Lions Comeback Attempt Falls Just Short

MARS HILL, N.C.- Mars Hill's comeback attempt against Catawba fell just short as the Lions dropped an 88-87 decision to the Indians in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday night at Stanford Arena.

The Lions rallied back from down by as much as 16 to cut the score to a one-possession game in the closing minutes, but were unable to complete the comeback. James Fields led Mars Hill with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including 16 second-half points. Tyrece Little paced the Indians with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Mars Hill is now 3-21 overall and 0-15 in SAC play. Catawba is now 8-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play.

Khouraichi Thiam notched his 13th double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds for MHC. Kacey Holt provided a spark off the bench with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Will White added 11 points, five rebounds and five steals. Mars Hill shot 44 percent overall (32-of-72) and held a 21-9 advantage in points off the bench.

Vismantas Marijosius also notched a double-double with 18 points and 17 rebounds for Catawba. Elon Edwards added 16 points and eight assists, while Nick Houston also scored 16 points. The Indians shot 36-of-67 from the field (53.7 percent) and held a 50-32 advantage in the paint.

The first half featured fast-paced back-and-forth action, with each team going on big surges. After Mars Hill opened up a 16-13 lead on a Myles Tate jumper with 12:55 to play, Catawba used a 16-7 surge to open up a six-point lead. Two transition dunks and a put-back dunk by Little highlighted the run. A tip-in by Julian Sampah made the score 29-23 with 8:01 to play.

Mars Hill answered with an 11-5 surge of their own to tie the score at 34-apiece. Tate hit a pair of free throws and dished out assists on two transition buckets during that stretch. A jumper by Fields and a transition pass from Tate to Carter Wright tied the score with 4:59 to play in the half.

Catawba closed the half with a 13-4 run over the final 4:08. Edwards scored seven points during the run to help the Indians take a 47-38 lead at the break. Catawba hit 19-of-39 from the field in the first half (48.7 percent), while Mars Hill hit 41.2 percent from the floor (14-of-34). The Indians scored 17 second-chance points to the Lions three.

The Indians continues that surge into the second half, opening up their largest lead after a 12-5 spurt to start the second half. Little did most of the damage during the run with eight points. A bucket by Marijosius gave the Indians a 59-43 lead with 15:59 to play.

The Lions began to chip away at the lead, and closed the deficit to single digits for the first time of the half on an old-fashioned three-point play by Holt to make it 68-60 with 10:40 to play.

Houston and Holt traded threes before an Edwards bucket made it 73-63 Catawba with 9:25 to play. That's when a 7-0 run by Mars Hill put the Lions right back in the contest. Kevin Haynes found White for an easy bucket to start the run, before Fields hit one of his three treys and Haynes found Fields for a lay-in to cut the score to 73-70 with 7:55 remaining. Haynes' passing helped key Mars Hill's second half success, as the freshman dished out six of his seven assists after halftime.

A pair of threes by Houston helped the Indians push the lead back to nine, 81-72 with 5:58 left. The Lions would fight back and pull back within three after Haynes found Thiam for an easy bucket and White hit a jumper to cut the score to 86-83.

A lay-in by Watson with 58 seconds left made it a two-possession game, 88-83, before Fields hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to three. At the other end, the Lions were able to force a stop and Thiam connected on a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to cut the score to 88-87. MHC fouled Watson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with nine seconds left. Thiam had a look as time expired, but missed on a jumper off the back of the rim and the Indians went home with the victory.

Mars Hill will host Tusculum at 4:00 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 22 in South Atlantic Conference action at Stanford Arena.