Cooke, Stone score 12 on road versus Wingate

WINGATE, N.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team (9-14, 3-12 SAC) fell to Wingate (15-10, 12-6 SAC) by a score of 98-69 on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Lions fell behind 16-3 in the opening 4:40 of play, hitting four of their first five three-point attempts.  Wingate extended their lead to 17 following a Francis Sio three-pointer with 12:47 remaining in the first half.  They built their lead to 22-points as the Lions found themselves down 33-11 with over nine minutes played.  A string of three straight three-pointers by the Bulldogs bumped their lead to 30 points.  They would enter the half with a 63-28 lead, capping off a dominating first half.  

Emarius Logan scored 19 points in the half, hitting all five three-point attempts.  Marco Haskins added 17, going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.  The Bulldogs shot 66.7 percent from three-point range.  Javonte Cooke led the Lions with eight points.  Mars Hill shot 34 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

Mars Hill responded in the second half with a more complete effort, outscoring Wingate 41-35 while shooting 40 percent from the floor.  With just under four minutes played in the half, Mars Hill found themselves down by 40, but would go on a 14-3 run to pull within 29 with under 12 minutes remaining in the contest.  Cooke had four points in the run.

A Wingate 7-0 run with less than 10 minutes to play expanded their lead back to 35 points.  In the final two minutes of play, Mars Hill scored four straight points to close the deficit to 29 points before the final buzzer.

Austin Stone led all players in the second half with 12 points.  Matthew Powell added eight points.  Quantra Taylor had eight points for the Bulldogs in the half.

Logan and Haskins scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, to lead all players offensively.  Frankie Johnson collected a triple-double with 14 rebounds, 11 points and 11 assists.  Cooke and Stone each had 12 points for Mars Hill, followed by Ja'Shawn Brooks' 11 points.

The Lions return to action on Wednesday, February 20th when they take on Lincoln Memorial on the road.  Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.