Men’s Basketball climbs to second in SAC standings following road win at Mars Hill

Mars Hill, N.C. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team rose to second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings on Saturday afternoon following their 92-76 victory at Mars Hill in their final road game of the regular season which saw five Catawba Indians score in double figures. Catawba is now winners of nine of their last 10 games.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba went 31-for-58 (53 percent) from the field; Mars Hill was 25-of-51 (49 percent)

- The Lions were 6-for-15 (40 percent) from three-point range, while the Catawba Indians went 6-of-17 (35 percent) from downtown

- MHU was 20-for-26 (77 percent) at the free throw line; Catawba went 24-of-32 (75 percent) at the charity stripe

- The Catawba Indians out-rebounded Mars Hill 32-29, leading to a 16-9 advantage in second-chance points

- Catawba recorded 11 assists to just 10 turnovers, while the Lions had seven assists to 17 turnovers; the Catawba Indians held a 24-14 advantage in points off turnovers

- Catawba held edges in points in the paint (44-34), fastbreak points (27-11) and bench points (36-10) 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Justin Banks scored a team-high 16 points in 20 minutes off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting

- Javeon Jones recorded 14 points, six rebounds and four assists

- DeAngelo Epps also had 14 points to go along with a game-high four steals

- Montraivis White buried four three-pointers off the bench for 12 points

- Shad Thomas was the fifth Catawba Indian in double figures with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- The first multiple-possession lead of the game came at the 6:57 mark of the first half, when MHU's Derrick Molden hit a three-pointer to take a four-point lead

- Thomas' free throws tied the game right back up just 30 seconds later

- The Lions took another four-point lead with less than three minutes to go in the half

- Banks' dunk tied the game again at 36-all a minute later

- Back-to-back White three-pointers capped an 8-0 Catawba run to take the largest lead of the game for either side – six points

- A late Lions' three-pointer made it a 44-41 halftime lead for the Catawba Indians

- The first half featured 22 ties and 22 lead changes

SECOND HALF

- Kris Robinson's three-pointer jumpstarted a quick 5-0 Catawba spurt to open up an eight-point lead just over a minute in

- Catawba held a 6-10-point advantage for majority of the second half until Epps' dunk finished off an 8-0 Catawba Indian run to take a 14-point stronghold at the 4:35 mark

- Catawba never trailed in the second half, holding a steady lead throughout, with their final 16-point margin of victory marking the largest difference of the game

UP NEXT

- One game back of first place in the SAC, Catawba looks to keep pace on Wednesday, hosting Newberry at Goodman Arena at 7:30 p.m.