Lions win first of season against Southern Wesleyan

MARS HILL, N.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team picked up their first victory of the 2017-18 season, downing Southern Wesleyan 83-80 inside Stanford Arena Tuesday evening. Brandon Watkins led the Lions with 15 points.

The Lions, after giving up the first basket of the game to Jalen Lowery, never trailed for the remainder of the first half. Nassyr Daniel's layup five second after the opening score allowed the Lions to build a 20-15 lead halfway through the first half. Back-to-back three-pointers from Luke Van-Rijn and Justen Hartfield propelled the Lions to a 36-26 lead late in the half, their largest of the contest.

Southern Wesleyan would take 10 of the next 11 points to close out the half only trailing by one point. Kylie Blacklett had five of the Warrior's ten during the run.

Just like the opening of the first half, Southern Wesleyan scored the first bucket to take a 38-37 lead, but it was short lived. Twenty-six seconds later, Daniel would give the Lions the lead again and they would not relinquish it.

Bennett Wilson paced the Lions offense, scoring all 13 of his points in the second half. He went 5-6 from the field, including 2-2 from beyond the arc. He also added three assists.

The Warriors would tie the game on three separate occasions in the second half. With 38 seconds remaining in the contest, Southern Wesleyan completed a six point run to knot the game at 79. Watkins would break the tie with a layup 21 seconds later. With eight ticks left, Javon Hunter would pull the Warriors within one. A late foul on Hunter resulted in Hartfield draining both of his free-throw attempts to seal the deal for the Lions.

Southern Wesleyan had five players record double-digits in points, highlighted by Justice McCollugh's double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Hunter led all players with seven assists and finished the contest with 17 points.

Watkins shot 7-9 from the field and added a team-high six rebounds. Charles Moore had 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals in a well-rounded performance.

Mars Hill converted on 55 percent of their shots compared to Southern Wesleyan's 50.8 percent, but were topped by the Warriors in three-point percentage, 43.8 to 42.1 percent.

The Lions improve to 1-2 on the season while Southern Wesleyan falls to 0-3. Mars Hill returns to action Saturday, November 18 with a 2 p.m. tip-off against North Greenville in Stanford Arena.