Catawba defeats Men’s Basketball

MARS HILL, N.C. - Tarron Stewart posted career-highs with 32 points and nine rebounds, but Catawba defeated Mars Hill, 88-79, inside Stanford Arena. Catawba improves to 11-14 overall, 7-10 in the South Atlantic Conference, while the Lions fall to 9-16 overall, 6-11 in league play.

Dominick Reid led Catawba with 32 points. Kelvin Drakeford added 14, and Stuart Thomson and Keon Moore had 12 and 10, respectively.

Austin Patton and Dion Malachi each had 12 points for Mars Hill. Sammy Emile chipped in 10.

The Lions jumped out to a 31-23 lead in the first half off a trey by Dallas Johnson at the 6:53 mark. Catawba closed the half on a 13-4 run and was up 36-35 at halftime.

The visitors established a double-digit upper hand eight minutes into the second half. A shot from behind the arc by Reid made the score 53-42.

Mars Hill went cold and did not score for a span of 5:32 until a bucket by Malachi cut the deficit to nine points, 53-44.

The Lions trimmed the margin to as little as three points, 82-79, with 22 seconds left in the game off a three-pointer by Cody King but would get no closer. Catawba hit four free throws in the final 19 seconds to ice the game.

Mars Hill will host Tusculum to close the regular season on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET.