Lions Defeat St. Andrews in Season-Opener

MARS HILL, N.C.- The Mars Hill men's basketball team used a big first half and hot shooting to spark a 105-83 victory over St. Andrews in the Lions' season-opener Tuesday night at Stanford Arena.

A 12-2 spurt to start the game and hot shooting paced the Lions to a 13-point halftime lead they wouldn't relinquish. Carter Wright led the Lions with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and added eight assists. Jalen Witherspoon contributed 21 points and nine boards for MHC. St. Andrews was paced by Kenton Chan-Man with 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting. Mars Hill opens the season 1-0, while St. Andrews fell to 0-3.

Khouraichi Thiam added double-double on 19 points and 10 rebounds. James Fields added 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting. The Lions shot 58.2 percent (39-of-67) from the field and connected on 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

DJ Carnegie added 15 points for the Knights. St. Andrews shot 43.7 percent and hit 7-of-20 (35 percent) from distance.

After St. Andrews scored the first two points, the Lions rattled off 12-straight to take control early. Thiam started the run with a pair of free throws. A Fields steal led to a transition lay-up for Wright, which was followed by a transition three by Witherspoon. A Thiam block led to another Wright bucket off a give-and-go with Will White. Another Fields steal led to an old-fashioned three-point play by Witherspoon to give the Lions a 12-2 lead with 16:12 to play in the half.

The Lions pushed the lead to as large as 16 when Daron Guyton found White for a lay-up to make the score 40-24 with 3:58 to play in the half. The Knights pulled back within 43-34 on a Chan-Man three, but a pair of Kiko Lopez free throws and a Witherspoon tip-in gave the Lions a 47-34 halftime advantage.

The Lions shot 51.5 percent in the first half (17-of-33), including 43.8 percent from long range (7-of-16). St. Andrews connected on 13-of-32 from the field in the first half (40.6 percent).

Mars Hill led by double-digits for most of the second half, but the Knights cut the score to single digits with 8:09 to play with a 7-0 run. Chan-Man converted a lay-up and old-fashioned three-point play, which was followed by a Chris Orr put-back to cut the score to 77-68.

A 12-4 Lion run stopped the Knights from any closer. Seven points from Thiam including a monster one-handed throw-down, a three by Wright and a tip-in by White highlighted the run. The Knights would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way.

Mars Hill will host Lander this Saturday, Nov. 17 at 4:00 p.m. in Stanford Arena.