Men's Basketball flexes muscle in SAC quarterfinal win over Coker

Rock Hill, S.C. —- The 3-seed Catawba College men's basketball team was the final team to punch its ticket to the South Atlantic Conference semifinal round on Wednesday night, earning its 20th win of the season in an 87-77 effort over 6-seed Coker at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba shot 35-for-74 (47 percent) from the field, while Coker was 26-of-61 (43 percent) from the floor

- The Catawba Indians were 7-for-16 (44 percent) from three-point range, while limiting the Cobras to 5-for-22 (23 percent) from deep

- Coker was 20-for-24 (83 percent) from the free throw line; Catawba was 10-of-15 (67 percent)

- The Cobras out-rebounded the Catawba Indians 40-39, but it was Catawba with a 17-6 edge in second-chance points

- Catawba recorded 12 assists to just 11 turnovers, while Coker had 13 assists to 21 turnovers; the Catawba Indians held a 23-16 edge in points off turnovers

- Catawba held leads in points in the paint (46-40), fastbreak points (20-16) and bench points (39-8)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Peyton Gerald scored a team-high 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting with three blocks

- Shad Thomas added 14 points in 19 minutes off the bench on 7-for-9 shooting and five boards

- Javeon Jones chipped in 11 points and a game-high three steals

- Montraivis White had 11 points with three three-pointers off the bench

- O'Mazeon Tinsley was the fifth Catawba Indian in double figures with 10 points on five made shots

- DeAngelo Epps grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with eight points 

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Back-to-back Gerald baskets gave the Catawba Indians early 4-0 lead in the opening minute

- Coker scored the next seven points to take the lead

- Two straight Thomas layups capped a 6-0 Catawba spurt to regain the lead

- The Cobras took the lead again, but the Catawba Indians answered right back with a 10-0 run by four different scorers to open up a 24-15 advantage

- Three Coker free throws trimmed their lead to five points near the 8-minute mark

- Epps answered with a triple and two free throws gave Catawba its first double-digit lead of the game at the 7:01 mark

- Tinsley's jumper in the closing seconds of the half pushed Catawba's lead to 45-31 at the half

SECOND HALF

- Jones' layup just over two minutes in gave Catawba their largest lead of the game to that point at 51-33

- Jones drained a three-pointer to make it 60-37 at the 14-minute mark

- Catawba's largest lead of the game came a minute later at 65-39

- Seven unanswered points from the Cobras cut their deficit to under 20 points

- Thomas' layup helped restore Catawba's cushion to 25 points

- Coker scored 12 of the final 14 points of the game as Catawba emptied its bench, but the result was never in doubt

UP NEXT

- Catawba advances to Thursday's semifinal round, where they'll meet 2-seed Wingate for a rubber match in the season series; tip at the Rock Hill Sport and Event Center is set for 7:30 p.m.