Men's Basketball Loses at Catawba

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Lions' men's basketball team lost on the road at Catawba College, 94-69 Saturday afternoon in Goodman Gym. The Catawba Indians improved to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the SAC, while the Lions fell to 0-4 on the season and 0-2 in the conference.

Jalen Witherspoon tallied a dozen points to lead Mars Hill. Carter Wright came off the bench to score 11 points. Thomas Anderson scored nine points with six rebounds for Mars Hill.  Isaiah Cuthbertson tallied six points with nine boards.

Eleven different Indians took part in the scoring with five reaching double figures.  Chance Rucker and Kijuan Arrington each had 15 points for Catawba, while Tyrece Little and Reggie Perkins added 14 each.  Vismantas Marijosius chipped in with 10 points.

The teams played fairly even early on with Catawba leading 23-18 after eight minutes when Perkins sank his third three-pointer of the night.  From there, the Indians slowly pulled away.  A Rucker follow shot made it 31-21 and a layup by Marijosius put Catawba up by 15.  Rucker's layup sent the Indians ahead 49-28 in the final minutes of the half.

Catawba shot a blistering 67% (20-of-30) in the first half to lead 51-31.  Mars Hill managed to connect on just 11-of-42 shots (26%). 

Mars Hill never cut the margin to under 20 points in the second half.  The Indians held its largest lead at 94-65 with just over two minutes left.

The Indians finished the game shooting 52% to just 30% for Mars Hill.  The Lions did hold a 55-47 edge on the glass, but had 21 turnovers to 13 for Catawba.

Julian Sampah, who blocked four shots, and Jalen Byrd nearly reached double figures for Catawba.  Sampah scored nine points and Byrd eight.  Arrington and Little each pulled down seven rebounds and Elon Edwards handed out five assists.

The Lions will host SAC rival Carson-Newman University on Tuesday, November 26. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.