Men's Basketball Falls at Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, N.C. – Mars Hill lost at Lenoir-Rhyne 106-87 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening in Shuford Gymnasium. The Lions end the 2015-16 campaign with a 9-19 overall record and a 5-17 mark in the league. The Bears improved to 19-8 overall, 14-8 in the SAC.

Patrick Monroe and Brandon McCarter led Mars Hill with 12 points apiece. Surmon Neal followed with 11 markers.

Keenan Palmore led the Bears with a double-double recording 24 points and 11 rebounds. Will Perry and Lawrence Miller followed scoring 16 points each. The Bears out rebounded the Lions, 41-27.

Rob Noyes hit a layup 23 seconds into the game and the Bears would lead wire-to-wire. L-R extended their lead to 10 points (16-6) with 15:55 left in the first half after Noyes scored inside. A jumper by Yeargin trimmed the Lions deficit to seven points (18-11) with 14:35 on the clock but the Bears answered by going on a 16-3 run to lead by 20 points (34-14) with 11:06 left in the first frame after Billy Bales knocked down a 3-pointer. The Lions fought back out scoring the Bears 23-12 over the next eight minutes to trim the Bears lead to nine points (46-37) with 2:50 left before intermission after McCarter hit a shot from behind the arc. L-R closed out the first half of play on a 9-4 run to take a 55-41 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Lions began the second half scoring six unanswered points to get within eight points (55-47) of the Bears with 18:13 left in the second period after Kevin Haynes hit a layup. Unfortunately, the Bears went on a 20-9 run to lead by 19 points (75-56) with 14:19 on the clock after Perry scored in the paint. The Bears went on to lead by as many as 26 points (97-71) with 6:27 left in regulation when Reed Lucas hit a 3-pointer.