Men's Basketball Loses to Lenoir-Rhyne
The Lions fell to Lenoir-Rhyne 86-77 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions fell to Lenoir-Rhyne 86-77 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena. Mars Hill fell to 7-20 overall and 5-17 in the SAC. The Bears improved to 16-10 on the season and 15-7 in the league. Prior to the game, MHU recognized their lone senior on the team, Will White.
Carter Wright led MHU with 17 points and seven rebounds. Devonte Williams followed with 15 points and eight assists. Kevin Haynes and Isaiah Cuthbertson added 12 and 11 points in the loss, respectively. The Lions struggled at the free throw line connecting on only 54.2% (13-24) of their attempts.
L-R was led by R.J. McClure who score a game high 24 points hitting 11-13 free throw attempts. He scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half. Will Perry added 17 points while Jarvis Perry recorded eight points and the same number of rebounds. L-R received 32 points from their bench.
After a 3-pointer by Wright with 17:50 left in the first period, MHU led for most of the first half of play. The Lions led by as many as seven points (20-13) at the 11:38 mark after a put back by Cuthbertson. The Bears went on an 11-3 run to take a one-point advantage (24-23) with 6:34 left in the half. The Lions answered out scoring L-R 16-10 to take a 39-34 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
The Lions held on to the lead until the 15:55 mark of the second frame when Rob Noyes gave the Bears the lead for good hitting a shot in the lane. The Bears would never trail again. L-R led by seven points (55-48) with 13:26 left in the game after Allan Jones hit a foul shot. MHU cut the lead to a single point (57-56) with 10:57 left in the game when Wright hit a jumper but that was as close as the Lions would get. The Bears out scored MHU 7-2 over the next two minutes of play to seal the win. Mars Hill cut the deficit to four points on several occasions down the stretch but L-R was able to hold off every Lion comeback.
Today's contest ends the 2013-14 campaign for the Lions.
