Men's Basketball Loses to Presbyterian in Overtime

CLINTON, S.C. – The Lions men's basketball team lost an exhibition game to NCAA Division I Presbyterian College 90-84 in overtime Monday night in the Templeton Center.

Patrick Monroe led Mars Hill with 21 points and five rebounds. He was 7-16 from the floor and was 5-10 from 3-point range. Michael Carson and Justin Yeargin followed with 17 points apiece. They also tallied five rebounds each. Mars Hill scored 11 points off turnovers. The Lions hit 35% (28-80) of their field goals and 82.6% (19-23) of their foul shots. Presbyterian won the battle of the boards, 62-50.

John Majors led the Blue Hose with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Ruben arroyo followed with 17 points. Presbyterian hit 35.1% (26-74) of their shots from the field. They received 48 points from their bench and scored 17 second chance points.

The first half was closely played. After leading by just a point (6-5) with 15:25 left in the first half, the Blue Hose went on a 10-2 run to take their largest lead of the first period of nine points (16-7) after Ruben Arroyo converted a 3-point play with 10:42 on the clock. The Lions then went on a 20-4 run to take their biggest lead of the contest of seven points (27-20) when Patrick Monroe hit a 3-pointer with 6:02 left in the first half. Presbyterian outscored MHU, 16-6 over the next six minutes to take a 36-33 lead into the locker room at the break.

Presbyterian led basically the entire second half. The Blue extended their advantage to as many as 11 points with 9:07 left in regulation after John Majors hit a pair of free throws. The Lions battled back and cut the deficit to just a single point after Jalen Witherspoon hit two foul shots. Reggie Dillard answered for the Blue Hose hitting two free throws of his own to put Presbyterian ahead 71-68 with 18 ticks left. Justin Yeargin hit a shot from behind the arc as the buzzer sounded to knot the game at 71-all and send the contest into overtime.

Arroyo hit a 3-pointer 20 seconds into the extra period and the Blue Hose would never trail again. A 3-pointer by Monroe at the 2:45 mark tied the game at 79-79 but the Lions could not gain the lead as Presbyterian ended the contest on an 11-5 run to make the final tally 90-84 in favor of the hosts.

Mars Hill will play at Belmont Abbey on November 13. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.