Men's Basketball Wins at Tusculum

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Mars Hill had an impressive 110-98 victory on the road at SAC foe Tusculum Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena. The Lions improved to 7-8 overall and 3-6 in the South Atlantic Conference. Tusculum fell to an even 7-7 on the season, 3-6 in the league.

Patrick Monroe and Justin Yeargin led the way for the Lions scoring 29 points apiece. Monroe connected on 8-10 attempts from 3-point range to set a new season high for the Lions. The point total for Monroe and Yeargin was also a season high in points scored in a single game. Jalen Witherspoon added 13 points while Tyree Griffin followed with 10 points and six rebounds. As a team, MHU set a season high in 3-pointers made (15), 3-point field goal percentage (.556) and free throw percentage (.792).

Darius Carter led Tusculum with 30 points followed by Chase Mounce with 17 points and six boards. The Pioneers hit 50% (37-74) of their shots from the field and 75% (18-24) of their foul shot attempts. Tusculum won the battle of the boards, 43-30.

The Pioneers started the contest on a 13-5 run to lead by eight points with 15:35 left in the first period after Cory Fagan hit a 3-pointer. Mars Hill then went on a 15-8 run to cut Tusculum's lead to just a single point (21-20) with 11:13 left in the half after Brandon McCarter nailed a shot from behind the arc. The Pioneers answered by outscoring the Lions 12-4 over the next two minutes to take a nine point advantage (33-24) after Darius Carter hit a layup. Then Monroe hit three consecutive 3-pointers to knot the contest at 33-all with 7:47 left in the first half. Once again the Pioneers answered outscoring MHU 15-5 during the next four minutes of play to lead by 10 points (48-38) after Javon Price hit a shot in the paint. In the final three minutes of play in the first half, Mars Hill went on a 12-2 run to tie the contest at 50-50 capped off by a Yeargin 3-pointer with five ticks left on the clock.

A layup by Griffin with 19:35 left in the second period gave MHU a 52-50 lead they would not relinquish. The first 11 minutes of the second frame was closely played with neither team holding more than a seven-point advantage. After the Pioneers cut the Lions' lead to just three points (79-76) with 8:55 left in the game, MHU went on a 13-3 run to seal the win over the next three minutes to lead by 13 points (92-79) after Monroe knocked down another 3-pointer. After that point, Mars Hill would maintain a double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest. The Lions' largest lead of the game was 14 points at the 4:44 mark after Yeargin hit a shot inside. Mars Hill would keep a comfortable lead the rest of the way to the 12-point (110-98) road victory.

Mars Hill will host SAC rival Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday, January 16. Tip-off in Stanford Arena is set for 4 p.m.