Men's Basketball Loses at Newberry
Mars Hill’s men’s basketball team lost on the road at Newberry, 117-93 Saturday evening in Eleazer Arena
NEWBERRY, S.C. – Mars Hill's men's basketball team lost on the road at Newberry, 117-93 Saturday evening in Eleazer Arena. The Lions fell to 9-12 overall and 5-10 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Wolves improved to 14-8 on the season, 9-7 in the SAC.
Brandon McCarter came off the bench to score 21 points to lead the Lions. Valentine Bauer added 14 off the bench while Justin Yeargin scored 13 and pulled down a team high seven rebounds. Jalen Witherspoon rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Lions with 12 points. Mars Hill hit 41% (32-78) from the floor, 38.9% (14-36) from 3-point range and 60% (15-25) from the foul line.
Gerald Evans led the Wolves with a game high 30 points. He added six rebounds. James Stepp followed with 17 points and six boards while Ronell Crockett and Brandon Taylor notched 13 points apiece. Newberry connected on 52.8% (38-72) of their field goal attempts, 51.9% (14-27) of their attempts from behind the arc and 75% (27-36) of their shots at the charity stripe. The Wolves out rebounded the Lions 50-34 and scored 52 points in the paint.
Mars Hill maintained a single digit lead for the first 12 minutes of play until a pair of free throws by Taylor gave the Wolves a 30-28 lead with 8:05 left in the first half. A 3-pointer by Bauer gave the Lions a one-point lead (41-40) with 5:09 on the clock but Newberry closed out the first half on a 19-15 run to go into the locker room at halftime with a three point lead (59-56).
The Wolves began the second half on a 16-8 run to lead by 11 points (75-64) after Crockett hit a layup. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Michael Carson trimmed the Lions' deficit to nine points (82-73) with 8:33 left in regulation but that was as close as Mars Hill would get. Newberry extended their lead to as many as 26 points (109-83) with 1:56 left in regulation.
The Lions travel to Wingate on Monday, February 8, for a SAC make-up game that was originally scheduled for January 23 but was postponed due to snow. Tip-off in Cuddy Arena is set for 8 p.m.