Catawba’s men’s basketball team ran into a hot-shooting crew from Presbyterian and dropped an 83-74 decision to the visiting Blue Hose in the first round of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference basketball tournament at Goodman Gym on Tuesday night.
The Blue Hose scorched the nets by making 62.5 percent from the field and 75 percent from the foul line.
At the same time, Catawba made 42.2 percent, including just 8-for-24 from 3-point range.
“Presbyterian came in here and worked a good game plan,” said Catawba coach Jim Baker of the Indians. “They made a lot of big goals and lot of them came at the right time. They are a solid club.”
Presbyterian grabbed a 39-31 lead at halftime and had to fight off the Indians in the last half to move to the SAC semfinals Friday at Hickory.
“We have no excuses,” added Baker. “We had some adversity this year and did not come back from it.” He referred to a shooting incident that injured Duke Phipps.
Catawba fell behind 11-3 in the opening minutes and never led. However, the Indians stayed within close range but couldn’t muster the punch to catch up with the hot-shooting Blue Hose.
The Indians started their seniors in the second half, and they closed the gap to 48-47 on two 3-pointers by B.J. Robertson.
Catawba stayed within close range the rest of the way. It got within one at 56-55 and again at 60-59.
The Blue Hose pulled ahead
75-64 with about two minutes remaining for their first double-digit lead in the second half.
Chuck Rayford, a sharp-shooting guard, provided the big scoring punch for Presbyterian with 33. He made 10 of 13 from the floor and added 11 of 13 from the foul line.
Terrence Hamilton and Kevin Petty combined for 34 points for the Indians. Hamilton led with 18. Petty had 16 . Robertson added 10.
The Indians enjoyed a good season, finishing with a 19-8 record. They won 16 of their first 18 games but got only three wins in their last nine games.
n
NOTES: The Blue Hose (12-15) will meet No. 2 Wingate (24-5), which ousted Mars Hill 80-72. ... In other action, No. 1 Carson-Newman rolled over No. 8 Newberry, 108-74, to improve to 23-4, and No. 4 Tusculum (15-12) edged No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne
(10-17).
PRESBYTERIAN (83) — Rayford 33, Whittle 15, Dellinger 14, Isom 11, Touchberry 5, Scully 3, Davis 2, Brown.
CATAWBA (74) — Hamilton 18, Petty 16, Robertson 10, Jernigan 6, Carter 5, Whitehead 5, Luyk 4, Parks 4, Bryant 3, Parker 3, Phipps.
Presbyterian 39 44 — 83
Catawba 31 43 — 74
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