Men’s Basketball takes Lenoir-Rhyne down to wire, falls in SAC semifinals

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team bowed out of the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament after watching a last-second three-pointer rattle out, chalking up a 84-83 loss to No. 2 seed, 14th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne.

TEAM STATS

- Lenoir-Rhyne (25-5) broke .500 from the field, shooting 51.9% compared to the 37.3% clip fired by Catawba (18-12)

- The foes were similarly separated from long range as Catawba posted a 30.4% mark versus the Bears' 45.5%

- Catawba capitalized on its 40 trips to the free-throw line by swishing 80.0% while Lenoir-Rhyne had fewer chances on a 75.8% day

- Rebounds were nearly even as Catawba held a slight edge at 35-34, beating the Bears in offensive grabs by a 17-11 margin

- Turnovers buffeted LR, who lost the turnover battle 16-13 and trailed 26-16 in points off takeaways

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Kris Robinson led the Catawba Indians with 25 points, hitting five triples with an 8-for-8 charity log, while tallying four rebounds and sharing the top assist mark with Caleb Jones at three dimes

- Nick Walker recorded nearly half of his points at the free-throw line, finishing with 18 points and grabbing a team-best six boards

- Jashaun Hawkins came a basket short of his season high in scoring, following up his 12-point affair on Wednesday by putting up 15 points

- Justin Banks notched nine points, four rebounds (all offensive) and three blocks to register his fourth consecutive multi-swat performance

- Zion McDuffie snatched up five boards with two blocks and a steal; eight players logged a swipe as Montraivis White topped the list with a pair of pickpockets

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- Walker laid in the opening bucket off an LR turnover, but the Bears scored the next 10 points behind six from Ziare Wells in the first four minutes

- Coming out of the under-12 media break down 13-4, Catawba saw Chase Daniel feed Hawkins for a three-ball before the junior forward hit two free throws to put the blue and white in striking distance

- The Bears pushed ahead with a 12-4 surge that closed with four points by Julian Dozier in a 37-second span, stretching the Catawba deficit to 27-15

- The Catawba Indians took nine points out of the gap over the next few minutes as Hawkins piled on a triple and three free throws

- Lenoir-Rhyne kept Catawba at bay, however, and bumped its lead to 41-32 at halftime

Second Half

- Catawba was stripped three times as LR leveraged six Hantz Louis-Jeune points early in the half and forced a Catawba Indian timeout following Tay Smith's coast-to-coast slam

- After boosting their lead to 18, the Bears were penalized with a Flagrant 2 foul that bred a technical foul to help Catawba record a five-point possession that put the score at 58-46

- Eight straight LR points midway through the period reinstituted the red and black's 18-point advantage at the under-8 media timeout

- Using 13 points from Robinson and five from Walker, Catawba drew back within four in an 18-4 spurt

- The Catawba Indians kept pace with the Bears through a series of fouls and suddenly pounced when Jones' steal-and-score and Walker tallied a bucket off another turnover to tie the contest at 83-all

- Wells drew a blocking foul with 15 seconds to play, going 1-for-2 at the line as Jones corralled the board; the blue and white advanced the ball to halfcourt, calling a full timeout before LR also initiated a 60-second break

- Catawba opted for a three-pointer from Robinson that swirled out, but Walker snagged the board and attempted a shot that Louis-Jeune stuffed to send the Bears to the title game

UP NEXT

Catawba is on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament bid; the blue and white slotted ninth in the latest regional ranking. The bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, Mar. 9 at 11 p.m. in the selection show airing on NCAA.com.