Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN - The Eagles split two games last week, beating Mars Hill but dropping a game to Wingate ... Jermaine Grimm made the most of his first start of the season, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Eagles pick up their second South Atlantic Conference win of the season by defeating Mars Hill 82-77 Wednesday night. In a contest that was slowed by 54 fouls, 73 free throws and 40 turnovers, the Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak. The home team made 32 of their 45 free throw attempts (71 percent), including four from Darren Williams in the final 17 seconds to pick up the win. Williams finished with a team-high 23 points on 14-of-16 shooting from the free throw line ... Wingate was most impressive in a 95-76 win over the Eagles at Holt Fieldhouse Saturday night. Wingate hit 50 percent (35-of-70) from the floor, including 53.1 percent (17-of-32) in the second half ... The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Eagles 56-37 and blocked nine shots. Eagle sophomore guard Darren Williams led the hosts with 22 points ... Carson-Newman freshman center Clay Scott had 16 points, while junior guard Kente Hart contributed 11 points. Clay scored all 11 C-N points to start the game. But Wingate got hot from the floor, extended the lead to 47-30 at the break and never looked back ... The Eagles make a short drive to take on NCAA Division III power Maryville Monday night at 7 p.m. They return to SAC action on Saturday, February 4 as they play at Newberry at 4 p.m.

CATAWBA - The Catawba men’s basketball dropped both league road games last week, losing 101-93 in overtime at Wingate on Wednesday and 75-69 at Presbyterian on Saturday ... The Indians fell behind early in the opening half of both games and were able to battle back in each ... Brian Graves forced extra-time at Wingate with a three-pointer at the end of regulation and had a chance to tie the PC game in the closing seconds, but came up short on a jumper in the lane with the Tribe down two ... The Indians shot well below their 50 percent average, hitting only 40 percent at Wingate and 39 percent at Presbyterian ... The Indians also struggled at the line, making just 7-of-18 in the second half at Wingate and missing some key chances late against PC ... Jamel Hamilton tallied 22 points to pace Catawba at Wingate, while Graves added 20 points and nine rebounds ... Chris Wooldridge posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds ... Helgi Magnusson tossed in 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting against PC ... Graves added 13 and Hamilton 11 ... Catawba stayed close in each game by being a nearly +10 in the good on turnover margin, helping force 21 in each game ... Graves leads the team this season with a 13.4 scoring average, followed by Hamilton at 12.2 ... Magnusson adds 12.0 and Wooldridge 11.7 ... The Indians dropped to 48.8 percent field goal percentage on the season ... The Indians travel to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday for their only action of the week ... Catawba will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak since the 2003-04 year.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men’s basketball team (12-7, 6-1) moved into sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference after back-to-back road wins against Newberry (86-76 on Wednesday in Newberry, S.C.) and Tusculum (67-59 on Saturday in Greeneville, Tenn.) … After starting the year 3-6, Lenoir-Rhyne has now nine of their last 10 games including a season-high six straight games … The win streak is L-R’s longest since the 2003-04 season, when it reeled off 10 victories in a row … The Bears also alone atop the SAC standings for the first time in two years as well … Lenoir-Rhyne held off a late Newberry en route to the win … Back-to-back three-pointers by sophomore Josh Rudder (Graham, N.C.) gave L-R a 72-58 advantage with 6:36 remaining but a furious Newberry rally (17-4) cut the Bears’ deficit to one, at 76-75, but L-R scored the next six points, including a game-breaking dunk by sophomore Josh Kindred (Holly Springs, N.C.), to put the contest away … Kindred led the Bears with 21 points on nine-of-11 shooting while Rudder added 20 points and hit all four three-point attempts … Lenoir-Rhyne shot 63 percent (30-of-48) from the field including 71 percent (17-of-24) in the first half … The Bears defeated the Pioneers of Tusculum for the first time in five years as four players scored in double figures led by Kindred’s 16 points … The game was back-and-forth most of the way (tied at 29 at halftime) and the contest saw six ties and 12 lead changes … Lenoir-Rhyne, however, put the contest away with a 10-4 run late in the contest to give the Bears their biggest lead of the game, 62-51, with a little over a minute remaining … Junior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) culminated the run with a lay-up and hit a key three-pointer on the prior possession … Springs finished with 14 points while freshman forward Donte Watson (Fayetteville, N.C.) and Rudder added 13 and 12 points, respectively … Kindred averages 11.2 points per game but 15.0 points per outing against SAC foes … Lenoir-Rhyne has also won three straight games on the road against league foes … L-R hosts Catawba, the team that gave Lenoir-Rhyne its last loss, next Saturday at 8 p.m., inside Shuford Gymnasium.

MARS HILL - MHC went 1-2 last week … The Lions are now 9-11 overall and 3-4 in the SAC … Walt Baxley averaged 31.3 points per game last week … In the first game of the week, Josh Burgess hit a 3-pointer with 3:46 left in regulation to lift the Crusaders of North Greenville University over Mars Hill College in Hayes Gymnasium Monday night, 93-86 … Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC) scored 40 points in the loss hitting 13-of-21 from the field and 5-of-8 from behind the arc … After converting on only 60 percent (12-20) of their free throw in the first 39 minutes of the game, NGU connected on 12-of-13 in the final 50 seconds of the contest to seal the win. P.J. Schumacher scored 25 points to lead NGU … NGU scored 36 points in the paint while MHC scored 29 points off Crusader miscues … NGU won the rebound battle, 28-to-26. NGU shot 60 percent (30-50) from the floor in the contest … MHC led by as many as 10 points in the second half after Baxley nailed a 3-pointer with 11:44 on the clock … NGU then out scored the Lions 19-to-9 over the next seven minutes of the game … Josh Burgess capped off the rally with a jumper in the lane with 4:21 left on the clock to tie the contest at 72-all … MHC could not regain the lead after that point with NGU’s success at the foul line down the stretch … Besides Schumacher, five other Crusaders scored in double figures … Following Baxley’s impressive offensive performance for the Lions was Elliott McDowell (Canton, NC) with 21 points and six rebounds … Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) added eight points and seven rebounds … MHC shot well in the first half hitting 53.8 percent (14-26) from the floor … They were 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from behind the arc and 9-of-10 (90 percent) from the foul line … The Lions jumped out to a 10 point advantage (13-3) with 16:09 remaining in the opening period after Baxley hit a 3-pointer … NGU fought back and trimmed the Lions advantage to just four points (42-38) at the intermission … Baxley and McDowell scored 18 and 12 points in the first half, respectively … In the second game of the week, Jermaine Grimm made the most of his first start of the season, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Carson-Newman College Eagles pick up their second South Atlantic Conference win of the season by defeating Mars Hill 82-77 Wednesday night … In a contest that was slowed by 54 fouls, 73 free throws and 40 turnovers … The home team made 32 of their 45 free throw attempts (71 percent), including four from Darren Williams in the final 17 seconds to pick up the win … Williams finished with a team-high 23 points on 14-of-16 shooting from the free throw line … Walt Baxley led the way for Mars Hill with 31 points. Baxley buried a 23-footer with 10 seconds showing on the game clock to pull the Lions within two points at 79-77, but the Eagles iced the win at the free throw line … Williams and Kente Hart (Evansville, Ind.) converted at the charity stripe for the Eagles in the final seconds to halt the charging Lions … Scott Williams added 13 for the game and Andy Tipton dumped in 10 for the Eagles … Marques Maxwell (West Palm Beach, Fla.) fired 13 points for the Lions, while Chris Aline tallied 11 … In the final game of the week, Walt Baxley and Elliott McDowell scored 23 and 15 points, respectively, to lead the Lions to a 74-68 South Atlantic Conference basketball victory over the visiting Indians of Newberry College Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena … The first half saw six lead changes and two ties before MHC took the lead for good with 7:01 left in the opening period after Tony Blake (Canton, NC) hit a layup to make the score 24-23 … MHC out scored the Indians 14-to-10 to close out the first half and take a 38-33 lead into the locker room at the intermission … MHC enjoyed their biggest lead of 13 points (62-49) with 6:03 left in regulation after McDowell hit a couple of free throws … Newberry clawed back into the contest out scoring MHC 15-to-6 over the next five minutes to trim the deficit to just two points (68-66) after Matt Alexander converted an old fashioned 3-point play … Baxley answered with a layup the next trip down the floor to give MHC a 70-66 lead and then Zach Chandler missed a layup with 48 seconds that Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, NC) pulled in before being fouled by Chandler … McIver then missed his shots at the charity stripe at the other end of the floor and Newberry got the ball back with 47 ticks left … Chandler hit a layup seven seconds later to cut the lead to just two points (70-68) … Newberry fouled Blake on the in-bounds pass and he hit 1-of-2 free throws to extend the advantage to 71-68 with 35 seconds remaining … Baxley then pulled off a huge steal from Chandler with 29 seconds on the clock before being fouled and then calmly sank both of his free throws to seal the win … Baxley added six rebounds to go along with his 23 points … Blake score 12 points and recorded five rebounds and three assists … Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) added nine points and the same number of rebounds … Newberry won the rebound battle 42-to-39, scored 40 points in the paint, 27 off MHC miscues, and received 32 points off their bench … MHC will host Presbyterian College next Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

NEWBERRY - Newberry experienced another 0-2 week in the conference, dropping decisions to Lenoir-Rhyne and Mars Hill ... On Wednesday, it took less than four minutes to trim a 14-point deficit down to one, but Newberry College’s comeback fell short as it lost to Lenoir-Rhyne, 86-76, in men’s basketball action Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena. The Indians scored only one point over the final 2:38 while the Bears missed only two free throws during the span to extend their lead ... Coming out of halftime with a 44-36 lead, L-R’s Donte Watson made the first shot of the second period to extend the lead to ten. Newberry cut the lead to single digits on four occasions before taking its last stab at the visitors. Zach Chandler made the biggest contribution to the Indians’ 17-4 run, scoring nine of his game-high 21 points during the span ... Newberry won the turnover battle 19-23, but the advantage was not enough to compensate for 62.5 percent Bear shooting from the floor compared to the Indians’ 43.9 percentage. Five-for-six three-point shooting, punctuated by Josh Kindred’s four-for-four from beyond the arc, contributed to the high L-R field goal ratio ... A more exciting start could not have been scripted, as the to-be-televised broadcast featured two dunks in the first three minutes. L-R’s Josh Kindred threw one down to give his team a 4-2 lead, and three possessions later Clemente Martin converted on a two-hand stuff to knot the score at six. Kindred led his team with 21 points and six rebounds, and Martin tied a career high with 16 points, adding a game-high nine boards ... Newberry led only once in the contest, a 9-8 advantage off Sammy Monroe’s three. Monroe scored 16 points for the Indian cause. Newberry tied L-R five times in the first period, but a 13-6 L-R spurt over the final 3:44 of the first half put the halftime edge at eight points ... Sammy Monroe led the Indians with 15 points while Clemente Martin added eight points and 11 rebounds but Newberry was unable to overcome yet another halftime deficit as they lost at Mars Hill, 74-68, Saturday afternoon ... Newberry dropped their second straight game and is now 0-9 on the season when playing on the road. Newberry trailed by 13 with 5:30 remaining in the contest before attempting yet another comeback late in the game ... The Indians were able to pull as close as 70-68 with approximately 40 seconds remaining in the contest, but was unable to seal the deal. A tough Zach Chandler foul was called with 34 seconds and the ensuing free throws sealed the day ... Mars Hill held a five-point advantage at the break, 38-35, behind Walt Baxley’s 16 first half points. Alonzo Hinds paced Newberry with nine first half points while Clemente Martin brought down six rebounds ... Newberry held Mars Hill close throughout the first period as the Indians shot 39 percent to Mars Hill’s 41 percent. Both teams were able to drop down three long range shots in the first half and both teams’ free throw shooting was comparable ... Newberry gets a week off before returning to conference action on Feb. 4 against Carson-Newman in the friendly confines of Eleazer Arena.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College (15-6, 5-2 SAC) won a pair of games this past week to pull within one game of first place in the league and tied for second place with Catawba College. The Blue Hose defeated Tusculum College 65-50 on the road last Wednesday and knocked off Catawba College 75-69 at home Saturday ... Presbyterian College placed three players in double figures led by senior forward Tray Ballenger’s 11 points and seven rebounds. The Blue Hose defense was the story of the game after holding the Pioneers to without a field goal over 15 minutes during the game. PC shot 48.3 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 34-22 advantage. In the second half, the Blue Hose held off the Pioneer comeback to win 65-50. Junior forward Grant Herren (Oviedo, Fla.) and senior center Johann Collins (Raleigh, N.C.) each scored 10 points apiece. Junior Quinton Ferrell (N. Augusta, S.C.) added six points and five assists and no turnovers ... Presbyterian College connected on six-of-eight free throws in the final :30 seconds including four straight in the final :12 seconds to hold on for a 75-69 victory over Catawba College. Redshirt sophomore center Martynas Versinskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points and add six rebounds to lead the Blue Hose. Collins chipped in 13 points and four boards, while freshman guard Bryan Bostic (Norcross, Ga.) added 11 points, four boards, and three assists. Sophomore forward Drew Biggs (Alpharetta, Ga.) added 10 points off the bench in the victory ... Senior center Johann Collins leads the team in scoring (12.8 ppg), rebounding (6.3 rpg), free throw percentage (81.7 percent), and is second in field goal percentage (54.2 percent). Collins has stepped up his player in league action by averaging (14.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg), while shooting 54.8 percent from the field and 84.6 percent from the free throw line ... Senior guard Tray Ballenger, is averaging 11.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.3 spg, while shooting 49.7 percent from the field, 32.6 percent from three-point land, and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe. Junior forward Grant Herren continues his solid play by averaging 8.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, while shooting 56.5 percent from the field and 71.6 percent from the line ... Junior guard Sean Dixon returned to the hardwood this week in limited action after missing the last 16 games due injury. Dixon tallied seven points, two assists and one steal versus Tusculum and followed up with six points, two assists, two steals in 20 minutes of action versus Catawba ... The Blue Hose are using a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense this season. PC has six players averaging atleast 8.1 ppg this season and 10 players averaging atleast 11.1 minutes per game. Defensively, the Blue Hose are holding opponents to 65.7 ppg and hold a +6.0 rebound margin over their opponents. The Blue Hose are 7-5 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 967 career points and Collins has 982 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 ... Presbyterian College head coach Gregg Nibert entered the 2005-06 season with a major milestone within his grasp. Nibert, the program’s all-time winningiest coach with 297 wins, needs only three more wins to reach 300 career victories. When he reaches this milestone, he will be one of only three active coaches in the SAC to reach 300 career wins. He is the league’s all-time leader in SAC victories (144) and overall wins (297) since the league became an all-sports conference prior to the 1989-90 season ... PC travels to Columbia, S.C. on Tuesday, January 31 to take on Allen University in non-conference action. The Blue Hose return to league play on Saturday, February 4 with a trip to Mars Hill, N.C. to take on the Mars Hill College Lions at 4:00 pm.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum men’s basketball team has lost its last three games, including two at home last week… In the Pioneers’ 65-50 home loss to Presbyterian, TC didn’t record a field goal in the final eight minutes of the game… Jordan Lear and Douglas Tshomba scored 13 points each, while Tyler White posted six points to go along with his game-high six rebounds and four assists… Tusculum also dropped a 67-59 decision to South Atlantic Conference front-runner Lenoir-Rhyne… The loss ended a five-game winning streak versus the Bears at Pioneer Arena... Tshomba once again led Tusculum with 16 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots… Chris Poore added 11 points, while Matt Farus tallied nine points on his three 3-pointers… The Pioneers (11-9, 2-5 SAC) will open the second half of the SAC season on Saturday when they travel to Wingate… TC defeated the Bulldogs earlier this season 100-92… Tusculum has recorded a three-point field goal in 517 consecutive games… Donald Sexton has posted at least one assist in 48 straight games and 56 of his last 57 outings… Sexton has tallied 420 career assists, which are the second most in TC history and seventh in the SAC record book… White has made nine consecutive free throws… Gabe Story is shooting 30-of-46 in his last eight games (65.2 percent)… Tusculum has lost three straight games at home for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

WINGATE - Wingate University junior guard Justin Baker hit a career-high 35 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 95-76 South Atlantic Conference victory over Carson-Newman College Saturday night in Holt Fieldhouse ... Baker hit 13-of-18 field goals and eight-of-11 three-pointers during his career night. Baker had 22 of his 35 points by intermission. He tied the SAC season high with eight three-point field goals. Tusculum College senior Douglas Tshomba hit eight one week ago against Carson-Newman College (1/18/06) ... Wingate sophomore forward Sean Barnette returned from an injury to contribute 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The Bulldogs never trailed in the contest. Wingate hit 50 percent (35-of-70) from the floor, including 53.1 percent (17-of-32) in the second half. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Eagles 56-37, led by nine each from Barnette and freshman forward Kenny Villines ... Wingate led 47-30 at the break and never looked back. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 40-18 in the paint. A Barnette three-point field goal gave Wingate an 85-53 lead with 6:59 to play in the second half. The 32-point spread was Wingate’s largest ... The Wingate University men’s basketball team placed five players in double figures and handed Catawba College its first league loss, picking up a 101-93 South Atlantic Conference victory Wednesday night in Cuddy Arena ... Against Catawba, Wingate junior guard Ernest Mangum led all scorers with 25 points. The North Stanly High product also tied the SAC season-high with eight three-point field goals against Catawba ... Bulldog senior guard Shaun Kirkland had 20 points, while freshman center Sam Carlisle notched a career-high double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Baker added 14 points, while Wingate redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds ... For the week, Baker averaged 24.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. He hit 60 percent (18-of-30) of his field goals in the two games last week. In addition, Baker converted 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from behind the three-point line. Baker is averaging 20.9 points per game in SAC contests. On the season, he is second on Wingate’s scoring charts with 16.1 points per game ... The Bulldogs are 6-1 overall when leading at halftime. Wingate led both the Catawba and the Carson-Newman game at intermission. In high-scoring contests, Wingate is 8-3 overall when scoring 80+ points ... The Bulldogs are is 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the SAC. Wingate steps out of the league fray to host North Greenville University Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Tusculum visits Wingate Saturday for a 4 p.m. SAC afternoon matinee.