Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Eagles did not play over the Christmas Break. They return to action with two games this week. C-N will play at Alabama-Huntsville on January 3 at 7 p.m. and open conference play on Saturday, January 7 as they host Newberry at 8 p.m.

CATAWBA - The Catawba men’s basketball team picked up a pair of wins over four games during the holidays ... The Indians split games at the Hoop n’ Surf Classic in Honolulu just prior to Christmas and then split games at Lenoir-Rhyne’s Moretz Sports Classic just before New Years ... The Tribe topped Midwestern State 74-63 and fell to fourth-ranked St. Joseph’s(IN) 91-80 in Hawaii, then lost to Virginia State 84-79 and beat Shaw 75-73 to move their record to 12-3 before opening conference play this Saturday ... Catawba trailed Midwestern State by seven in the opening half before rallying to grab a 34-32 lead at the break. After a tying basket to open the final half, Andy Thomson put the Tribe up for good on a basket with 19-27 left ... The Indians built a nine-point lead, but Midwestern clawed back within a point at 55-54 with 7:37 remaining ... Thomson responded with a three-point play and Brian Graves connected on a three-pointer to push the margin back to 68-59 with 3:22 left ... Graves led Catawba with 14 points, scoring 11 in the opening half ... The Tribe held Midwestern State to 33 percent shooting and held a 47-41 edge on the boards. The Indians also blocked nine shots ... In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, Catawba would fall to St. Joseph’s by 11 ... St. Joseph’s jumped out to an eight-point lead in the opening five minutes, but a run by Indians gave Catawba a 19-18 edge with 12:02 to go in the opening half ... After falling down by seven, St. Joseph’s rallied back to lead 41-38 at the break ... The teams were tied 42-42 early in the second half when a 15-3 run gave fourth-ranked St. Joseph’s a 57-45 lead ... Only a three-pointer by Jamel Hamilton with 16:16 left, cutting the margin to 59-50, got Catawba within 10 points the rest of the way ... Hamilton and Chris Wooldridge tallied 13 points for Catawba ... The Indians shot 50 percent for the game, but were our-rebounded 51-31 ... the Indians would fall to Virginia State in the opening game of the Moretz Sports Classic at L-R on Friday ... The Trojans connected on eight three-pointers to help offset a 39-29 deficit in rebounds ... Catawba led most of the first half and took a 46-44 lead to the break ... Virginia State was able to grab an eight-point lead with six minutes left, but the Tribe scored eight straight points to tie the game ... A three-pointer by Helgi Magnusson gave Catawba a 77-76 lead with 1:54 to go ... A jumper by VSU’s Brian Henderson tied the game at 79-79 with 1:06 left and delivered a three-point play after a Tribe turnover with 30 seconds left ... The Indians failed to score and Henderson iced the game on a layup with five ticks on the clock ... Wooldridge had 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Catawba ... Graves added 16 points and eight assists ... The Tribe shot 54 percent to 52.5 percent for Virginia State ... Graves snapped a 71-71 tie with a three-pointer with 1:28 left in Catawba’s win over Shaw and the Tribe survived when Shaw missed the front end of a one-and-one with three seconds to play ... After the three pointer, Wooldridge hit one free throw with 1:03 to go before a basket by Daniel Jackson cut the margin to 75-73 with 46 seconds left ... Following a blocked shot, Catawba fouled with three seconds left, but Jason Coleman misfired from the line ... Shaw led in the early minutes, but Catawba took its first lead with 13:10 to go in the opening half and led most of the way ... The Indians jumped ahead by 10 early in the second half, but Shaw rallied and led 60-59 at the ten minute mark of the final half ... A three-pointer by Jackson had tied the score at 71-71 with 1:41 to go just before Graves answered for the Tribe ... Hamilton came off the bench to score 13 points for Catawba, while Graves added 10 points and six rebounds ... The Indians shot only 38 percent, but held a 52-38 edge on the boards and also connected on 10 three-pointers.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men’s basketball team (5-6) was the lone team to win both of its games at its annual Moretz Men’s Basketball Classic last Thursday and Friday (December 29 and 30) at Shuford Gymnasium … The wins also moved the squad to just one game under .500 … On Thursday, Lenoir-Rhyne defeated Shaw by a 59-51 score … Sophomore forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) led the Bears with 18 points and a tied a career high with 12 rebounds … Bratton also scored 14 points after intermission while junior guard Stephen Hinds (Winston-Salem, N.C.) added 13 points of the bench for the Bears, who avenged an earlier loss to Shaw (80-74 at the Walt Baker Classic on Salisbury, N.C., on Saturday, December 3) … On Friday, Lenoir-Rhyne prevailed in overtime against Virginia State, 79-77, behind sophomore forward Josh Kindred’s (Holly Springs, N.C.) career-high 19 points … The Bears won at the free throw line, converting 29-of-46 (63 percent) free throws compared to the Trojans’ 10-of-14 (71 percent) performance … Sophomore guard Josh Rudder (Graham, N.C.) led all scorers with 21 points and hit 12-of-14 free throw attempts … L-R was especially clutch in the extra frame, eight-of-10 attempts ... Lenoir-Rhyne will end its three-game home stand on Wednesday as they host Livingstone at 7 p.m. … The two squads also met earlier this season with the Blue Bears coming out on top, 68-59, on Tuesday, November 22, in Salisbury, N.C. … Lenoir-Rhyne opens South Atlantic Conference on Saturday, January 7, when it travels to Salisbury, N.C., to take on Catawba College beginning at 4 p.m., inside Goodman Gymnasium.

MARS HILL - MHC lost at Anderson College Monday night, 65-64 … MHC is 5-6 on the season … Alfred Boykin hit a foul shot with 19 seconds left in regulation to lift Anderson College over Mars Hill in men’s basketball action in the Abney Center on Monday night … Anderson jumped out to a 14-point advantage (19-5) with 14:35 left in the first frame after J.R. Howell hit a shot in the lane … That was Anderson’s biggest lead of the contest … MHC then went on a 15-to-7 run to trim the Trojans lead to just a single point (26-25) to close out the first period … MHC hit only 31 percent (9-29) of their field goals in the first half … Rebounding played a crucial part in the Lions comeback in the first stanza as MHC out rebounded Anderson 20-to-14 … MHC had six more offensive rebounds than the Trojans had in the first period … Mars Hill went on a 18-to-10 run to open the second half and take their biggest lead of seven points (43-36) with 12:55 left in the game after Elliott McDowell (Canton, NC) hit a jumper … MHC would not trail the Trojans for the next 11 minutes until Boykin hit a 3-pointer with 2:01 on the clock to give Anderson a 61-60 lead … With 1:28 left in the contest, Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC) gave MHC a 62-61 advantage on the Lions’ next possession scoring two of his game-high 26 points in the game … John LeSueur (Blountville, TN) then gave Anderson a two-point lead (64-62) nailing a shot from behind the arc with 51 ticks left in regulation … MHC rallied as James Hippolyte (Spring Valley, NY) tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Baxley with 43 seconds remaining to tie the game for the tenth time but Boykin was fouled on the Trojans ensuing possession and hit one-of-two free throws to seal the win ... MHC had a final chance to win the game but Baxley’s shot at the buzzer missed and the Trojans prevailed by a single point … Tonight’s contest saw eight lead changes and 10 ties … After a cold shooting first half, MHC hit 54.8 percent (17-31) in the second half … MHC won the rebound battle, 38-to-27 … Baxley added five rebounds and four assists to go along with his 26 points … Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) was the only other Lion in double figures in scoring with 12 points … Earlier this season on November 21, Baxley hit a 18-foot jumper as time expired to lift MHC over Anderson in Stanford Arena, 66-64 … Baxley scored a game-high 25 points in the victory … He is averaging 24.7 points per game so far this season … MHC will open SAC play at Presbyterian College this Saturday … Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m.

NEWBERRY - Four Newberry guards scored in double fi gures, but it was not enough to overcome Division I opponent Charleston Southern as Newberry fell, 91-74, at the CSU Fieldhouse on Dec. 22. Newberry (5-5) has lost three of its last four games ... Newberry opens up the new year on a familiar note as they continue a four game road swing at Erskine College on Tuesday. This is the second of two match-ups this season between the Indians and the Flying Fleet, with Erskine taking the first battle, 61-56 at Newberry. Erskine has not played since the Dec. 10 game against Newberry while the Indians played once, a 91-74 loss at Charleston Southern ... Newberry leads the South Atlantic Conference in steals this season, averaging 12.00 thefts. Individually, Newberry has the top to league larcenists on their roster. Zach Chandler leads the SAC averaging 2.67 steals per game while Clemente Martin is second in the conference with 1.89 steals per game. Sammy Monroe is fourth with 1.78 thefts per contest.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College (10-4) lost their lone game this past week, a 79-67 setback at home to Georgia College & State University on December 30. The Bobcats avenged a 64-61 defeat to the Blue Hose back on November 22 in Milledgeville, Ga. ... Georgia College shot 50.9 percent from the field and were led by Jeremy Mayweather’s career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds en route to defeating Presbyterian College 79-67 on December 30. The Bobcats shot 58.6 percent from the floor in the first half to take a 42-29 advantage into halftime. PC cut the lead to 10 points on four occasions in the second half, but could not pull even with the Bobcats. PC’s junior forward Grant Herren (Oviedo, Fla.) tallied a career-high 20 points to go with four boards while senior center Johann Collins (Raleigh, N.C.) added 14 points and a career-best 15 boards in the loss. PC won the battle of the boards 42-33 including 17-7 on the offensive glass, but struggled to shoot 37.7 percent from the floor for the game ... The Blue Hose are using a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense this season. PC has six players averaging atleast 8.6 ppg this season. Defensively, the Blue Hose are holding opponents to 64.6 ppg and hold a +6.6 rebound margin over their opponents ... PC has struggled on offense during their three-game losing streak, averaging only 58.3 ppg, but are holding their opponents to only 67.6 ppg ... The Blue Hose will open South Atlantic Conference action at home on Saturday, January 7 when they host the Lions of Mars Hill College at 4:00 pm.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum College men’s basketball team was in action only once during the holiday break, dropping an 84-77 decision at Augusta State on Dec. 30… The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Pioneers (9-4)… Jordan Lear recorded 18 points, including career-highs with four 3-pointers and five assists… Matt Farus added 15 points, while Douglas Tshomba and Larry Minnefee contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively… The loss to ASU ended a four-game winning streak over the Jaguars… The last time Augusta State defeated Tusculum was Dec. 9, 1976… The Pioneers have made a three-pointer in 510 consecutive games… Donald Sexton has dished out an assist in 41 straight games and 49 of his last 50 contests… Sexton is third all-time in career assists at Tusculum with 379 to his credit... TC will host Wingate on Jan. 7 in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.

WINGATE - Fayetteville State center Hazel Andrew came off the bench to post 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Broncos topped Wingate 90-81 Monday night in NCAA Division II men’s basketball action at Capel Arena on the FSU campus. Fayetteville State is 7-2 overall, while Wingate is 6-4 overall ... Wingate sophomore forward/guard Sean Barnette (Rock Hill, S.C.) led the Bulldogs with 20 points and eight rebounds. Bulldog redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier (Charlotte, N.C.) had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots ... The Bulldogs hit only 16-of-33 free throws (41.2 percent). Fayetteville State won the battle of the boards, corralling 53 rebounds to 39 for Wingate. The Broncos led by 11 in the second half. Wingate cut the lead to four with 2:30 to play, but the Bulldogs would get no closer ... Barnette is second in the SAC in scoring and steals, averaging 17.3 points per game and 1.8 steals per game. Grier leads the league in rebounding (9.1 caroms per game) and blocked shots (5.1 blocks per game). Wingate senior point guard Fernando Powell is third in the league in assists, dishing out 4.5 assists per contest.