Men's Basketball Earns Win Over Anderson

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill men's basketball team captured an 81-74 victory over Anderson University on Wednesday night at Stanford Arena. The Lions improve to 8-9 overall and 4-7 within the conference while the Trojans fall to 5-13 and 3-9.

Patrick Monroe poured in a team-high 22 points as he connected on 4 of 8 from downtown. Justin Yeargin chipped in 13 while Michael Carson and Jalen Witherspoon tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. Tyree Griffin collected a game-high 10 boards for the Lions. Randall Shaw led Anderson with 26 points Marquez Fisher pulled down nine boards in the losing effort.

MHU was able to earn the win despite only shooting 35.7% from the field. The Lions punished the Trojans with a 22-7 advantage on points off turnovers and a 19-4 advantage from second-chance points.

A slow offensive start for both teams saw the Lions clinging to an 8-2 lead more than five minutes into the contest. Patrick Monroe started the scoring for MHU with a mid-range jump shot and Tyree Griffin added a layup and an emphatic one-handed dunk just prior to the first media timeout. The Lions were able to pad their lead to 20-12 with a three from Jalen Witherspoon at the halfway point of the first half.

Anderson used a 10-2 run over the next five-plus minutes to knot the contest at 22-all before a three-pointer from Valentine Bauer put the Lions back ahead 25-22. However, AU scored four consecutive points to take its first lead 26-25. That lead was short-lived as Justin Yeargin scored on the next Lions' possession and MHU went on an 8-0 run in a little over a minute to go ahead plus seven on the scoreboard, 33-26. The Trojans ended the half on a 10-2 run to take a 36-35 lead at the break.

The Lions came out of the locker room on fire from downtown to start the second half as Witherspoon nailed one and Monroe drilled two in a row to go with his floater in the lane and Mars Hill took a 48-39 advantage into the first media timeout of the half. A back-and-forth affair would ensue as each team traded baskets over the next four minutes.

Anderson tried to claw its way back, cutting the deficit to 62-56, but an unconventional four-point play from Michael Carson at the 6:56 mark gave the Blue and Gold a double-digit lead at 66-56. At the 4:35 mark, the Trojans' Randall Shaw connected on a four-point play of his own and cut the Mars Hill lead to 69-64 heading into the final media timeout. The Lions were able to connect on their shots from the charity stripe down the stretch to secure the hard-fought 81-74 victory.

Mars Hill will now travel to Salisbury, N.C. on Saturday, January 30 to face conference foe Catawba. Tipoff is scheduled for 4p.m. in the Abernethy P.E. Center.