By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Catawba’s basketball team did everything right on Saturday at Goodman Gym and blasted Mars Hill, 100-77.
The South Atlantic Conference contest was one-sided enough that it was hard to believe that Catawba lost to the Lions, 71-70, in the mountains on Dec. 12.
“We were making it rain in here today,” said Catawba forward Andrew Ingram, who made three of Catawba’s 13 3-pointers and scored 17 points.
The earlier loss to the Lions provided incentive. So did the desire to fight back to the .500 mark. Catawba (9-11, 7-7 SAC) has won its last two outings after taking its lumps in recent home losses to Wingate, Lincoln Memorial and Newberry.
“We had a really good team win today and we’re still in position to fight for a tournament home game,” Catawba coach Rob Perron said. “Even with all the bad games and even with all the injuries. Through it all, we’ve still got a shot.”
Fourth place would mean hosting a tournament game. While Lincoln Memorial, Queens and Wingate have separated themselves as a lights-out top three in the SAC, fourth place is still a toss-up. If Catawba can win Wednesday’s home game with Lenoir-Rhyne, the Indians have as good a chance as anyone to finish fourth.
Justin Yeargin, who made the shot that beat Catawba in the earlier meeting, led Mars Hill (8-10, 4-8) with 20 points.
Catawba finally reversed a trend of awful starts and took a 7-0 lead behind aggressive inside play by Troy Warren, who scored, rebounded and blocked shots.
“We got past a mind-block,” Perron said.
Mars Hill fought back for a 16-12 lead midway through the first half, but Catawba responded with a blistering 26-4 run over a seven-minute stretch. Freshman guard Jordan Barber jumped off the bench to ignite that game-deciding burst.
“He’s jet-quick and he’s a confident shooter,” Perron said. “Barber got us started and then we had stretches where we would make three good plays in a row. Guys rebounded from some early mistakes to make a good play. We were better today at moving on to that next play after a bad one. Ingram, especially. He missed bunnies early, but he came back and had one of his best games.”
During that first-half run, Ingram and Jameel Taylor (19 points) got rolling, and then Jerrin Morrison (12 points) came to life.
Morrison’s deep 3-pointer from the right wing gave Catawba a 35-20 lead. Taylor spun for an and-one — he gets a lot of them — right after that. Julian Sampah put the Indians up 20 with a jumper. Then Ben Sealey’s 3-pointer made it a 21-point lead.
“I’m confident I can make open shots,” said Sealey, who is known mostly for his water-bug defense. “My teammates did a great job today of finding me.”
Sealey shot 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and the 5-foot-8 guard grabbed six rebounds.
As well as Catawba shot — 13-for-24 on 3-pointers and 53.6 percent from the field — everyone wanted to talk about defense.
“I think all of us were focused on rebounding and defense today,” Ingram said. “Our defensive effort is actually what got our offense started. I started getting in spots on the floor where I was comfortable and I made shots. It was one of the most comfortable games I’ve ever had here.”
When Sealey hit a 3-pointer with 11:21 left in the game after a pass from Taylor, Catawba owned its biggest lead at 69-42.
“It helped a lot that we got off to a better start today,” Sealey said. “We usually practice great, but we’ve started slow too many times.”
Unchallenged, the Indians cruised down the stretch. Six late points by Gregory Childress and a bucket by C.J Burney got the Indians to 100. Childress made it an even 100 with a scoop down the lane with 15 seconds left, as the crowd roared its approval.
“We did our roles and we talked on defense,” Sealey said. “That was one of our better games.”

MARS HILL (77) — Yeargin 20, Monroe 12, Watkins 10, Neal 10, McCarter 9, Carson 5, Haynes 5, Hylton 3, Viegas 1, Jackson 1, Witherspoon 1.
CATAWBA (100) — Taylor 19, Ingram 17, Morrison 12, Sealey 11, Barber 9, Childress 6, Warren 5, Brown 5, Sampah 4, Marijosius 3, Perkins 3, McLaughlin 3, Burney 2.

Mars Hill     29   48    — 77
Catawba       47    53   — 100