Men's Basketball Loses Exhibition at Western Carolina
The Lions’ men’s basketball team lost an exhibition game at NCAA DI foe Western Carolina University 82-62 Wednesday afternoon at the Ramsey Center.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Lions' men's basketball team lost an exhibition game at NCAA DI foe Western Carolina University 82-62 Wednesday afternoon at the Ramsey Center. The Catamounts improved to 5-8 overall. The loss does not count against Mars Hill.
Michael Carson and Patrick Monroe led Mars Hill scoring 17 and 15 points in the contest, respectively. Justin Yeargin followed with nine points and five rebounds. The Lions hit 33.3% of their field goals (21-63) and the same percentage from behind the arc (8-24). The Lions connected on 80% (12-15) of their shots at the free throw line.
Mike Brown scored a game high 22 points to pace the Catamounts. He also pulled down seven rebounds. Rhett Harrelson and Elijah Pughsley added 13 points apiece for WCU. The Catamounts out rebounded MHU, 54-35, scored 34 points in the paint and scored 22 second chance points.
After over four minutes of scoreless play, Justin Browning hit two shots at the foul line to give WCU a 2-0 advantage with 15:49 left in the first half and the Catamounts would not trail for the remainder of the contest. WCU built a 17-point lead (35-18) with 4:28 left in the first period after Brown hit a 3-pointer. Mars Hill ended the first half on a 10-0 run to send the teams into the locker room at halftime with WCU leading by seven (35-28).
Monroe began the second half with a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to just four points (35-31) at the 19:08 mark but that was as close as the Lions would get. The Catamounts answered outscoring MHU 10-1 over the next three minutes to lead by 13 points (45-32) with 16:34 left in the second frame after Brown converted an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Catamounts led by as many as 24 points (75-51) with 3:33 left in regulation after Marc Gosselin hit a pair of free throws.
Mars Hill will begin the 2016 portion of their season on Saturday, January 2, when they play at SAC rival Carson-Newman. Game time is set for a 4 p.m. start in Holt Fieldhouse.
