Mars Hill Wins at Pfeiffer
Thiam records his fifth double-double in nine games
MISENHEIMER, N.C. - Mars Hill's men's basketball team defeated Pfeiffer University, 76-67 on the road Wednesday night to kick off the 2013 portion of their schedule. The Lions improved to 3-6 on the season while the Falcons dropped to 2-7 on the year. Khouraichi Thiam records his fifth double-double in nine games.
Mars Hill would hold the lead for a majority of the night and fight off Pfeiffer comeback attempts en route to the nine-point win. A 9-0 run sparked the Lions early in the first half as Khouraichi Thiam dropped in two of his 18 points on the night to start the run and then a layup by Miles Tate put Mars Hill up 20-10 with 10:46 remaining in the half.
Pfeiffer would battle back into a two-point contest with 1:52 to play as a Kenny Tappin layup and a Josh Humphrey basket helped keep the Falcons within two before the half's final bucket went to the Lions' Jalen Witherspoon that put the visitors up 33-29 at the break.
A pair of Witherspoon free throws would give the Lions their largest lead of the night at 12 with 15:53 on second half the clock until Pfeiffer again came roaring back to slice the deficit down to five on a Matt Ellwood long distance three just 61 seconds later. A minute-and-a-half later, Mars Hill would find themselves back up a dozen thanks to a pair of Will White layups and a triple by Kiko Lopez.
Trading baskets midway through the second half, Pfeiffer would again creep to within five on another Ellwood three with 5:09 remaining for a 60-55 contest. An old-fashioned three-point play by Thiam and layup again by White helped the Lions hold on over the final minutes for the 76-67 win.
Besides making half of their total shots from the floor, Wednesday night's difference came from the turnover department as Mars Hill converted 16 Pfeiffer mistakes into 22 offensive points. Thiam added a monstrous 16 rebounds to go along with his team-high 18 points on the night. Humphrey would lead the Falcons with 27 on the night followed by Ellwood's 17. Pfeiffer would shoot 40% from the field and 41% from long range in the loss.
Mars Hill will play at Newberry College on Saturday, January 5. Tipoff is set for a 4 p.m. start