Hartfield scores 19 versus No. 10 Queens

MARS HILL, N.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team (6-9, 1-7 SAC) were downed by No. 10 Queens (17-2, 9-0 SAC) by a score of 98-69 Saturday evening inside Chambers Gymnasium.

The Royals jumped out of the game, scoring the first four points and stringing together a 15-1 run over the first five minutes of the first half.  Daniel Carr had 11 of the Royals' first 21 points, including three three-pointers.  

Trailing by 18, Mars Hill clawed their way back into the contest beginning at the 6:59 mark of the half.  A 7-0 run pulled the Lions within 11 with just over eight minutes played.  Less than two minutes later, Mars Hill found themselves down by six after a Justen Hartfield jump shot, forcing Queens to call a timeout.

Emerging from the 30 second timeout, the Royals scored six of the next eight points to reestablish their double-digit lead.  The lead jumped to as much as 16 with 1:46 left in the half.  The deficit for Mars Hill was cut to 14 as the buzzer sounded to end the first 20 minutes as the Royals led 49-35.

Blake Morrow led all players in the first half with 14 points, going 3-of4 from beyond the arc.  Carr added 13 points.  Mars Hill's Javonte Cook had 10 points in the first half, shooting 4-of-5 from the floor, followed by Hartfield's nine points.

The Lions were outscored 49-34 in the second half with the Royals converting on 53 percent of their shots and outrebounding Mars Hill 22-15.  With just over two minutes played in the half, a layup by Tavion Trimble narrowed the deficit to 13 points, the closest the Lions would come for the remainder of the game.

Shaun Willett led all players with 11 points in the half.  Both he and Carr scored 19 points on the night.  Willett also collected 10 rebounds for the double-double.

Hartfield scored 10 points in the second half, going 4-of-6 from the floor.  He, too, finished with 19 points on the night.  Cook finished with 14 while Trimble added 10 points.

The Lions conclude their three-game homestand with an 8 p.m. tilt against Coker inside Stanford Arena.