Men's Basketball Falls To Carson-Newman

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill men's basketball team dropped a South Atlantic Conference matchup at the hands of Carson-Newman on Wednesday, February 03 at Stanford Arena. The Eagles were able to use a late 12-2 run in the second half to coast to a 104-88 victory. MHU falls to 9-11 overall and 5-9 in conference while C-N improves to 12-9 and 8-7 within league play.

Tyree Griffin led the way for the Lions as he poured in a team-high 23 points on 11-13 from the field and nine rebounds. Patrick Monroe chipped in 22, including six triples. Kevin Haynes added a season-high 17, going 5-8 from distance. Justin Yeargin and Jalen Witherspoon also scored in double-digits, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Lions came out of the gates hot, reeling off eight-straight points after an opening bucket by the Eagles. Witherspoon got the run started with a three from the right corner, followed by a beautiful assist from Yeargin to Tyree Griffin and another shot from distance by Kevin Haynes, staking the home team to an 8-2 lead. Just after a brief hiatus due to a clock malfunction, C-N went on a 12-3 run over the next few minutes to take a 14-11 advantage with just under 14 to play in the opening half. Monroe connected on consecutive threes to push the Lions back ahead 17-14.

The Blue and Gold were able to jump out to its biggest lead of 27-20, after two more bombs from Monroe and excellent ball movement to obtain easy baskets by Haynes. However, a 12-3 scoring run from the Eagles saw the Lions trailing on the scoreboard 32-30 with just over six to play in the first. Carson-Newman built its biggest lead at 44-40 with a layup from Charles Clark, a lead that would be taken into the halftime intermission.

The Eagles collected the first four points of the second half to extend their lead to 48-40 a mere 40 seconds into the final frame. A thunderous dunk and a pair of corner threes from Haynes allowed the Blue and Gold to inch closer with the score 58-54 at the under-16 media timeout. The momentum stayed in the favor of the Lions coming out of the timeout, taking their first lead since the 6:40 mark of the first half, 66-63, after an old-fashioned three point play from Witherspoon.

That lead quickly faded when the Eagles turned the tables with a 10-5 run to race to a 73-71 lead. Griffin continued his outstanding play with an incredible one-handed jam over a defender followed by a massive block on the defensive end to help keep the game under control for the Lions, trailing only 75-73 with 6:12 remaining in regulation. However, an 11-2 run by C-N catapulted the Eagles to its biggest lead of the game, 86-75, forcing a timeout from the Blue and Gold.

From that point it was a matter of clock management and the Eagles did just that as they ran the clock out on the way to a 104-88 win.

Mars Hill will return to action on Saturday, February 6 when they travel to face conference foe Newberry. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.