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Catawba’s Indians shook off an “awful” first half and had a “great” second half as they defeated Carson-Newman’s Eagles 78-69 to clinch a share of the South Atlantic Conference basketball championship in their final regular-season game Saturday.
The victory gave the Indians an 11-3 conference record and at least a tie for the title. It also assured them of the top seed in the SAC tourney that begins Tuesday night.
Catawba, which finished its home schedule with a perfect 14-0 record, will entertain Newberry at 8 p.m. in its first tourney game. The final two rounds of the tourney will be played later in the week at Hickory.
The win completed a sweep of SAC titles for Catawba. The Lady Indians also won the crown in their division, marking the first time that both Catawba teams won conference basketball titles in the same season.
Catawba trailed the Eagles 35-28 at halftime, but it outscored the visitors by 50-34 in the last half to take the win and build its record to 22-4.
“We were awful in the first half,” said coach Jim Baker, whose Catawba teams have won 20 or more games four times in the past six years. “But we were great in the second half. We threw a curve at them with a zone defense in the second half. It worked.
“I am very happy for our team,”Baker added. “We were trying too hard in the first half. We were more relaxed in the second half.”
Baker was very happy with his team’s success in view of the fact the Indians lost their ace player, Terrance Hamilton, to a broken leg early in the season.
Baker gave veteran Ned Gusic a lot of credit for guiding the Indians to the Senior Day victory.
“I told Gusic to take charge at halftime, and he did,” Baker pointed out.
A long-range 3-point goal by Gusic followed by another NBA-type shot by Kevin Petty got the Indians rolling in the second half when a big shot in the arm was needed.
Catawba was trailing 49-47 when Gusic delivered his key 3-pointer. Then Petty followed with another long bomb. The Indians got another goal from Gusic and took a 55-49 lead with 9:10 left in the game.
The Eagles rallied to close the gap to 60-59, but the Indians then got goals from Reggie Proctor, Gusic and Brian Carter to open up a 66-59 lead with 4:09 remaining.
Four free throws by Petty and back-to-back goals by Proctor pushed the Indians ahead 72-63 with 1:23 to play.
Four more free throws by Petty and a slam dunk by Proctor concluded the Tribe scoring.
Petty led the Indians in scoring with 24 points. He had four 3-pointers and a dozen free throws in 13 attempts.
Gusic followed with 16 on six goals, including two 3-pointers, and Carter added 14.
The Indians made 46.7 percent of their attempts, sinking 28 of 60. They had seven 3-pointers and 15 free throws.
Dustin Edwards, with 19, and Kyle Gribble (18) led Carson-Newman, which finished 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the conference.
CARSON-NEWMAN (69) — Gribble 18, Lucas 10, Edwards 19, Hayworth 2, Simmons 14, Starling, Woolsey 6, Fielder, Elliott.
CATAWBA (78) — Carter 14, Luyk 6, Gusic 16, Montanaro, Petty 24, Hagaman, Proctor 8, Parks 2, Bryant 7, Phipps 1, Raikes, Robertson.
Carson Newman 35 34 — 69
Catawba 28 50 — 78
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