Catawba men defend their turf as No. 1 seed

As the South Atlantic Conference Tournament began for the Catawba College men’s basketball team, Brian Carter knew something was different.

The Indians had gone from SAC contenders to SAC defenders.

Defending their turf as a first place team is now all that’s on the minds of Carter and his teammates. And the Indians got off to a good start, downing last place Mars Hill 91-79 Tuesday night in Goodman Gym.

The win lifts the 23-4 Indians into a semifinal battle Friday at 4 p.m. against Carson-Newman at Catawba Valley Community College.

Carter knows that throughout this week, everyone will be gunning to beat the Indians and that’s OK.

“When you’re the No. 1 seed, everybody’s going to try and knock you off,” said Carter, a high-flying 6-foot-6 dunking machine. “We used to be a second half team. Now, we focus on being a 40-minute team.”

It was a pretty good 40 minutes Tuesday night against a 4-22 Mars Hill club chock full of freshmen and sophomores.

Coach Jim Baker watched his team, ranked 23rd nationally in Division II, come out a bit stale against the bottom seed. The teams were tied at 16 before Catawba’s 29-16 run gave it a 45-32 lead at the half.

“We were almost too business-like,” said Baker. “The first wave of players didn’t have that fire. I told them, ‘They don’t have any shot blockers. Just relax.’ We came in with the second group and they really turned it up.”

Leading scorer Ned Gusic (15 points per game) could sense the lack of intensity.

“I was afraid at the beginning of the game that we wouldn’t take it seriously,” he said. “But after about five minutes, we got our rhythm.”

The Croatian Sensation was the Indian who helped Catawba put some distance between the Indians and Lions.

Catawba was leading just 28-23 with six minutes remaining before halftime. The 6-6 Gusic took a pass from Duke Phipps and scorched the nets for a 3-pointer. He then took a feed from 6-11 center Alex Luyk for a 16-footer. And finally, Kevin Petty gave him a pass for a layup. Catawba cruised from that point.

“Ned is playing so well,” gushed Baker. “He can get to the rim just about any time he wants. He shoots just well enough that you have to come out on him. And then, he’ll go by you.”

Petty’s feline quickness led to a layup and 3-pointer to open the second half, then Carter and Luyk took over. Their work inside helped Catawba outrebound Mars Hill 41-33. They combined for 30 points, five assists and 10 rebounds and seemed to enjoy making sure each other had easy scoring opportunities.

When Mars Hill cut a 21-point lead to 69-55, the Windex Men began cleaning up around the glass.

Luyk’s pretty feed led to Carter’s one-hand, monster jam. Luyk, a transfer from Georgia Tech, then went outside and bombed in a 3-pointer. He finished 2-of-3 from long range.

“He can score inside and outside and I’m mainly inside,” Carter said. “We look out for each other.”

“Brian has really elevated his game,” said Baker, who hopes Carter makes one of the postseason SAC all-star teams.

The Lions cut the lead to 15 before another Catawba run, led by Phipps’ 3-pointer and a slam dunk by Jacob Parks put Catawba up 88-69. Mars Hill them finished the game on a 10-3 spurt.

“One thing that did disappoint me was that we couldn’t quite finish them off,” Baker said.

Mars Hill coach Steve Roberts praised Baker’s coaching and the team chemistry but added, “I’d have to say they were a surprise to a lot of people this year.”

And who could really argue? Catawba was coming off a 14-14 season. Now, last night’s win probably put the Indians into the national playoffs, whether they win the tournament or not.

“You want to win the tournament but you want to get to the NCAAs, that’s the bottom line,” Baker said.

And Catawba will do it with players who no one used to worry about — until now.

“Other people just didn’t know what we had coming in,” said Carter. “But we knew we could win. If we play hard, we feel we can beat anybody.”

Carter’s Indians are proving they not only are playing like a No. 1 seed but they’re starting to talk like one too.

NOTES: Catawba was ranked fifth in the region going into yesterday and had its playoff hopes increased when fourth-ranked Armstrong State lost to the last place team in its league. ... Gusic led four Indians in scoring with 21. He passed Ed Fowler into 27th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,169 points. He is now seventh on the steals list with 127. ... Carter scored 17, Petty 15 and Luyk 13. ... Petty also dished out eight assists. ... Baker is 135-62 at Catawba. ... Roberts is 5-47 in two years at Mars Hill.

MARS HILL (79) — Davis 20, Hinton 17, Cope 14, Williams 10, Ramsey 9, Joplin 7,Clark 2.

CATAWBA (91) — Gusic 21, Carter 17, Petty 15, Luyk 13, Bryant 8, Proctor 6, Parks 5, Phipps 3, Jernigan 3.

Mars Hill 32 47 — 79

Catawba 45 46 — 91