Men’s Basketball falls to Carson-Newman
Malachi scores game-high 24 points
MARS HILL, N.C. - Mars Hill's Dion Malachi tallied a double-double with a game-high 24 points and season-high 13 rebounds, but Carson-Newman left Stanford Arena with a 73-71 victory. The Eagles improve to 7-8 overall, 4-3 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Lions fall to 5-10 overall, 2-5 in the league.
Sammy Emile added 16 points for Mars Hill. Tarron Stewart had nine points.
John Holleman and Antonio Sullivan each had 16 points to lead Carson-Newman. Kevin Leatherwood and Ishmael Sanders scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Lions opened the game on a 9-0 run with five of those points coming from Malachi. The Eagles grabbed their first lead, 18-17, at the 6:03 mark of the first half off a three-pointer by Sullivan.
Mars Hill scored the final bucket of the first period off a fastbreak dunk by Malachi with 1:07 left, but Carson-Newman led 33-30 at halftime. Malachi had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, while Sullivan registered 13 points for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman owned the first 10 minutes of the second half and led by as much as 16 points. A shot from behind the arc by Leatherwood made the score 56-40.
The Lions responded with a 20-5 spurt. The stretch was highlighted by six straight points from Emile and seven straight by Malachi. A layup from Stewart with 5:55 left in the game cut the deficit to one point, 61-60.
Mars Hill tied the game four times in the final 4:07, but Bradley Turner hit the game-winner for Carson-Newman from the top of the key with two seconds left on the clock.
The Eagles hit 10-21 from three-point range, while the Lions were only 1-18. Mars Hill outrebounded Carson-Newman 43-36, including 22-11 on the offensive boards.
The Lions were 22-30 from the free throw line. The Eagles were 5-13 from the charity stripe.
Mars Hill will travel to Tusculum on Saturday, January 22. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.