Men's Basketball Loses to Queens
The Lions fell to no. 12 Queens 87-75 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions fell to no. 12 Queens 87-75 in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening in Stanford Arena. Mars Hill is now 5-6 overall and 1-4 in the league. The Royals improved to 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the SAC.
Michael Carson led the Lions with 23 points followed by Jalen Witherspoon with 13 points. Justin Yeargin added nine points and seven assists.
Sean Morgan and Rob Lewis led the Royals scoring 27 and 26 points in the win, respectively. Daniel Camps added 10 points and nine rebounds. Queens scored 50 points in the paint and out rebounded the Lions 40-23. Queens shot well in the contest connecting on 55.4% from the floor and 82.1% from the foul line.
A layup by Morgan with 19:27 left in the first half gave Queens a 2-0 lead and the Royals would not trail the remainder of the game. Queens extended their lead to 10 points (33-23) with 8:13 left in the first period after Morgan hit a high percentage shot. Mars Hill then went on a 13-4 run to cut the Royals lead to just a single point (37-36) with 2:24 left in the opening half after Carson hit a jumper. A 3-pointer by Witherspoon with seven ticks left in the first half sent the teams into the locker room at the intermission with Queens leading 42-41.
Queens started the second frame off with a 13-2 run to lead by 12 points (55-43) with 16 minutes left in the game after Lewis hit a layup. The Lions answered outscoring the Royals 14-7 over the next six minutes to cut the deficit to five points (62-57) after a basket by Carson. A layup by Valentine Bauer at the 5:22 mark brought the Lions within three points (72-69) of the Royals but that was as close as MHU would get. Queens then went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes of play to seal the win capped off by two free throws from Lewis to make the score 85-71 with 1:05 left in regulation.
Mars Hill will return to action on Wednesday, December 30, when they play an exhibition game at Western Carolina. The contest is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
