Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN - The Eagles lost both of their games last week ... The Eagles dropped a 79-71 game at home to intra-state rival Tusculum Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse. Douglas Tshomba came off the bench to score 36 points to lead TC to the win. He hit eight of the Pioneers’ 10 three pointers and connected on all eight of his free throws ... The Eagles played well, shooting 50 percent (13-26) from the field in the second half but Tshomba’s performance was too much ... Scott Williams led the Eagles with 19 points, Kente Hart had 14 points, Darren Williams scored 13 and Milo Johnson had 10 points ... Catawba exploded for 60 second-half points and rolled to a 97-72 win over visiting Carson-Newman on Saturday in Salisbury. The Indians held a 37-36 edge at the break, but connected on 20 of their first 24 shots of the second half. The Tribe finished at 69 percent shooting for the last half and hit on 63.5 percent for the game ... Carson-Newman made 38 percent ... The Eagles led early at 13-8, but Catawba scored 11 straight points to erase the deficit. Carson-Newman rallied back and the game was tied three times before another Catawba spurt put the Indians up 30-24 with six minutes left in the opening half ... Catawba held a 42-40 lead before going on a 27-3 run to put the game away with 10:34 left ... Williams had 12 points to pace the Eagles, while Scott Williams and Clay Scott each had 10 points ... The Eagles will play two home games this week, a welcomed return home after playing only two home games since December 10. The Eagles host cross-mountain rival Mars Hill on January 25 and Wingate on January 28. Both games tip-off at 8 p.m. at Holt Fieldhouse.

CATAWBA - The Catawba men’s basketball team picked up two more league wins over the past week, defeating Mars Hill 90-73 and Carson-Newman 97-72 ... The wins improved the Tribe’s current home-court winning streak to 18 games ... Against Mars Hill, Catawba pulled away in the final 10 minutes of the opening half to post a 17-point edge at the half ... The Indians held a 20-point bulge much of the second half with the largest edge being 25 points at 62-37 five minutes into the final stanza ... Helgi Magnusson posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Andy Thomson also added 16 points ... Brian Graves had nine assists as the Indians canned 51 percent of its shots to 39 percent for Mars Hill ... The Tribe exploded in the second half against Carson-Newman, scoring 60 points on 69 percent shooting ... Catawba led by only a point at the half, but hit on 20 of its first 24 shots of the second half and raced to a 71-45 lead with 10 minutes to play ... With the score 42-40 just two minutes in the final half, Catawba used a 27-3 run over a seven minute span to put the game away ... Jamel Hamilton poured in 25 points, hitting 9-of-10 shots, including a trio of three-pointers ... Graves added 11 points and eight assists ... The Tribe shot 63.5 percent for the game with the Eagles hitting just 38 percent ... For the season, Catawba is hitting nearly 50 percent from the field and almost 36 percent from three-point range ... Jolly Manning is connecting on 73.5 percent of his shots and Magnusson nearly half of his three-point tries ... Graves leads the team in scoring at 13.1 points a game and dishes out five assists ... Magnusson adds 12.4 points a contest and Chris Wooldridge 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds ... Wooldridge also has 42 blocked shots ... The Indians have scored 90 or more points nine times this season and are averaging 86.7 on the season ... The Indians hit the road for the next two weeks ... Catawba heads to Wingate on Wednesday and Presbyterian on Saturday this week to close out the first half of the conference slate.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men’s basketball team (10-7, 4-1) won all three of its games last week, defeating Mars Hill (75-72) on the road Monday before beating Wingate (77-73) and Presbyterian (69-55) on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively, at home … L-R has now won seven of eight games including a season-high four consecutive contests … Lenoir-Rhyne has also defeated 12 straight SAC teams at Shuford Gymnasium … The Bears are in sole possession of second place in the South Atlantic Conference and trail Catawba by just one game … L-R’s victory over PC on Saturday was win No. 300 for Lenoir-Rhyne Head John Lentz as Bear mentor … Against Mars Hill, four players scored in double figures, led by freshman forward Donte Watson’s (Fayetteville, N.C.) career-high 16 points as the Bears held off the Lions for the key road win … L-R held a 44-37 lead at break but Mars Hill rallied in the second half to take a 58-56 lead midway through the second half … From there, the contest went back-and-forth until junior guard Stephen Hinds (Winston-Salem, N.C.) hit the game-winning jump shot of an inbounds play with 1:32 left for the 71-70 lead … A pair of free throws by sophomore forward Josh Kindred (Holly Springs, N.C.) pushed the lead to three and a desperation three by Mars Hill’s Walt Baxley rimmed out and L-R defeated Mars Hill on the road for the fifth straight year … Kindred scored all 11 of his points after break while junior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) finished with 13 and sophomore guard Josh Rudder (Graham, N.C.) added 12 on four-of-five shooting from three-point land … The contest saw five ties and eight lead changes … Lenoir-Rhyne ran its winning streak to seven games against Wingate on Wednesday by Kindred’s career-high 22 points … The Bulldogs rallied from a 42-29 halftime deficit to take a 51-50 lead on a three-pointer from Justin Baker (a career-high 30 points with six treys) … But, with the score tied at 55, Kindred hit back-to-back field goals to start a 61-55 lead and would never trail again … The Bears would eventually build an 11-point lead en route to the win … Senior David Lawson (Kinston, N.C.) added a season-high 10 points for the Bears, who forced Wingate into 22 turnovers … L-R defeated rival Presbyterian for the fifth straight time at Shuford Gymnasium on Saturday after sophomore Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.) came off the bench to score 18 points on six-of-seven shooting to lead L-R ... PC rallied from a first-half 12-point deficit to take on a 43-37 lead five minutes into the second half thanks to 10 consecutive field goals made but Lenoir-Rhyne regain control with a 13-0 run and a 9-2 run at the end of the contest gave L-R the 14-point victory … L-R shot 56 percent (28-of-50) from the field and forced PC, ranked eighth in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Region Poll, into 20 turnovers … Lenoir-Rhyne’s next two contests are on the road as they travel to Newberry, S.C., to take on Newberry College Wednesday at 8 p.m. in a SAC Television Network/Time Warner Cable televised game, before visiting Greeneville, Tenn., and playing Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

MARS HILL - MHC lost two of its three SAC contests last week … The Lions fell to Lenoir-Rhyne College 75-72 on Monday night and then lost at Catawba College 90-73 before defeating Wingate University 77-76 on Saturday afternoon … MHC is now 8-9 overall and 2-3 in SAC play … In the first game of the week, Stephen Hinds (Winston-Salem, NC) hit a jumper off an in-bounds play with 1:32 left in regulation to lift the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College over Mars Hill Monday night in Stanford Arena, 75-72 … The game saw five ties and eight lead changes before Hinds gave the Bears the lead for good, 71-70 … Josh Kindred (Holly Springs, NC) hit two foul shots with 11 seconds left in the contest to seal the win … A long range 3-pointer at the buzzer by Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC) bounced off the back of the rim and the Bears escaped with the 3-point victory … MHC led by five points (26-21) with 8:08 left in the first half after Baxley hit a 3-pointer … L-R then went on a 23-to-11 run to close out the first period and take a 44-37 lead into the locker room at halftime … L-R’s biggest lead of nine points (48-39) came with 18:52 left in the game after Donte Watson (Fayetteville, NC) hit a layup … MHC fought back out scoring L-R 18-to-9 over the next eight minutes to take a 58-56 advantage with 10:17 left on the clock … The game then saw four lead changes and one tie before Hinds hit the game winner … Seventy-two of the 147 points in the contest were scored in the paint … MHC scored 22 second chance points and scored 12 off the break … MHC edged the Bears on the boards, 34-to-33 … Elliott McDowell, who was named the SAC Player of the Week last Monday, led all scorers with 23 points to lead the Lions … He added eight rebounds, four steals and two assists … Baxley had 18 points and five boards and Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) came off the bench to score 11 points and pull down six rebounds … In the second game of the week, Catawba got 16 points apiece from seniors Helgi Magnusson (Reykjavik, ICELAND) and Andy Thomson (Poynton, ENGLAND) as the Indians defeated visiting Mars Hill 90-73 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym … Magnusson converted a three-point play at the 18:19 mark of the opening half to erase a 2-1 deficit and give the Tribe the lead for good … Catawba grabbed a 10-point lead in the opening minutes, but saw the Lions cut the deficit to three at 19-16 with 9:30 left in the first half … The Indians responded and ran out to a 17-point edge after a three-pointer by Brian Frasier (Martinsille, VA) with 2:23 to go before the break, staking the Tribe to a 43-26 lead … Catawba built its lead to 24 in the second half before Mars Hill got as close as 12 on a Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC) three-pointer with 4:42 remaining … Thomson ended the run on a three-point play to put Catawba on top 81-66 with 4:18 left … Catawba shot 51 percent for the game, including 57 percent in the opening half … Magnusson posted a double-double as he added 10 rebounds to his 16 points … Chris Wooldridge (Norfolk, VA) had 12 points and Jolly Manning (Rocky Mount, NC) 11 … Brian Graves (Newport News, VA) dished out nine assists … Baxley was the game’s high scoring with 27 points after being held scoreless for the game’s first 16 minutes … Elliott McDowell added 10 points. The Lions hit on just 39 percent for the game … In the final game of the week, Baxley hit a long-range 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation to propel the Lions over the visiting Bulldogs of Wingate University tonight in Stanford Arena … Last year on February 19, Baxley scored 31 to lift MHC to a 76-59 win over Wingate in Stanford Arena … Tonight he scored 34 points in front of a packed house to help MHC obtain their second league victory … Kenny Villines (Fayetteville, NC) hit a layup with 18:45 on the clock to give Wingate a 2-0 advantage and the Bulldogs would not trail MHC until the final seven seconds of the contest … Wingate would lead by as many as 13 points (34-21) with 6:41 left in the opening stanza after Bryan Grier (Charlotte, NC) hit a high percentage shot in the lane … MHC fought back out scoring the Bulldogs 15-to-3 to close out the first half of play and trim the Bulldogs lead to just a single point (37-36) at the break … Wingate came out of the locker room and out scored MHC 18-to-8 to go ahead 11 points with 14:28 on the clock after Justin Baker (Lumberton, NC) converted an old fashioned 3-point play … Wingate maintained a double-digit lead for the next four minutes until Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) brought the Lions within eight points (59-51) with 10:23 left in the contest after converting a pair of free throws … MHC then went on a 9-to-2 run to cut the Bulldogs lead to just a single point (61-60) after Baxley hit a layup with 7:55 remaining … Wingate reeled off four unanswered points to lead by five (65-60) wit 6:46 left in the game after Baker hit a jumper … Elliott McDowell (Canton, NC) hit a layup with 3:30 on the clock to tie the game at 70-all but Wingate again answered the call out scoring the Lions 6-to-2 over the next minute and a half to take a four point (76-72) lead with 2:09 left in the contest after Fernando Powell (Chester, VA) hit a couple of foul shots … After consecutive failed possessions by both teams, Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) hit a shot in the lane with 1:30 left to cut the Bulldogs advantage to 76-74 … Powell turned the ball over on Wingate’s next possession and Tony Blake (Canton, NC) came up with the ball … Baxley missed an off balance 3-pointer with 1:11 on the clock and Wingate again had possession of the ball … Blake once again stole the ball from Powell with 53 seconds on the clock and the Lions called a timeout … Baxley’s shot to tie the game missed and Blake pulled in the offensive board but made an errant pass that was picked off by Shaun Kirkland (Allendale, SC) with 23 seconds left in regulation … MHC was forced to foul and Kirkland missed both free throws in the double bonus and MHC had one more chance with 18 seconds on the clock … Eleven seconds later, Baxley nailed the game winner but Wingate still had a last second shot to win the game … Baker got a good look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer but the ball bounced off the back of the rim and MHC obtained the one-point victory … Wingate scored 42 points in the paint while MHC scored 24 points off Bulldog miscues … Wingate won the rebound battle, 51-to-40 … Following Baxley for MHC was McDowell with 13 points, four rebounds and four steals … McIver added eight point and nine rebounds while Aline had nine points and the same number of rebounds … MHC will play at North Greenville College on Monday night at 7 p.m. The Lions will then play at Carson-Newman College on Wednesday night before hosting Newberry College on Saturday.

NEWBERRY - Newberry went 1-1 on the week, but more importantly, picked up its first conference win of 2006. Wednesday night’s game with Presbyterian was the story of a comeback fallen short. Down by 19 with 12:00 remaining in the second half, Newberry orchestrated their largest comeback bid of the season, but the Indians’ bid ended in heartbreak as Presbyterian pulled out the 76-72 victory Wednesday night. Alonzo Hinds led all scorers with 25 points in the game and hit 15 out of his 16 attempts from the free throw line ... Clemente Martin and Zach Chandler added 16 and 12 in the Indian effort ... The crowd of 2,312 – the largest Newberry has played in front of this season – was treated to a low scoring affair in the first half and an offensive onslaught by both teams in the second half as the teams combined for 110 points in the last 20 minutes of play. It was a tale of two games as the 15 points scored in the first half was the smallest offensive post that Newberry put up this season while the 110 combined points in the second half was the most seen in a half ... Presbyterian started strong in the second half, going on a 6-0 run to begin the period. The teams exchanged baskets before an intentional foul and then a dead ball technical foul by Sammy Monroe sparked a 7-0 PC run that was ended by a pair of free throws by Zach Chandler ... Chandler’s free throws sparked the biggest comeback of the season for Newberry, as the Indians battled back from 19 points down. Newberry battled back to a 71-67 deficit and with Hinds going to the line, had a chance to pull within two. Shooting 14-for-14 from the line at that point, Hinds missed his only free throw of the game. He hit the second of two shots to make it a three-point game at 71-68 with 34 seconds remaining ... The teams traded free throws and missed shots and the Blue Hose hit two extra free throws to put PC up by five with 14 seconds left. The Indians sent the ball down the court where Hinds nailed a long range three point shot to bring the Indians within two with 10 seconds remaining, 74-72. Matt Alexander fouled PC’s Pat Kiscaden on the inbounds, sending him to the line for two shots. Kiscaden missed both and Hinds grabbed the rebound, ran the ball up the floor and missed a three pointer for the win with six seconds remaining ... Zach Chandler was one of four Indians to post double-digits in the points category as Newberry halted a seven-game losing streak and posted their first conference win of the season as Newberry took down Tusculum 82-63 in SAC action Saturday afternoon. Douglas Tshomba led the Pioneers with 26 points. Newberry shot 50 percent from the floor for the first time since Dec. 2 as Sammy Monroe shot 6-for-8 from the field and had four of Newberry’s six blocks in the game. Clemente Martin posted 14 points for the Indians while Michael Dease added 11. Martin was one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing nine balls off the boards ... The Indians went into a lull early in the second half as Tusculum raced to a nine-point lead after the break, leading 49-40 with 14:30 remaining. Newberry awoke and fought back, going on a 23-6 run over the next eight and a half minutes to take a 64-55 lead before missed shots and flagrant and bench fouls doomed the Pioneers. Shaun Golden recorded his first win over Tusculum in his tenure at Newberry with Saturday’s victory ... Newberry looks to win consecutive games for the first time since November as they host conference rival Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. in the raucous Eleazer Arena. That game will be televised by Time Warner Cable. Tusculum returns home to host Presbyterian at 8 p.m. on Jan.25.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College (13-6, 3-2 SAC) split a pair of games this past week with a 76-72 victory at home over Newberry College this past Wednesday, followed by a 69-55 loss on the road to Lenoir-Rhyne College on Saturday ... Presbyterian College placed three players in double figures led by senior center Johann Collins with a team-best 18 points as the Blue Hose defeated Newberry College 76-72 at home this past Saturday. Collins hit a pair of free throws with seven-tenths of a second remaining to seal the victory after a furious Newberry comeback. PC led by as many as 16 points on two occasions in the second half before the Indians trimmed the lead to only two points with :10 seconds remaining. Collins on the day was a perfect 10-for-10 at the charity stripe, while freshman forward Bryan Bostic (Norcross, Ga.) added 17 points and four assists. Redshirt sophomore center Martynas Versinskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) came off the bench to add 10 points and four boards ... The Blue Hose committed 20 turnovers and made only six field goals in the last 15 minutes in their 69-55 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne College this past Saturday. The Bears led 33-25 at the half, but the Blue Hose responded with a 18-4 run to open the second half to retake the lead 43-37. Lenoir-Rhyne fought back behind a 13-0 run and did not let PC within five points of the lead the rest of the way. Senior forward Tray Ballenger (Wellford, S.C.) scored a team-high 16 points on four-of-six shooting from beyond the arc, while junior forward Grant Herren (Oviedo, Fla.) added 10 points and eight rebounds ... Senior center Johann Collins leads the team in scoring (12.9 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg), free throw percentage (83.2 percent), and is second in field goal percentage (54.4 percent). Fellow senior, guard Tray Ballenger, is averaging 11.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.4 spg, while shooting 49.2 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from three-point land, and 55.6 percent from the charity stripe. Junior forward Grant Herren continues his solid play by averaging 8.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, while shooting 57.3% from the field and 71.2 percent from the line ... The Blue Hose are using a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense this season. PC has six players averaging atleast 8.4 ppg this season and 10 players averaging atleast 11.6 minutes per game. Defensively, the Blue Hose are holding opponents to 66.3 ppg and hold a +5.9 rebound margin over their opponents. The Blue Hose are 6-5 when their opponents score 65 points or more this season ... Seniors Tray Ballenger and Johann Collins both enter their final season at PC with their sights set on the 1,000 career point plateau. Ballenger has 947 career points and Collins has 959 career points entering this week’s games. These two players will become the 15th and 16th players under head coach Gregg Nibert’s tenure to reach 1,000 career points ... PC travels to Greeneville, Tenn. on Wednesday, January 25 for a 8:00 pm tip-off versus Tusculum College before returning home to host the league-leading Indians of Catawba College on Saturday, January 28 for a 2:00 pm start.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum College men’s basketball team split its two South Atlantic Conference road games last week… Tusculum (11-7, 2-3 SAC) opened the week with a 79-71 win at archrival Carson-Newman… Senior Douglas Tshomba tallied a career-high 36 points off the bench as he shot 8-for-15 from three-point territory and 8-of-8 from the free throw line… Tshomba’s eight 3-pointers are tied for the fourth most in a single-game by a Pioneer… Tusculum shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the game, including 65 percent in the second half as TC went on a 20-4 run… The Pioneers have won four straight games against the Eagles and have been victorious in their last four visits to Jefferson City… In Tusculum’s 82-63 road loss at Newberry, Tshomba led all scorers with 26 points… Jordan Lear added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Pioneers… Tusculum has made a 3-point field goal in 515 consecutive games… Tusculum will be at home for a pair of games this week taking on Presbyterian and Lenoir-Rhyne… TC hasn’t lost consecutive games at home since the 2000-01 season… The Pioneers lost in its last home game to Catawba 79-63 on Jan. 14… Since 2000-01, the Pioneers are 16-0 following a home defeat… Tusculum has won five consecutive games at home against Lenoir-Rhyne in Greeneville.

WINGATE - The Wingate University men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 77-76 decision at Mars Hill Saturday when Lion senior guard Walt Baxley hit an NBA-length three-point field goal with seven seconds remaining to give the hosts their only lead of the contest. Baxley finished with 34 points, leading all scorers. On February 19, 2005, Baxley hit 31 points to give MHC a 76-59 home victory over Wingate ... For Wingate, senior guard/forward Shaun Kirkland netted a career-high 18 points against Mars Hill. Bulldog redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier had 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots ... Two other Bulldogs hit double-figure points. Wingate junior guard Justin Baker had 13 points, while senior guard Fernando Powell contributed 10 points and a game-high seven assists. Bulldog freshman forward Kenny Villines pulled down 10 rebounds to help the visitors win the battle of the boards 51-40 ... Wingate shot 50 percent (32-of-64) for the game, including 56.7 percent after intermission (17-of-30). The Bulldogs started strong, building a 13-point lead on two occasions in the first half ... Mars Hill converted only 34.7 percent (25-of-72) of its field goal attempts against the Bulldogs. Wingate has allowed only one opponent (Tusculum at Tusculum, Jan. 7) to shoot over 50 percent in a game this season ... Baker scored a career-high 30 points in Wingate’s 77-73 SAC loss at Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday night. Baker’s night included six-of-seven from behind the three-point line. Grier finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots against the Bears ... Trailing 44-31 two minutes into the second half, Wingate went on a 20-6 run over the next seven-plus minutes to take a 51-50 lead on a three-pointer by Baker. The one-point advantage was only Wingate’s third lead of the evening ... The number one shot blocker in NCAA Division II, Grier is averaging 5.3 blocked shots per game. In addition, he is contributing 14.8 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game ... Grier charts in the top 10 in two NCAA categories. Last week, he was eighth in individual field goal percentage, hitting 62.8 percent of his shots from the floor. Thanks to the efforts of Grier and his teammates, Wingate was 20th in the NCAA in team field goal percentage (49.8 percent). Grier leads the SAC in rebounds (9.3 per game) and blocked shots ... Wingate sophomore guard/forward Sean Barnette is averaging 24.3 points per game in SAC play. In addition to Barnette’s stellar play in league games, both Baker (19.4 points per game) and Grier (15.6 points per game) have higher scoring averages in SAC contests than overall.