Men’s Basketball captures SAC regular season crown with dominant second half

Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team made it two South Atlantic Conference regular season titles clinched in Goodman Arena on Saturday afternoon, out-scoring Emory & Henry 53-27 in the second half to run away with the conference title, sharing with Lincoln Memorial and Wingate.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba was 31-of-64 (48 percent) from the field; Emory & Henry was 20-of-50 (40 percent)

- The Wasps were 9-for-26 (35 percent) from three-point range, while the Catawba Indians were 7-for-25 (28 percent)

- Catawba was 16-of-19 (84 percent) at the free throw line, while E&H was 16-for-24 (67 percent) from the charity stripe

- Catawba out-rebounded Emory & Henry 38-32, leading to a 12-8 advantage in second-chance points

- The Catawba Indians recorded 13 assists to 12 turnovers, while the Wasps had 11 assists and 20 turnovers, helping Catawba hold a 24-11 advantage in points off turnovers

- Catawba held leads in points in the paint (40-22), fastbreak points (16-4) and bench points (54-10)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Kris Robinson scored a team-high 13 points off the bench, connecting on three triples

- Peyton Gerald added 12 and five rebounds, while going 6-for-7 at the foul line

- Kaleb Wallace chipped in 10 on his senior day

- Montraivis White and O'Mazeon Tinsley both scored 10, combining for 8-of-11 from the field

- DeAngelo Epps grabbed a team-high six rebounds and Javeon Jones had four steals

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Emory & Henry led 8-4 shortly before the first media timeout

- The Wasp lead grew to 21-12 on Jacob Dar's three-pointer at the 13:31 mark

- Robinson and White jumpers cut into the deficit in the next couple minutes

- E&H led by nine once again on another first half three-pointer

- Catawba rattled off 12 straight points, capped by Robinson's three-pointer to lead 30-27 at the 4:44 mark

- The Wasps scored the last nine points of the half to take a 38-32 advantage into the locker room

SECOND HALF

- After E&H's lead grew to eight, a quick 5-0 spurt from Catawba cut the deficit to three

- An 11-0 Catawba run helped push them ahead, leading by six at the 14:38 mark

- A separate 12-0 Catawba run turned a slim three-point lead into a 15-point advantage after Tinsley's triple near the midway point of the half

- The lead grew to 20 points by the 5-minute mark

- The Wasps got within 15, but another scoring run by the Catawba Indians helped push them to another 20-point cushion and cruised from there

UP NEXT

- The SAC champs turn their attention to the SAC Tournament next week at the Rock Hill Event Center, facing 6-seed Coker on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.