Lions Fall to Lenoir-Rhyne
MARS HILL, N.C.- Lenoir-Rhyne rode balanced scoring and hot shooting to an 80-67 victory over Mars Hill Saturday evening in South Atlantic Conference action at Stanford Arena.
The Bears shot 57.1 percent from the field (32-of-56) and had five players score eight or more points. Mars Hill was paced by Jalen Witherspoon with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Denzel Dillingham placed Lenoir-Rhyne with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Mars Hill fell to 3-13 overall and 0-8 in SAC play. L-R is now 12-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
Khouraichi Thiam notched his ninth double-double of the seasons with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Will White notched 15 points and dished out three assists. Mars Hill shot 43.6 percent from the field (24-of-55).
Allan Jones came off the bench to score 16 points for L-R. B.J. Beasley and Rob Noyes added 10 points apiece. The Bears held a 42-18 advantage in the paint.
Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to an early lead, leading by as much as seven before a 10-2 Mars Hill run gave the Lions the lead. Jumpers by White and Thiam sandwiched around an L-R bucket cut the deficit to five, before back-to-back threes by Witherspoon and Fields gave the Lions a 25-24 lead with 6:54 to play.
The Bears answered right back with an 8-0 run to regain the lead. Dillingham scored on a lay-in and three before R.J. McClure knocked down a three to push the score to 32-25 with 4:24 to play in the half. Thiam found Witherspoon with a behind-the-back pass for a two-fisted slam in transition to cut the deficit back to five, but that was as close as MHC would get the rest of the half.
Four straight points from Jones to close the half pushed the Bears' halftime lead to 42-34. Lenoir-Rhyne shot 60 percent from the field (18-of-30) in the half, while Mars Hill connected on 14-of-29 of their attempts (48.3 percent). The Bears held a 22-8 advantage in the paint.
Lenoir-Rhyne's lead hovered around eight before a 12-4 run gave the Bears some breathing room. Jones scored six points in the run, which ended with the Bears holding a 58-43 lead with 7:22 to play.
The Lions cut the deficit to 11 after five straight points from Witherspoon. The freshman scored on a drive off the glass and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the score to 63-52 with 4:51 to play.
However, the Bears had answer with a Beasley jumper, Noyes dunk and a Noyes free throw to push the L-R lead back to 16. Mars Hill would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Mars Hill will host Newberry this Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 8:00
p.m.