Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN - Kente Hart hit a layup with 1.6 seconds left in regulation to propel Carson-Newman to a 73-72 victory over Mars Hill in Stanford Arena Wednesday night. The game saw five ties and 16 lead changes. Andy Miller hit a 3-pointer with 8:53 left in the first frame to give MHC a 28-26 lead they would enjoy the rest of the half. The Lions went on to lead by six at the break (44-38). MHC started the second half on a 11-to-4 run to take a 13-point lead (55-42) with 16:13 left in regulation after Hippolyte tipped in a Tony Blake miss. MHC maintained a comfortable lead until the 11:41 mark. After leading by nine (61-52), MHC saw the Eagles score 10 unanswered points to take a one-point lead (62-61) with 7:52 left in the game after Jermaine Grimm hit a shot in the lane. The lead would change hands nine more times over the next seven minutes before Hart hit the game winner with less than two ticks on the clock. MHC tried to throw the ball the length of the court for a desperation shot but time expired before it could be attempted. MHC scored 34 points in the paint, 14 off C-N turnovers, 11 second chance points and 10 points off the break. C-N received 43 points from their bench. MHC won the rebound battle, 39-to-28. After hitting 50 percent (15-30) of their shots in the first half, MHC cooled off converting on only 34.5 percent (10-29) in the second stanza. Andy Tipton led C-N with 17 points followed by Hart with 13. Ten players scored for the Eagles in the win. Wingate sophomore forward Sean Barnette had 25 points and seven rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated Carson-Newman College 75-65 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night in Cuddy Arena. Barnette netted 17 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. The sophomore swingman s long-range three-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the hosts a 38-27 lead at intermission. Carson-Newman could get no closer than seven in the second half. A lay-up by junior guard Shaun Kirkland put Wingate up 73-56 with 2:33 remaining in the contest. The 17-point bulge was Wingate s largest of the evening. Kirkland joined Barnette in double figures with 10 points. The top shot-blocking team in the SAC, the Bulldogs swatted away eight Eagle shots on Saturday night. Redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier led the way with three rejections. Grier is the top shot blocker in NCAA Division II. Carson-Newman freshman guard Jesse McMurray and senior forward Milo Johnson led the Eagles with 15 points each. McMurray nailed five-of-seven three-point field goals on the evening. Carson-Newman junior forward/guard Jermaine Grimm barely missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles take on Presbyterian in the first round of the Food Lion SAC Tournament on March 1. C-N has played PC tough twice this season, losing 69-67 and 55-49. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

CATAWBA - The Catawba men’s split a pair of games last week and finished in a tie for second in the SAC ... The Indians fell to Wingate 94-91 on Wednesday then topped Presbyterian 65-59 on Saturday ... The loss to Wingate ended a 21-game home winning streak for the Tribe ... Helgi Magnusson led Catawba with 16 points, while Jamel Hamilton and Brian Graves each had 15 ... Catawba shot only 37 percent in the loss ... The Indians held a 53-45 edge on the boards and grabbed 25 off the offensive glass, but launched 29 three-pointers and made only 10 ... The Tribe earned a senior day win on Saturday, rallying in the final five minutes ... Chris Wooldridge scored three straight baskets to erase a four-point deficit and tie the score at 57-57 with 2:03 to go ... Hamilton then gave the Tribe the lead for good on a three-pointer with 1:14 remaining ... Magnusson tossed in 16 points, while Hamilton added 14 and Wooldridge 11 .. The Indians made 51 percent from the floor to just 42 percent for PC ... The Tribe also outscored PC by 15 at the line, making 20 of 26 attempts ... Magnusson ranks seventh all-time at Catawba with 1,621 points and needs 29 points to move into the top five ... Graves is leading the team in scoring with 13.3 points a game and needs 44 points to reach 1,000 for his career ... Catawba will open tournament play by hosting Tusculum on Wednesday night.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College men’s basketball team (17-9, 11-3), with wins over Newberry (94-84) and Tusculum (59-45) last Wednesday and Saturday night, respectively, captured the 2005-06 South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship … The title as the third in the last four years for the Bears, their first outright league championship since the 1994-95 campaign and the sixth all-time for Lenoir-Rhyne (all under Head Coach John Lentz) … L-R also went 7-0 in SAC competition in the regular season for the second straight year and has now won 16 straight games against league foes at Shuford Gymnasium … The Bears have also won 10 straight games at home as well and are guaranteed their fourth straight winning season … Against the Indians, the Bears rode the shoulders of sophomore forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C.), who led all scorers with a career-high 30 points including 12-of-13 shooting from the free throw line and nine-of-13 on field goal attempts … L-R was in control through most of the game and held a 63-49 lead midway through the second half before Newberry reeled off 10 straight points to cut the margin to four (63-59) with 10 minutes remaining ... However, Bratton took over, scoring 15 of Lenoir-Rhyne’s next 19 points to push the margin back to double digits and the Bears’ free-throw shooting (26-of-30, 87 percent) helped L-R hold on for the win ... Junior guard Marcus Springs (Charlotte, N.C.) added 19 points while Sammy Monroe led Newberry with 23 points … Lenoir-Rhyne held Tusculum to a season-low 45 points allowed the first points on the season as well as the team wrapped up the conference title … L-R jumped out to a 24-7 lead midway for the first half but Tusculum held Lenoir-Rhyne limited one field goal for the remainder of the half and cut the margin to 26-15 … Lenoir-Rhyne’s defense kept the pressure on in the second half and rode out a 14-point win … Sophomore forward Josh Kindred (Holly Springs, N.C.) led the Bears with 14 points on seven-of-seven shooting and Lenoir-Rhyne’s defense limited Tusculum to just 15 percent (two-of-14) from behind the three-point line and 26 percent (six-of-23) on field goals in the first half … Kindred is averaging 13.2 points per game but 16.6 against league foes this year … Lenoir-Rhyne, the No. 1 seed in the Food Lion SAC Tournament, hosts the eighth-seeded Mars Hill Lions on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost two games last week … They fell at home to Carson-Newman and then lost at Newberry in overtime … MHC is now 9-18 overall and 3-11 in the SAC … In the first game of the week, Kente Hart (Evansville, IN) hit a layup with 1.6 seconds left in regulation to propel Carson-Newman to a 73-72 victory over Mars Hill in Stanford Arena Wednesday night … MHC celebrated senior night before the contest and recognized the team’s three senior players, Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC), Mark Hamilton (Savannah, GA) and James Hippolyte (Spring Valley, NY) were honored before tip-off … The game saw five ties and 16 lead changes. Andy Miller (Franklin, NC) hit a 3-pointer with 8:53 left in the first frame to give MHC a 28-26 lead they would enjoy the rest of the half ... The Lions went on to lead by six at the break (44-38) … MHC started the second half on a 11-to-4 run to take a 13-point lead (55-42) with 16:13 left in regulation after Hippolyte tipped in a Tony Blake (Canton, NC) miss … MHC maintained a comfortable lead until the 11:41 mark … After leading by nine (61-52), MHC saw the Eagles score 10 unanswered points to take a one-point lead (62-61) with 7:52 left in the game after Jermaine Grimm (Patterson, LA) hit a shot in the lane … The lead would change hands nine more times over the next seven minutes before Hart hit the game winner with less than two ticks on the clock … MHC tried to throw the ball the length of the court for a desperation shot but time expired before it could be attempted … MHC scored 34 points in the paint, 14 off C-N turnovers, 11 second chance points and 10 points off the break … C-N received 43 points from their bench. MHC won the rebound battle, 39-to-28 … After hitting 50% (15-30) of their shots in the first half, MHC cooled off converting on only 34.5% (10-29) in the second stanza … Baxley led all scorers with 31 points to pace the Lions … Hippolyte added 16 points and eight rebounds while Chris Aline (Reinach, Switzerland) scored six points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the game … In the second game of the week, Newberry raced to a double-digit first half lead, withstood a Mars Hill charge in the second period, and missed only one field goal in overtime to win, 90-85, in Saturday’s basketball action at Eleazer Arena … After 40 minutes of play, Michael Dease (Bennettsville, S.C.) canned a three to break a 73-all tie at the end of regulation … Clemente Martin (Freeport, Bahamas) made one of two foul shots on Newberry’s next possession … After another empty Mars Hill possession, Martin hit a shot and was fouled. The basket and foul shot were good, and Newberry held momentum and a seven-point advantage … Mars Hill trimmed the lead to three with 1:20 left in the extra period with a Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, N.C.) trifecta, but Zach Chandler (Greenville, S.C.) answered on the other end … Two more Hinds’ free throw put the lead at 89-81 with 27 seconds on the clock. Mars Hill converted two uncontested layups for the final margin … Newberry expanded the lead to 13 at one point, but settled for a 45-36 advantage after 20 minutes … Nine minutes after intermission, Mars Hill secured its first lead at 58-57 off a Marques Maxwell (West Palm Beach, Fla.) layup … The Indians took control with nine straight points but could go up by no more than five in the remainder of the second … Mars Hill outscored Newberry 6-1 over the last 4:33 of regulation to send the game to overtime … Baxley’s three with 30 seconds left knotted the game at 73, but his two-pointer to win failed to go down at the buzzer … Monroe and Baxley tied for game-high scoring honors, each netting 22. Newberry held Baxley to almost six points under his average … Behind Baxley for the Lions were Maxwell with 20 points and Jamison McIver (Taylorsville, N.C.) with 13 … MHC will meet Lenoir-Rhyne College on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Food Lion SAC Tournament.

NEWBERRY - Newberry’s 1-1 week earned the Indians a fifth-place finish in the conference, much improved from last year’s last-place spot ... Newberry’s four-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday night against the best team in the conference, as Lenoir-Rhyne pulled away late with a 94-84 win at Shuford Gymnasium ... L-R scored the game’s first five points, but Newberry pulled even at 9-9 and led only once at 10-9 off a Clemente Martin free throw. From there, the Bears extended the lead to as many as 12 points with six minutes left. The lead was trimmed to six on a three-point play by Sammy Monroe with 3:41 remaining, but L-R pushed the margin to 38-28 at the break ... Monroe and L-R’s Marcus Springs dueled in the first half, each reaching double figures before the break. Monroe scored 11, while Springs had 13 ... The home team had a 15-point lead at 59-44, but a 10-0 run capped by Zach Chandler’s three-pointer brought the margin down to 63-59 at the second half media timeout. L-R responded and brought the lead quickly to ten points, and Newberry was only able to get as close as eight with 1:59 remaining ... Leading the charge for Newberry was Monroe with 23 points, followed closely by Chandler with 19 ... On Saturday, Newberry raced to a double-digit first half lead, withstood a Mars Hill charge in the second period, and missed only one field goal in overtime to win, 90-85 ... After 40 minutes of play, Michael Dease canned a three to break a 73-all tie at the end of regulation. Clemente Martin made one of two foul shots on Newberry’s next possession. After another empty Mars Hill possession, Martin brought the house to its feet, collecting an alley-oop pass from Alonzo Hinds and throwing it down with a Lion defender draped on his back. The basket and foul shot were good, and Newberry held momentum and a seven-point advantage ... Mars Hill trimmed the lead to three with 1:20 left in the extra period with a Walt Baxley trifecta, but Zach Chandler answered on the other end. Two more Hinds’ free throw put the lead at 89-81 with 27 seconds on the clock. Mars Hill converted two uncontested layups for the final margin ... Seniors Dease and Mark Butler were honored before the contest, their final home game, and both broke into the scoring column early. Butler scored Newberry’s third and fourth points on a baby right-handed hookshot, and Dease increased the lead to 9-2 with a three-pointer at 17:33. The Indians had a ten-point lead in 5½ minutes, Monroe providing the exclamation point with a steal and two-handed dunk to make the margin 19-9. Newberry expanded the lead to 13 at one point, but settled for a 45-36 advantage after 20 minutes ... Nine minutes after intermission, Mars Hill secured its first lead at 58-57 off a Marques Maxwell layup. The Indians took control with nine straight points but could go up by no more than five in the remainder of the second. Mars Hill outscored Newberry 6-1 over the last 4:33 of regulation to send the game to overtime. Baxley’s three with 30 seconds left knotted the game at 73, but his two-pointer to win failed to go down at the buzzer ... Monroe and Baxley tied for game-high scoring honors, each netting 22. Newberry held Baxley to almost six points under his average. Four other Indians had ten or more points: Hinds (16), Chandler (15), Martin (14), and Dease (12). Monroe and Martin recorded double-doubles, the pair collecting 14 and 11 rebounds, respectively ... Newberry will travel to Wingate for its first round Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament game against fourth-seeded Wingate Wednesday at 8 p.m.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College (22-8, 10-4 SAC) finished the regular season this past week with a 2-1 mark. The Blue Hose defeated Carson-Newman College 55-49 on Monday, and Tusculum College 56-53. On Saturday, Catawba College defeated the Blue Hose 65-59 on Saturday in Salisbury, N.C. PC will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2006 Food Lion SAC Tournament and will host the Eagles of Carson-Newman College on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:00 pm ... Presbyterian College’s senior Johann Collins scored a team-best 14 points to lead the Blue Hose to a 55-49 road victory over Carson-Newman College this past Monday. The game was rescheduled twice due to inclement weather. Sophomore Pat Kiscaden came off the bench to add 11 points on three-of-eight shooting from beyond the arc. Carson-Newman did post a double figure scorer on the night, but was led by Scott Williams’ nine points. The Blue Hose shook off a cold shooting performance in the first half (30.0%), to shoot 50 percent from the floor in the second half. Junior Grant Herren continued his solid play with 10 points and four boards for the Blue Hose ... PC’s junior Ryan Koppel came off the bench to hit a go-ahead three-pointer with :01.6 seconds left to propel the Blue Hose to a 56-53 victory over Tusculum College in SAC men’s basketball action Wednesday night in the Ross E. Templeton Center. The game was tied at 53-53 with 1:21 remaining after Tusculum’s junior Chris Poore (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored on a baseline layup. PC came up empty on their next possession, but forced a Pioneer turnover to regain the ball with :28 seconds. With the clock about to expire, PC’s junior Sean Dixon (Marietta, Ga.) found Koppel open at the top of the key for a three-pointer to give the Blue Hose the lead at 56-53 with :01.6 seconds remaining. Tusculum got off a desperate three-pointer at the buzzer that fell short. Collins led the Blue Hose with 16 points and nine boards on four-of-five shooting from the floor and eight-of-11 from the charity stripe. Herren added eight points and three boards, while Dixon chipped in seven points and six assists. Chris Poore led the Pioneers with a game-high 19 points ... Presbyterian College placed three players in double figures, but fell short of winning a share of the SAC regular season title with a 65-59 road loss to Catawba College on Saturday. Herren led the Blue Hose with 15 points and four boards, while Collins and sophomore Drew Biggs added 12 points apiece. Helgi Magnusson led the Indians with a game-high 16 points. The Blue Hose hit only five-of-12 free throw attempts on the night, while Catawba went 20-of-26 from the charity stripe. Both teams shot the ball well with the Indians hitting 51.2 percent of the field goals and PC hit 42.4 percent, but only 34.3 percent in the second half ... The Blue Hose are using a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense this season. PC has six players averaging atleast 8.2 ppg this season and 10 players averaging atleast 10.8 minutes per game. Defensively, the Blue Hose are holding opponents to 64.8 ppg and hold a +6.3 rebound margin over their opponents. The Blue Hose are 12-6 when their opponents score 65 points or more this season ... Presbyterian College’s senior duo of Tray Ballenger and Johann Collins entered their final season with the Blue Hose with their sights set on reaching the 1,000-point plateau. Ballenger, a native of Wellford, S.C., reached 1,000 career points in PC’s 80-73 win over Wingate University on February 8. Collins, a native of Raleigh, N.C., scored his 1,000th career point in PC’s 74-69 victory over Mars Hill College on February 4. Ballenger enters the week with 1,045 career points and Collins enters with 1,106 career points. The duo are the 15th and 16th players under Coach Gregg Nibert’s tenure to reach the 1,000-point milestone ... PC, the No. 2 seed, will host the No. 7 seeded Eagles of Carson-Newman College on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:00 pm in the first round of the 2006 Food Lion SAC Tournament.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum Pioneers dropped its last two regular season games as TC finished tied for sixth place in the South Atlantic Conference… Tusculum will be the No. 6 seed in this week’s Food Lion SAC Tournament and will face No. 3 seed Catawba in a quarterfinal game in Salisbury, N.C… Tusculum dropped a heart-breaking 56-53 decision at Presbyterian on a last-second three-pointer by the Blue Hose… Junior Chris Poore led all scorers with 19 points, while sophomore Jordan Lear added 13 points and five rebounds… Tusculum dropped its fifth consecutive game in Saturday’s 59-45 regular season finale at Lenoir-Rhyne… L-R opened the game with a 20-4 run in the first eight minutes, including 11 unanswered points… Tusculum trimmed the deficit to 11 points at halftime and trailed by eight with 94 seconds remaining… Douglas Tshomba led Tusculum with 14 points, while Chris Poore added a dozen markers and four rebounds… Lear accounted for eight points and a game-high seven boards… The Pioneers have posted five consecutive winning seasons entering this year… At 13-14, Tusculum will have to advance to the SAC Tournament finals to avoid its first losing campaign since the 2000-01 season… Tusculum is the defending SAC Tournament Champion… Tusculum is 5-5 all-time in SAC Tournament games… Wednesday’s meeting with Catawba will be the third straight year the two have met in the tournament… The winner has eventually won the SAC Tournament title the last two years… Tusculum has made a 3-point field goal in 524 consecutive games… Donald Sexton has posted an assists in 55 straight outings and is second all-time at Tusculum and fourth in SAC history with 453 career assists… Chris Poore is closing in on the 1,000-point plateau… He has scored 988 points in his collegiate career, including two seasons at Anderson University (S.C.)… Douglas Tshomba is also nearing 1,000 points as he has 973.

WINGATE - Wingate University sophomore forward Sean Barnette had 25 points and seven rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated Carson-Newman College 75-65 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night in Cuddy Arena. The 2005 SAC Freshman of the Year, Barnette hit eight-of-11 field goals (including four-of-six from long range) on the evening ... With the victory, Wingate improves to 15-12 overall and 8-6 in the SAC. The Bulldogs will host Newberry College Wednesday night in the first round of the Food Lion SAC tournament. Official seeds, pairings and game times will be announced Sunday by the league office. Carson-Newman falls to 10-16 overall and 4-10 in the SAC with the loss ... Barnette netted 17 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. The sophomore swingman’s long-range three-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the hosts a 38-27 lead at intermission. Carson-Newman could get no closer than seven in the second half ... A lay-up by junior guard Shaun Kirkland put Wingate up 73-56 with 2:33 remaining in the contest. The 17-point bulge was Wingate’s largest of the evening. Kirkland joined Barnette in double figures with 10 points. Wingate freshman forward Kenny Villines led the Bulldogs with a game-high 11 rebounds ... The top shot-blocking team in the SAC, the Bulldogs swatted away eight Eagle shots on Saturday night. Redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier led the way with three rejections. Grier is the top shot blocker in NCAA Division II ... On Wednesday night, the Wingate men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat host Catawba College 94-91 in South Atlantic Conference action at Goodman Gym ... The win snapped a 13-game losing streak by the Bulldogs at Goodman Gym and gave Wingate head coach Parker Laketa his 100th victory. Laketa is 100-74 overall in six Wingate seasons. The Bulldogs are 14-12 overall and 7-6 in the SAC, while the Indians fall to 21-7 and 9-4 in the SAC and see their 21-game home win streak end ... Catawba jumped to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes while Wingate rallied to tie the score at 13-13 five minutes into the half. From there, the Indians would build a 12-point cushion and lead 42-32 at the break. The Bulldogs cut the double-digit deficit to a single point at 53-52 early in the second half, but saw the Tribe regain a 72-61 lead with 10:50 left ... Wingate trailed by 10 at 85-75 with 6:41 to go before going on a 13-2 run to take its first lead of the game on a layup by freshman forward Kenny Villines with 2:15 to go. The Bulldogs would stay in front the rest of the way ... Wingate junior guard Bill Smith made a pair of free throws for Wingate with 13 seconds remaining ... Catawba shot only 37 percent in the loss and were 10-of-29 from three-point range. Wingate hit on 64 percent in the second half and finished the game at 51 percent. Bulldog junior guard Justin Baker had 28 points to pace Wingate, while Villines and senior forward Shaun Kirkland each had 15. Bulldog redshirt sophomore center Bryan Grier had 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.