Jones, White combine for 42 as Men’s Basketball keeps pace in SAC race

Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team pulled to within a game of the South Atlantic Conference lead on Wednesday night, utilizing a season-high 26 points from senior guard Javeon Jones and a career-high 16 points off the bench from freshman guard Montraivis White in the team's come-from-behind 90-83 win over Limestone in Goodman Arena on Wednesday night.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba shot 33-for-66 (50 percent) from the floor, while Limestone was 28-of-59 (48 percent) from the field

- The Saints were 10-for-21 (48 percent) from three-point range, while limiting the Catawba Indians to 5-for-20 (25 percent) from deep

- Catawba was 19-for-27 (70 percent) from the foul line; LU was 17-of-25 (68 percent) at the charity stripe

- Limestone held a slim 35-34 rebounding advantage, but the Catawba Indians out-scored the Saints in second-chance points 25-20

- Limestone recorded 14 assists to 13 turnovers, while Catawba had 13 assists to just seven turnovers; Catawba led 16-3 in points off turnovers

- The Catawba Indians led in points in the paint (50-34), fastbreak points (19-3) and bench points (39-17)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Jones went for a game- and season-high 26 points with six rebounds and four steals, going 14-for-15 at the foul line

- White added a career-high 16 points and eight assists in 24 minutes off the bench

- Kaleb Wallace added to Catawba's bench scoring margin with 13 points

- Shad Thomas was the fourth Catawba Indian in double figures with 12 points 

- DeAngelo Epps chipped in nine points, while Dre Nelson had six rebounds off the bench

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Limestone held a slim 10-6 lead after five minutes

- The Saints led by as much as 18-9 at the 11:43 mark

- Wallace canned a triple to cut the Catawba deficit to 20-17 near the 8-minute mark

- Jones' jumper made it a 16-6 Catawba Indian run to take their first lead since 6-5 with 5:19 remaining

- The Saints responded with a 10-2 run to return their lead to seven and force a Catawba timeout

- White buried a heave from nearly three-quarter court to cut the Limestone lead to just one at the halftime break, 38-37

SECOND HALF

- Greg McKay's three-pointer pushed Limestone's lead to 51-43 at the 15-minute mark

- White's layup off a second chance helped Catawba trimmed their deficit in half two minutes later

- Jones' and-one sent McKay to the bench with five fouls and capped a quick 6-0 Catawba spurt to take the one-point lead at the 9:38 mark

- The Saints responded with five straight points of their own to take a multiple-possession lead

- A bucket from Justin Banks and another Jones lay-in tied the game at 65 near the 8-minute mark

- White buried a triple to swing the lead in Catawba's favor before a pair of Jones free throws extended the advantage to 70-66

- Catawba held a small lead thereon out, answering every Limestone threat with a basket, as the lead never got smaller than three the rest of the way

- Jones salted the game away at the foul line, leading 88-80 with 32 seconds to go en route to Catawba's 13th win of conference play

UP NEXT

- Catawba makes its last SAC road trip of regular season play on Saturday, traveling to Mars Hill for a date with Lions; tip is set for 4 p.m.