Athletes in Action defeats MBB in exhibition

MARS HILL, N.C. - Athletes in Action, a team comprised of former Division I men's basketball players, defeated Mars Hill, 113-91, in an exhibition game Monday inside Stanford Arena.

Cory Cooperwood led the visitors with 23 points as seven Athletes in Action players scored in double figures. Jordan Wild added 14. Adhar Mayen scored 12, while Caleb Forrest, David Nurse and Dean Hadley had 11 apiece. Junior Salters had 10. Ben Beran came up with 12 rebounds.

Mars Hill's Sammy Emile scored a game-high 29 points, including five made three-pointers and 10 made free throws. Terrell Harris followed up with 26 on 10-15 shooting. Cody King had 13. Dallas Johnson and JaShawn Anderson had six points apiece.

Athletes in Action shot 57.1% (44-77) from the field in the game and made 13 three-points. Mars Hill hit 35.1% (26-74) in the game and made 11 shots from behind the arc. The Lions made 28 free throws in the contest compared to only 12 for the visitors.

With the game tied at 16, Athletes in Action went on a 14-4 run. Back-to-back three-pointers by Nurse and Cooperwood made the score 30-20 with 12:50 left in the first half. Mars Hill answered with an 11-0 run in the span of 3:57 to take one point lead at 8:37 mark. The spurt was finished off by an Emile trey and two made free throws by Noble Cunningham. However, the visitors outscored the Lions 26-15 down the stretch to take a 56-46 lead into halftime.

Mars Hill cut the deficit to nine points, 58-49, 50 seconds into the second period off a shot from behind the arc by Harris, but the Lions would get no closer. Athletes in Action led by double digits for the remainder of the game.

Mars Hill opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11, against Montevallo in the North Georgia Classic. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. in Dahlonega, Ga.