Men’s Basketball Wins at Anderson

ANDERSON, S.C. - Five players score in double-figures as the Lions won at Anderson, 82-75 Saturday evening in the Abney Athletic Center. Mars Hill improved to 8-12 overall and 5-7 in the SAC. The Trojans fell to 14-8 on the seaon and 8-4 in the league.

Donterious Hughes led MHC with 19 points while Sammy Emile added 14. Tarron Stewart scored 12 points and Dion Malachi and Julian Mack rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 apiece. The Lions scored 36 points in the paint and tallied 25 points off of Trojans miscues.

Mars Hill won its third consecutive game and earned a split in the season series with the Trojans, while Anderson had its win streak stopped at three games. AU jumped out to an early 10-5 lead, but four turnovers in the next two minutes stalled the Trojans' offense and allowed the Lions to take a brief 14-10 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the first half.

Taylor Shugart responded with three of his game-high 20 points on an old-fashioned three-point play and Nick Trull dropped in a layup to regain a 15-14 edge for AU. The Trojans pushed out to a pair of three-point leads midway through the half, but Mars Hill stayed within striking distance and went on a 12-2 run to claim its largest lead of the frame, 30-23, with 5:30 remaining.

The Lions took a 39-34 advantage into intermission, but the Trojans came out of the break with a 10-3 outburst to claim a brief two-point lead at the 17:21 mark. However, Mars Hill pushed out to another seven-point lead midway through the final half, before Anderson battled back to take its final lead of the contest, 58-57, with 7:23 remaining.

Mars Hill countered by garnering a 70-62 advantage with less than three minutes on the clock, but the Trojans rallied within 76-73 on a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner by Trey Britton with 1:02 left. AU misfired on two shots and committed a turnover in its next three possessions, while the Lions connected on 4-of-6 from the free throw line in the final moments to hold off the Trojans.
Anderson connected on just 5-of-28 (17.9 percent) from beyond the arc, but out-rebounded Mars Hill 47-31 on the night.

Shugart narrowly missed his third double-double of the season by pulling down a game-high nine rebounds, while Britton added 15 points. Brandon Young and Denzail Jones each netted 10 points.

The Lions will host Lincoln Memorial University on Wednesday at 8 p.m. MHC will provide a live steaming video and audio webcast of the event as well as live in-game statistics. The Coca-Cola pregame show will begin at 5:30 p.m.