Mars Hill downed in matinee action against Winthrop

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team suffered a 104-49 defeat in exhibition play against Winthrop Tuesday morning. Cody Hylton had a team-high 12 points off of four three-point conversions.

The Eagles opened the contest on a 9-0 run and never looked back in the first half. Charles Moore's three-point bucket would break the run momentarily before Winthrop answered back with 17 of the next 25 points.

Heading into halftime, the Lions trailed 52-24. The Eagles' Xavier Cooks had 18 points and four rebounds in 15 first half minutes. He would end the game leading all players with 22 points while pulling down eight rebounds.

Luke Van-Rijn scored six points in the first half to lead the Lions.

Winthrop continued pushing the pace, opening the second half on a 21-4 in the first six minutes. Austin Awad had seven points during the stretch. The Eagles would lead by as many as 60 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the contest. They led all but 15 seconds of the game.

The Eagles shot 51 percent (36-71) from the field and 45 percent (15-33) from three-point range. They also hit 17 of 20 free throw attempts.

Mars Hill converted on 21 percent of their shots (15-70) and 65 percent (11-17) of their free throws.

Josh Ferguson led the Eagles with nine rebounds and chipped in offensively with eight points. Awad ended the game with 11 points and was 3-5 from beyond the arc.

Hylton knocked down all of his baskets in 17 minutes of second half play. Matthew Powell pulled down a team-high five rebounds. Austin Gilyard had three assists.

The Eagles scored 52 points in each half to run away with the victory. The Lions remain at 1-3 on the season.

Mars Hill opens up South Atlantic Conference play Wednesday, November 29 on the road when they square off against Carson-Newman. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.