Men's Basketball Loses to Coker
The Lions’ lost to visiting Coker 76-69 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' lost to visiting Coker 76-69 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena. Mars Hill fell to 9-13 overall and 4-12 in the league. The Cobras improved to 9-11 on the season and an even 8-8 in conference play.
Isaiah Cuthbertson led the Lions with a double-double scoring 20 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Today's performance was Cuthbertson's season high in points scored. Michael Carson followed with 22 points. The Lions scored 38 points in the paint and received 14 points from their bench.
Errick Bethel led all scorers with 29 points. He was 13-14 from the foul line. Donte Samuels added 17 points and eight boards. Trey Marshall was the only other player in double digits with 11 points. Coker won despite hitting only 34.5% (20-58) of their field goals. However, they were 32-42 (76.2%) from the charity stripe.
Jalen Witherspoon hit a shot in the lane with 18:42 on the clock in the first half and the Lions would lead the entire first half. A layup by Brandon McCarter gave MHU an eight-point (14-6) lead with 10:05 left in the first period. Coker then went on a 13-3 run to trim the deficit to just two points (19-17) with 6:20 left in the first half after Alex Cohen scored inside. The Lions answered outscoring the Cobras 15-5 to take their largest lead of the game, 12 points (34-22) after Justin Yeargin hit a layup with 2:39 left in the first frame. Coker closed out the first half outscoring the Lions 8-4 to send the teams into the locker room with MHU enjoying a 38-30 advantage.
Coker went on a 21-12 run to start the second half of play and take their first lead of the game (51-50) at the 11:15 mark when Bethel sank a pair of free throws. The Cobras would never trail again. They outscored the Lions 15-4 over the next eight minutes of play to enjoy their largest lead of 12 points (66-54) after Samuels hit a layup with 3:20 left in regulation. A jumper by Cuthbertson brought the Lions within five points (72-67) with 45 seconds remaining but that was as close as MHU would get.
Mars Hill will host Anderson on Wednesday, February 11. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.