Lions felled by Catawba on road

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Mars Hill men's basketball team dropped their ninth straight contest with an 83-68 loss to Catawba Saturday evening. Bennett Wilson led all Lions' players with 17 points.

Wilson scored the first basket of the contest 49 seconds in to give the Lions their only lead of the affair. The Indians' Jordan Barber drained a 3-pointer just over a minute later to establish a 3-2 lead and start an 8-0 run. Trailing 10-4 with 14:17 remaining in the half, Austin Gilyard converted a layup and was fouled on the play. Hitting the free throw, the Lions were able to narrow the lead to three points. Over a minute later, Wilson would knock down a jumper to pull within two, but Catawba answered by taking the next nine points, extending their lead to 20-9 with under ten minutes remaining in the half.

Mars Hill was able to counter with a 7-0 run themselves, led by Justen Hartfield's six points to draw within four. Jerrin Morrison's layup would stop the run momentarily before a 3-pointer from Luke Van-Rijn pulled the Lions within three points. Morrison answered back 30 seconds later to rebuild the five point lead. With 3:31 remaining in the half, Catawba would begin a 10-7 run to head into the half with a 34-26 advantage.

Hartfield and Gilyard each posted six points in the first 20 minutes followed by Van-Rijn who added five points and pulled down three rebounds. Morrison led the Indians with seven points and three steals in the half. Carter Phillips chipped in with six points.

Catawba opened the second half on a 9-4 run to lead by 13 just over three minutes into the second frame. Van-Rijn and Vernon Jackson scored the next five points for the Lions to pull back within eight, but the Indians responded with eight unanswered points to create a 16-point lead.

The large lead would grow to 19 with 5:49 remaining in the game. Two made 3-pointers from Wilson and Cody Hylton spurred a 9-2 stretch to close the lead to 12, but that would be the closest the Lions would come in the final five minutes. Leading 70-58 with just over three minutes remaining, the Indians ended the game on a 13-10 run to take the contest 83-68 for their fifth win of the season.

Wilson led all players in the second half with 13 points, shooting 4-of-8 from the field, including two 3-pointers on three attempts. Morrison continued his strong play, posting another 10 points in the final 20 minutes. He finished the game with 17 points and five steals.

Gilyard had 14 points to follow Wilson and Nassyr Daniel collected a game-high nine rebounds.

The Lions fall to 2-15 (0-10 SAC) while Catawba improves to 5-9 (2-7 SAC).

Mars Hill is back in action on Wednesday, January 17 with a matchup against Southern Wesleyan. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.