Cooke drops 28 in offensive shootout with Bears

HICKORY, N.C. - The Mars Hill men's basketball team (12-15, 10-11 SAC) fell to Lenoir-Rhyne (14-12, 10-11 SAC) by a score of 107-98 on the road Wednesday night.

Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to an early 13-4 lead, capitalizing on wide open three-point attempts from RJ Gunn and Cooper Fowler.  The teams continued trading points at a torrid pace with the Bears leading by 10, 29-19, with under 10 minutes left in the first half after a Zim Fields' layup.

Mars Hill responded with a 10-0 run to tie the game, led by Javonte Cooke's seven points in the stretch with 7:19 remaining in the frame.  Less than 20 seconds later, Davion Bradford's three-pointer reestablished the Bears' lead and was the catalyst for a 7-0 run.  A Nassyr Daniel layup at the buzzer kept the Lenoir-Rhyne lead at seven after the first 20 minutes of play.

Cooke led all players with 19 points in the half while both Daniel and Jamal Bryant collected seven points and five rebounds apiece.  Darius Simmons led the Bears with 12 points followed by Fowler's nine, hitting all three three-point attempts.

The teams combined for 110 points in the second half as the Bears outscored Mars Hill 56-54. The Bears, led by Simmons' 19, shot over 51 percent from the floor, hitting 5-of-10 three-pointers.  Ja'Shawn Brooks led all players, recording 20 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes of play.

Midway through the stanza, the Lions clawed their way back into a 67-67 tied following a Bryant layup, splitting the defense and drawing a foul.  Gunn picked up the rebound and handed the ball off to Simmons who drained one of his four second half threes to put the Bears up 70-67 with just over nine minutes left to play.  Being fouled on the shot, Simmons drained the free throw to extend the lead to four.

Fields went on to score five straight points with just over six minutes remaining, sparking the Bears' offense to reestablish a double-digit lead.  Mars Hill battled once again, pulling the contest within five with 2:39 left to play, but back-to-back stepback threes from Simmons pulled the Bears ahead by 11 with 1:37 to play.

Simmons led all players with 31 points, hitting five threes on the night.  Fields added 23 off the bench while Gunn ended the contest with 20.

Cooke paced the Lions' offense with 28 points followed by Brooks' 22.  Bryant ended the game with 17 while Daniel collected 13 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double while blocking three shots.

The Lions close out the regular season with a 4 p.m. tipoff against Queens on Saturday, inside Chambers Gymnasium.