Strong Second Half Lifts Lions Over Lenoir-Rhyne

MARS HILL, N.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team used a second half run to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne 66-56 in South Atlantic Conference action in Stanford Arena on Saturday. Mars Hill improves to 8-10 overall and 3-9 in league play while Lenoir-Rhyne falls to 7-9 and 5-7. The victory snaps a seven game losing streak for the Lions.

Mars Hill was led by Patrick Monroe with 19 points. Monroe went 5-for-10 behind the 3-point line. Thomas Anderson, Isaiah Cuthbertson and Brandon McCarter each scored nine points, with Michael Carson contributing eight points. Cuthbertson led the Lions with a game-high 11 rebounds. Anderson, Carson and Valentine Bauer each had three assists.

Reed Lucas and Rob Noyes each scored 11 points to lead the Bears. Justice Morgan scored 10 points.

Leading 35-31 with 11:14 to play in the game, Mars Hill made four consecutive 3-point attempts while forcing three Bear turnovers to pull ahead 47-31 with 9:44 to play. Carson began the 3-point parade at the 10:53 mark followed by a trio of Monroe triples. The Lions led by as many as 17 points (56-39) thanks to a Kevin Haynes layup with 6:42 to play. Lenoir-Rhyne went on a 11-2 run to pull within eight points (58-50) with 3:23 to play. The Lions answered with an old-fashioned three-point play by Anderson followed by a Monroe 3-pointer to push the lead back to 14 as Lenoir-Rhyne got no closer than 10 points.

Lenoir-Rhyne pulled out to an 11-3 lead to begin the game as the Lions went over eight minutes before their first field goal. Mars Hill trailed by nine (17-8) with 6:27 to play in the half before an 11-2 run tied the score at 19 following a Brandon McCarter jumper with 43 seconds in the half. The teams traded 3-pointers with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half to go into the break deadlocked at 22.

Lenoir-Rhyne outshot Mars Hill 46.9 percent to 45 percent. The Lions outrebounded the Bears 36-26 and scored 14 second chance points. The Mars Hill bench contributed 32 points.

Mars Hill travels to Tusculum on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.