Catawba Tops LMU In Food Lion SAC Men’s Basketball Tournament

HICKORY, N.C. -- Antonio Houston poured in 18 points and dished out a game-high five assists to lead the top-seeded Catawba College men's basketball team to a 70-60 win over fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial University in the semifinal round of the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament at CVCC Arena.

Catawba (20-9) advances to the tournament championship game for the fourth straight year. The Indians have won the tournament the last two years.

Catawba won the battle on the glass by a 52-41 margin, including a 20-10 edge on the offensive boards. Both teams struggled from the floor, combining for a 36.1 percent field goal percentage. Lincoln Memorial (20-9) connected on 37.7 percent of its attempts from the floor, while Catawba shot 34.7 percent from the field.

Lincoln Memorial's D'Mario Curry led all scorers with 22 points, knocking down 7-of-11 attempts from the floor and pulling down nine rebounds to pace the Railsplitters. Desmond Johnson added 19 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to record a double-double.

Lincoln Memorial started off strong, scoring 12 of the game's first 14 points to jump out to a 12-2 lead with 16:58 to go in the first half on a fast break three-pointer by Wally Jones. Catawba responded with a 7-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to cut the lead to 14-9 on a three-pointer by Reid, and continued to battle back over the next seven minutes, launching a 17-8 spurt to take a 26-22 advantage with seven minutes left in the half.

Lincoln Memorial's Brandon Armstrong drives to the basket during Saturday's tourmament game against Catawba.

The Railsplitters responded with a 4-0 spurt to knot the score at 26-26 before reclaiming the lead at 29-26 on a three-pointer by Brandon Armstrong with 5:09 to play in the period. Catawba then answered with a 13-4 run over the next four minutes to retake the lead at 39-33, before Curry converted a pair of free throws for LMU to trim the margin to 39-35 heading into the intermission.

Catawba never trailed in the second half, opening its largest lead of the game at the 10:27 mark when Houston knocked down a three-pointer on the heels of a 13-4 run over a seven minute period. The Railsplitters responded with a 15-6 run to cut the margin to 59-56 with 4:39 to play. Lincoln Memorial continued to apply pressure over the next two minutes, cutting the lead to 61-60 on a layup by Johnson before Catawba answered with a 9-0 spurt over the final 2:25 to secure a spot in Sunday's championship game.

Catawba will face the winner of Saturday's second men's semifinal between No. 3 seed Brevard College and No. 7 seed Carson-Newman College. Lincoln Memorial will await word on a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Division II national tournament when the field is announced Sunday night.

Catawba Quotes:

"Normally we shoot the ball better here, but when it came down to it we made the plays we needed to make," said Catawba head coach Jim Baker. "It is nice to know our guys have been here before. This year we are a solid no. 4 in the region, so I freed them up the last week or so and let them play."

Lincoln Memorial

"We played hard, we competed hard, but we just did not play well enough to win," said Lincoln Memorial head coach Josh Schertz. "When you hold them to 34 percent shooting, and 70 points, you are going to win unless you do not rebound. On the boards, they manhandled us. Catawba is the championship team because when they do not make shots they go rebound. We did not compensate enough to make up for our bad shooting."

At Hickory, N.C. (CVCC Arena)
CATAWBA 70, LINCOLN MEMORIAL 60
LINCOLN MEMORIAL (20-9)
Curry, D'Mario 7-11 8-10 22; Johnson,Desmond 8-14 3-6 19; Jones,Wally 3-7
0-2 8; Armstrong,Brandon 3-11 0-0 7; Carden,Cameron 1-5 0-0 2;
O'Brien,Brandon 1-4 0-0 2; Craig,Dustin 0-0 0-0 0; Martin, Tony 0-0 0-0 0;
Erland,Scott 0-0 0-0 0; Vil,Marc-David 0-1 0-0 0; Stanley, Josh 0-1 0-0 0;
Miller,Stuart 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 11-18 60.
CATAWBA (20-9)
Houston, Antonio 5-14 6-8 18; Fields, Rob 6-17 1-2 13; Rutherford, Donald
4-9 5-7 13; Reid, Dominick 3-13 2-2 10; Coles, Stephen 4-8 0-1 8; Williams,
Donzell 1-4 2-2 4; Martin, Lee 2-7 0-0 4; Lovelace, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0;
Thomson, Stuart 0-0 0-0 0; Huntley, Justin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 16-22 70.
Lincoln Memorial.............. 35 25 - 60
Catawba....................... 39 31 - 70
3-point goals--Lincoln Memorial 3-17 (Jones,Wally 2-4; Armstrong,Brandon
1-3; Carden,Cameron 0-3; Stanley, Josh 0-1; Miller,Stuart 0-6), Catawba 4-12
(Houston, Antonio 2-4; Reid, Dominick 2-5; Martin, Lee 0-1; Fields, Rob
0-2). Fouled out--Lincoln Memorial-Curry, D'Mario, Catawba-None.
Rebounds--Lincoln Memorial 41 (Johnson,Desmond 11), Catawba 52 (Williams,
Donzell 11). Assists--Lincoln Memorial 9 (Carden,Cameron 3), Catawba 14
(Houston, Antonio 5). Total fouls--Lincoln Memorial 18, Catawba 14.
Technical fouls--Lincoln Memorial-None, Catawba-None. A-550
Catawba advances to 2010 Food Lion SAC Tournament Championship