Mars Hill falls to Lincoln Memorial on road

HARROGATE, Tenn. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team (9-15, 3-12 SAC) fell to Lincoln Memorial (18-6, 13-4 SAC) on the road Wednesday evening night a score of 104-82.

Mars Hill took a 10-9 lead from a Matthew Powell jump shot with 3:44 played in the first, but a 7-0 run by the Railsplitters gave Lincoln Memorial a 17-10 advantage with 14:47 to play in the first half.

Less than three minutes later, the lead was pushed to double-digits as Courvoisier McCauley hit both free throw attempts to give Lincoln Memorial the 27-16 lead with 11:50 left to play in the opening frame.

The Lions narrowed the deficit to 10 points on three different occasions in the final five minutes of the half, but the Railsplitters were able to build their lead to 14 before the buzzer sounded.

McCauley led all players with 13 points in the half while Powell led Mars Hill with 10.

Mars Hill once again pulled within 10 following a Ja'Shawn Brooks three-pointer with 3:29 elapsed in the second half.  Lincoln Memorial followed up with a 7-2 run to go up by 14 with less than 14 minutes to play.

With Mars Hill trailing by 12, a Railsplitters 12-0 run built their lead to 23 with under 10 to play.  With under three minutes to play, Lincoln Memorial eclipsed the 100-point mark as Bryan Hart hit both free throws, putting Mars Hill up by 26 points.

Reggie Wright scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, going 4-of-7 from the floor.  Brooks added nine points in the final 20 minutes.  Cameron Henry led the balanced Lincoln Memorial second half scoring with nine points.

McCauley led all players with 19 points, followed by Henry's 17.  Both Rhondi Hackett and Julius Brown added 13 points.  Brooks led the Lions with 17 points while Wright ended the contest with 15.  

Mars Hill returns home to take on Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday, February 23rd inside Stanford Arena.  Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.