Men's Basketball stifles red-hot Eagles, extend win streak to four

Salisbury, N.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team cruised to a dominant 87-66 win over Carson-Newman - who had won seven of their last eight - to improve to 12-4 overall and 9-3 in conference play, now riding a streak of four straight wins.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba attempted 25 more shots than Carson-Newman, converting 34-of-76 attempts for a 44.7% mark while the Eagles knocked down 22-51 shots for a 43.1% rate

- The home side splashed three more shots from beyond the arc, nailing 10-for-24 to Carson-Newman's 7-of-23 line. The Eagles had eight more makes from the free throw line, converting 17-of-24 tries while Catawba would go 9-for-13

- Both teams pulled down 38 rebounds

- The key difference was the turnover margin; Catawba forced 20 turnovers and scored 27 points off of them, while giving the ball away just eight times in return

- Catawba outscored Carson-Newman 14-5 on second-chance points and got a dominant effort from their bench with 30 points to just eight from Carson-Newman's reserves

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

 - Javeon Jones led Catawba offensively with 17 points, one of four home players to finish in double-figures. Montraivis White added 13, O'Mazeon Tinsley chipped in 12 and DeAngelo Epps had 11

- Tinsley dished four assists to lead the Catawba side, while Jones, Kris Robinson, and White had two each

- It was a team effort across the board on the glass, as Justin Banks and Justin Mitchell led Catawba with five rebounds apiece. Four players had four each, and three had three boards for Catawba

- Defensively, Jones tallied three steals, while another three players had two each. Banks notched three of Catawba's seven blocks

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- It was a tight game in the early going as both teams came out firing, with Tinsley scoring Catawba's first five, dueling with Carson-Newman's Jack Browder and his six early points

- White and Epps pulled Catawba back from an early five-point deficit to make it 12-12 at the 14:15 mark, setting up Kaleb Wallace to complete a tough three-point play to give Catawba it's first lead, 15-12 with 14:00 to go

- Banks and Epps were able to keep Catawba ahead despite a five-point barrage from Carson-Newman's John Zhao, who cut the lead to three at 24-21 with 7:40 to go

- That would be the closest the Eagles would get, however, as Catawba closed the first half on a 22-10 run. The streak would begin with a 9-0 Catawba stretch kickstarted by a Jerome Bivins three and added on to by Robinson and Tinsley. Eight points in the final 4:25 from Javeon Jones made it 46-31 Catawba at the half

SECOND HALF

- Epps, Tinsley and Jones combined help Catawba stay out of reach early, each hitting jumpers at the some side led by 18 at the 16:01 mark, 60-42

- It would remain that way for the rest of the second, as White and Jones hit timely threes to hold Carson-Newman at bay while also adding several free throws. Jones' triple with 6:52 to go snapped a near five-minute scoring drought for Catawba and made it 72-54

- A 7-2 Catawba run from 4:06 to 2:55 effectively closed the door, as a Tinsley three made a 21-point game with just under three minutes to go, 83-62

- White and Banks closed the game out, as Catawba emerged with a 19-point win by a final score of 87-68

UP NEXT

- Catawba continues South Atlantic Conference play on Wednesday, Feb. 7, as they head to Newberry to take on the Wolves to kick off a three-game road trip. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.