Men’s Basketball survives late Emory & Henry run to stay unbeaten in SAC play

Meadowview, Va. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team survived a 30-13 Emory & Henry second-half run to defeat the Wasps on the road, 95-91, winning their fifth straight game overall and staying unbeaten in South Atlantic Conference action.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba shot 37-for-82 (45 percent) from the field, while Emory & Henry went 28-of-64 (44 percent) from the floor

- The Wasps were 10-for-26 (39 percent) from three-point range; the Catawba Indians bounced back with a 9-of-24 (38 percent) showing from deep

- E&H shot 25-of-32 (78 percent) from the free throw line, while Catawba was 12-for-17 (71 percent) from the foul line

- The Catawba Indians out-rebounded Emory & Henry 46-41, leading to a 21-10 advantage in second-chance points

- Catawba had 21 assists to just 11 turnovers, while the Wasps recorded 18 assists and turned the ball over 15 times; Catawba held an 18-12 edge in points off turnovers

- The Catawba Indians dominated the paint once again, leading 46-32 in points in the paint

- Both benches contributed, as Catawba held the slight 34-30 edge in bench points

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- DeAngelo Epps went for a season-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting with 11 rebounds

- Peyton Gerald also scored his season-high with 18 points on 9-for-13 shooting with seven boards and three blocks and two steals

- Justin Mitchell came off the bench for his season-high of 15 points and five rebounds

- Javeon Jones added 15 points on a team-high three triples, adding four assists

- Jerome Bivins chipped in nine points off the bench

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Emory & Henry scored the first five points of the game in the first minute

- Catawba answered with a 9-0 run, capped by Jones' three-pointer at the 17:32 mark

- The Wasps scored the game's next seven points, leading 12-9 Omari Curley's layup

- The next three minutes saw three ties and three lead changes as the teams traded baskets

- E&H's Jacob Dar sunk a jumper near the midway point of the half to give the hosts a 21-17 advantage

- A 9-0 run propelled the Catawba Indians in front; Jones canned another three-pointer to cap the run

- Brown buried a triple, one of six for him in the contest, to tie the game at 27 near the 6-minute mark

- The teams exchanged four more ties over the next three minutes, as the teams remained deadlocked at 35 at the 3:14 mark

- Jones, Epps and Mitchell combined for an 8-0 run that brought the Catawba Indians back out in front

- Gerald's layup late gave Catawba a 47-39 lead heading into the halftime break

SECOND HALF

- The lead remained between seven and 10 points, until Montravis White's three-pointer put Catawba up 60-48 at the 15:55 mark

- Bivins' triple extended the Catawba lead lead to 14 points less than two minutes later

- Mitchell also buried a three-pointer at the 12:48 mark to give Catawba its largest lead of the game at 70-54

- A quick 10-2 run for the Wasps got the deficit back down to single digits with 10 minutes to go

- Dar's triple capped a separate 9-2 run to cut the Catawba lead to a single possession at the 6-minute mark

- E&H took its first lead since the 9-minute mark of the first half with an 84-83 lead with 3:41 remaining

- A Banks layup and an Epps' and-one broke an 85-all tie to give the Catawba Indians a 90-85 advantage with 2:17 left

- The Wasps answered back with back-to-back scores, though, to cut their deficit back to a single point

- Mitchell nailed a key three-pointer at the 1:27 mark to give Catawba a 93-89 cushion

- E&H scored to get back within two, but Epps answered with a layup with 40 seconds to go; neither team scored the rest of the way, as Catawba ran away with the win

UP NEXT 

- Catawba caps its three-game road trip with a matchup with fellow conference unbeaten Wingate at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday