-point lead (47-35) early in the second half as Mars Hill rallied behind Stoney Polite (17 points) and a 15-of-21 performance from the free throw line in the second half … Lincoln Memorial remained in first place in league play thanks to Scott Erland's team-high 16 points and five-for-five effort from three-point land and D'Mario Curry's double-double (13 points and 15 rebounds) … Blackmon led the Bears with 22 points but Lenoir-Rhyne shot just 30 percent (20-of-66) from the field including 22 percent (six-of-24) from behind the arc … Lincoln Memorial used a 15-0 run in the second half to take a 10-point lead (52-42 with 10:07 left) and was able to hold on from there … Blackmon, who leads the team in scoring (20.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg), has scored in double digits in every game this season and 17 contests dating back to last season … Blackmon (890) is closing in on 1,000 points for his career as a Bear … Lenoir-Rhyne does not play again until Saturday when it travels to Jefferson City, Tenn., to face Carson-Newman at 8 p.m. … The Bears lead the all-time series with the Eagles, 27-16, and has won five straight contests in the rivalry including all three last year.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Railsplitters are off to their best start since 1927and their best start in a conference since 1988-89 … On Wednesday they hosted Newberry … LMU took a 15 point (45-30) lead into the locker room before coming away with an 81-66 win … Although LMU pulled out to a 20 point margin again midway through the second half, Newberry came storming back to cut the deficit to seven with less than four minutes to play … The inside combination of Desmond Johnson and D'Mario Curry however proved to be too much down the stretch … Johnson finished the night with a game-high 22 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, while going a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line … Curry turned in 19 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and six blocks in his seventh double-double of the season … Wednesday night's effort also marks the third consecutive game that Curry has posted six blocks … LMU hit 21-26 shots as a team from the line for 80.8 percent while Newberry was 12-20 for 60.0% shooting from the line … On Saturday evening, the Railsplitters traveled to Hickory, North Carolina and knocked off Lenoir-Rhyne University 69-63 … Starting forwards D'Mario Curry and Desmond Johnson both got into early foul trouble … The foul situation prompted LMU Head Coach Josh Schertz to put forward Scott Erland into the lineup and Erland rose to the occasion … The 6-5 junior grabbed a couple of boards upon entering the game and then banged home three 3-pointers in the final 7:37 of the first half to help the Railsplitters go the locker room leading by three … The Railsplitters and Bears traded blows over the next several minutes before LMU took the lead for good on a free throw by Curry with 12:52 to play … Although Lenoir-Rhyne kept it close down the stretch, the Railsplitter defense bent but never broke in the final minutes and LMU came away with a 69-63 win … Scott Erland led the Railsplitters to victory, scoring 16 points and making five-of-five shots behind the arc while knocking down one free throw … D'Mario Curry also quietly chipped in 13 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds while sophomore guard Brandon Armstrong knocked down 12 points … On Wedneday evening, the LMU men will be looking to earn their most victories in a single season since the 2002-03 campaign when they finished 17-9 overall … The Railsplitters will travel to Salisbury, North Carolina to take on Catawba College … Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 2-1 last week. MHC is now 8-7 overall and 3-2 in the South Atlantic Conference … In the first game of the week, Danny Sanders scored a team-high 31 points, including 22 in the first half, as the Mars Hill men's basketball team defeated Queens 103-93 on Monday at the Ovens Athletic Center … Sanders was 11-15 from the floor and 6-10 from behind the arc. In the first half alone, the Shelby, N.C., native was 8-9 from the floor and 5-6 from three-point range … Brittion Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) scored 18 points for Mars Hill. Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) had 14 points … For the second straight game, Jarred Pickering (Queensland, Australia) tied a career-high with 12 points … Mars Hill shot 50 percent (33-66) from the floor and 47.8 percent (11-23) from three-point range. The Royals shot 44.6 percent (33-74) from the field but only 33.3 percent (9-27) from distance … The Lions outrebounded Queens 50-35 … In the second game of the week, Mars Hill increased its winning streak to four games with a thrilling, 85-83 win over Lenoir-Rhyne University Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium … Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) and Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) each scored 19 points while Malachi added 10 rebounds to complete the double-double for the Lions in the victory … Lenoir-Rhyne took a 38-32 lead into the break and pushed its advantage to as many as 12 points (47-35) early in the second half before Mars Hill began its rally … Mars Hill responded with a 12-point run to tie the game at 47 at the 15:08 mark of the second half but Lenoir-Rhyne pushed its lead back to nine points at 58-49 on a three-point play from Blackmon with 12:33 remaining … From there, the Lions would slowly cut into the Bears' margin and would take their first lead of the game on a three-point put-back by Dallas Johnson (Auburndale, Fla.) with 44 seconds left for an 82-81 advantage … A game-tying three-point attempt by Lenoir-Rhyne would have tied it with 23 seconds left but the shot rimmed out and Mars Hill's Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) iced the contest with a free throw for a four-point advantage (85-81) with seven seconds on the clock … Polite finished with 17 points … In the final contest of the week, The Catawba men's basketball team ended Mars Hill's four-game winning streak with a 103-99 victory inside Stanford Arena on Saturday … Back-to-back three pointers by Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) gave Mars Hill an early 8-4 lead. A shot from behind the arc by Dominick Reid (Charlotte, N.C.) at the 14:35 mark gave Catawba a four-point advantage, 14-10 … Four minutes later, a one-handed dunk by Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) over two Catawba defenders gave the Lions the upper hand, 24-22 … The Catawba Indians responded with a 17-5 run, highlighted by a fastbreak dunk by Donald Rutherford (Morganton, N.C.), to take a 39-29 lead … Mars Hill closed the first half on a 13-6 spurt to make the score 45-42 in favor of Catawba at intermission … Sanders had 14 points at the break … The Lions retook the lead in the second half, 48-47, at the 17:52 mark off two Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) free throws. Trailing 53-50, Mars Hill went on a 9-1 run. Polite had four points during the stretch to give the Lions a 59-54 lead with 14:07 left in the game … Catawba answered with a 12-4 charge. An old-fashioned three-point play by Rob Fields (Orangeburg, S.C.) allowed Catawba to retake the lead, 64-63, with 12:42 left in regulation. A fastbreak one-handed throwdown by Rutherford past the halfway into the second half gave Catawba a 72-67 advantage … Mars Hill retook the lead, 74-73, at the 7:33 mark when Malachi hit a layup plus one. A layup by Lee Martin (Mt. Airy, N.C.) with just over two minutes remaining in the game was part of a 15-9 Catawba run … The Martin score made the game 88-81 in favor of the visiting team, a lead that Catawba would not relinquish … Sanders pumped in a game-high 34 points including seven three pointers. Malachi netted 15 points. Jarred Pickering (Queensland, Australia) scored a career-high 14 points. Polite had 12 points. Catawba's bench outscored Mars Hill's bench 61-29. Catawba outscored the Lions in the paint 66-40 and on the fastbreak 22-10. Mars Hill will host SAC rival Wingate on Wednesday. Tipoff from Stanford Arena is set for 8 p.m.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team dropped its only South Atlantic Conference game last week, losing at Lincoln Memorial by an 81-66 scoreline to drop to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in SAC play … Ryan Barnes led the team in scoring for the third straight game with 17 points, while Jeremee Davis scored 11 and Stephane Bakinde fell just short of a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds … Bakinde also had a game-high 5 assists … Newberry trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half after a sluggish start to the game, but narrowed the margin to 45-30 at the half … The second half was much better for the scarlet and gray as Newberry cut the deficit to as few as 7 points in the second half, but strong free-throw shooting by LMU in the latter stages of the game sealed the double-digit win for the Railsplitters … The loss snapped a 4-game winning streak against LMU … Newberry did not play on the weekend … Newberry hosts Tusculum on Wednesday and travels to Catawba on Saturday afternoon.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers (8-8, 2-3 SAC) went 1-1 last week, splitting a pair of home contests … Tusculum opened the week with a 69-59 non-conference victory over Mid-Continent University (Ky.) … Senior guard Kyle Moore led the charge with his 32-point performance as he shot 8-for-13 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point territory … Moore also went 11-of-12 at the free throw line as he recorded 30 or more points for a third time this season … Junior forward Rob Troutman accounted for 15 points and six rebounds, while senior forward Josh Bennett added eight markers and six boards … Sophomore guard Justin Steigerwald dished out a career-best nine assists, while blocking a personal-high three shots in his 40 minutes of action … Tusculum shot 56.3 percent from the floor and 9-of-15 (60 percent) from beyond the arc … TC also shined at the foul line, shooting 24-of-28 (85.7 percent), including 16-of-16 in the second half … In Tusculum's 62-58 home loss to arch-rival Carson-Newman, Moore led all scorers with 27 points, as he connected on five 3-pointers for a second straight game … Troutman posted 13 points and nine rebounds, including a career-high six offensive boards … Senior forward Wes Taylor added 11 points in the contest … Senior guard Jimmy Boone matched a career-best with his six assists against the Eagles … Tusculum is still in quest of its 100th win in Pioneer Arena… Since 1998, Tusculum is 99-60 at home … Moore is closing in on a SAC record … In his 75-game career at Tusculum, Moore has posted 241 three-point field goals, just three off the record 244 tallied by former Lenoir-Rhyne standout John Wadsworth (1992-96) … Moore is still 86 off the TC record set by former All-Region forward Shane Banks (327, 1996-2000) … Tusculum has made a three-point field goal in 627 consecutive games … Moore has scored 1,480 points in his Tusculum career, which are ninth in school history … He needs 21 points to move into sole possession of eighth place to pass Paul Minton's 1,500 points from 1969-73 … Tusculum head coach Jim Boone has recorded 389 career wins, which is 30th amongst active NCAA Division II coaches … Moore has scored 20 or more points 34 times during his TC career … Tusculum has limited the opposition to under 60 points on nine occasions this season, going 7-2 in those outings … TC is also 6-2 when scoring 60 or more points … Tusculum will be on the road for a pair of league contests at Newberry and Wingate … Tusculum's eight losses have come against teams with a combined 84-37 record (.694).
WINGATE - Wingate split two SAC contests last week. Saturday afternoon, Brevard edged Wingate 88-87 in Cuddy Arena on the Wingate campus. Five players hit double digits for the host Bulldogs. Senior guard Larry Staley had 20 points and a game-high five steals. Sophomore guard Jaime Vaughn had 18 points, four rebounds and three assists ... Wingate freshman guards Paidrick Matilus and Ethan Kincaid contributed 13 points each. Matilus led the 'Dogs with eight rebounds, while Kincaid dished out a game-high seven assists. Freshman forward Quan Alexander added 12 points and six rebounds for the hosts ... The contest featured eight lead changes and 12 ties. The Tornados led 55-40 with 18:17 remaining in the contest. The 15-point advantage was Brevard's biggest of the evening ... Wingate chipped away at the deficit, cutting the margin to 63-61 on a three-point field goal by Staley at the 11:01 mark. The Staley hoop completed a 23-6 run for the Bulldogs. Six different Bulldogs scored during the flurry, led by Staley's nine points ... Brevard kept the lead for the next seven minutes until Vaughn hit a fade-away three-point field goal with 4:20 to play, giving Wingate an 80-78 edge. Brevard answered with back-to-back hoops to give the Tornados an 82-80 lead they would not relinquish ... Another hoop put Brevard up 87-80 with 2:20 to play and capped a 9-0 run. Wingate answered, as Matilus collected a steal and fed sophomore guard Tracy Parks for a lay-up at the 1:44 mark ... Matilus hit a jumper after another Brevard turnover to make the score 87-84 Tornados with 1:37 remaining. After the two teams traded turnovers and Brevard missed a jumper, Matilus nailed a trifecta on a feed from Vaughn to tie the score at 87 with 24 seconds left ... Brevard hit the winning free throw with six ticks left on the clock. After two Wingate time-outs, the Bulldogs went to work. Matilus got a good look from 12 feet, but Brevard deflected the potential game-winning shot to clinch the victory. The buzzer sounded during the scrum for the rebound and the Bulldogs could not get another shot ... Brevard hit 24-of-26 free throws (92.3 percent). Brevard's Jonathan Whitson converted 14-of-15 charity tosses, including his 14 in a row. Both Whitson (eight-of-14) and Josh Roper (13-of-20) hit better than 50 percent from the floor as the Tornados shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) for the game. Brevard registered 56.5 percent in the crucial second half (13-of-23) ... Wingate's bench outscored Brevard's reserves 22-9, thanks to Kincaid's 13 markers. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Tornados 34-31. Wingate shot 49.3 for the afternoon (36-of-73) ... The Wingate men's basketball team never trailed Wednesday night, leading from wire-to-wire in a 93-81 South Atlantic Conference victory over Carson-Newman College in Holt Fieldhouse. Five Bulldogs hit double figures in the road win ... Entering this week's play, Wingate is 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the SAC. The Carson-Newman victory is Wingate's fourth away-from-home triumph this season, as the Bulldogs double their 2008-09 road victory total (two) ... Wingate freshman center Odell Turner had 18 points for the visiting Bulldogs. Staley hit seven-of-eight shots from the floor en route to a 16-point performance. Staley filled out his stat sheet with four rebounds and a team-high four assists ... Matilus added 13 points on five-of-seven shooting, while Alexander had 11 points and six rebounds. Kincaid had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench, while senior guard/forward David Johnson flirted with a double-double. Johnson had nine points and a team-best seven rebounds.