Men’s Basketball Loses at LMU

HARROGATE, Tenn. - Mars Hill lost on the road Thursday night to No. 11 Lincoln Memorial University, 105-73. MHC fell to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the SAC. The Railsplitters improved to 13-0 on the season and 5-0 in the league.

Sammy Emile led MHC with 18 points hitting four shots from behind the arc. Donterious Hughes followed with 13 points and five boards. Dion Malachi rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Lions with 10 points and eight rebounds. Malachi, who leads the SAC in blocks, added two more to his season totals tonight.

Desmond Johnson led LMU with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Railsplitters won the battle of the boards, 60-43. LMU scored 50 points in the paint. They finished the contest converting on 46.6% (34-73) of their field goal attempts. MHC hit 33.8% (25-74) of their shots from the floor.

Sammy Emile hit a 3-pointer 53 seconds into the game to tie the game at 3-all. D'Mario Curry hit a shot in the lane on the Railsplitters' next possession to give his team a two-point lead and LMU would never trail again. Julian Mack hit a layup with 9:53 left in the first half to make the score 26-21 in favor of LMU. The Railsplitters then went on a 24-5 run to close out the opening stanza and take a 50-26 advantage into the locker room at the intermission. LMU hit 44.7% (17-38) of their shots from the floor in the opening period as opposed to MHC who converted on 27.3% (9-33) of their attempts. Emile had nine first half points to lead the Lions offensively.

The second half belonged to LMU. The Railsplitters would lead by more than 20+ points the entire last frame. LMU's largest lead would be by 48 points (85-37) with 9:53 left in regulation after Vincent Bailey tipped in a offensive rebound from a Darryl Garrett miss.

MHC will host SAC foe Wingate University on Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena. Game time is set for a 4 p.m. start. MHC will provide a live video/audio webcast of the event. The Lions will also provide live in-game statistics of the contest. Visit the Lions Internet home (www.mhclions.com) to take advantage of these multimedia options.