Staff report
Catawba’s men’s basketball team dropped a SAC struggle at Mars Hill’s Stanford Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing by two points, Mars Hill (5-4, 1-2 SAC) got a decisive 3-pointer from Justin Yeargin with 11 seconds remaining and held on to win, 71-70.
Catawba (3-4, 2-2 SAC) had two chances late. Rakeen Brown, who scored Catawba’s last seven points, missed a shot in the lane with the clock winding down, and the rebound was ruled a held ball. Catawba had the arrow and was awarded possession with less than a second left, but Jamee; Taylor’s inbounds pass was intercepted.
Brown’s 3-pointer with 2:37 left lifted the Indians to a 66-all tie. Brown made a jumper with 1:46 left to put Catawba ahead by two, but Jalen Witherspoon’s dunk with 1:22 remaining made it 68-all.
Brown made two free throws for a 70-68 Catawba lead with 29 seconds left, but after a Mars Hill timeout, Yeargin drilled his clutch shot.
Catawba shot 9-for-18 on free throws in the game and committed nine second-half turnovers. Catawba’s 47.5-percent shooting day included 5-for-13 from 3-point range.
Catawba led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the game was tied 35-all at the break.
Neither team led by more than four points in the second half.
Taylor scored 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting to lead the Indians. Julian Sampah had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Brandon McCarter tallied 15 points off the bench for Mars Hill.
Mars Hill hoisted 30 3-pointers and made seven.
Catawba returns to action on Monday, hosting Erskine in an Educational Day game at 11 a.m.

CATAWBA (70) — Taylor 21, Sampah 14, Brown 10, Morrison 9, Warren 8, Marijosius 4, McLaughlin 2, Ingram 2, Perkins.
MARS HILL (71) — McCarter 15, Yeargin 14, Witherspoon 10, Carson 10, Haynes 7, Griffin 5, Monroe 5, Bauer, Watkins 5.

Catawba 35 35 — 70
Mars Hill 35 36 — 71

Catawba women
Catawba’s women shot 32.4 percent and dropped their third straight SAC game.
Catawba lost at Mars Hill, 82-67.
The Lions (2-6, 1-2 SAC) were hot and shot 51.7 percent from the floor.
Bri Johnson scored 22 points and had five steals for the Indians (3-6, 0-3 SAC). Terri Rogers scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Janna Dixon came off the bench to score 12.
Former Central Davidson standout Paige Chavis scored 26 for Mars Hill, including 21 in the second half. Chavis shot 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and 7-for-7 on free throws.
Cadence Wilmoth scored 16 points.
After taking an early lead, Catawba went ice-cold in the second quarter. The Lions trailed 17-11, but a 16-0 run in the middle of that second quarter put them in control.

CATAWBA (70) — Johnson 22, Rogers 13, Dixon 12, Newbold 8, Hodges 5, Ucinski 5, S. Brown 2, Butler, Franklin, Tamasauskaite, Webb, K. Brown, Greer.
MARS HILL (71) — Chavis 26, Wilmoth 16, Lane 10, Ricker 10, R. Brown 10, Espinosa 6, Kamga 2, Comer 2, Smith, Brooks.

Catawba 14 14 19 20 — 67
Mars Hill 11 23 20 28 — 82