Staff report

HICKORY — No season is without bumps in the road and Catawba’s men’s basketball team is dealing with some tough times.

Catawba scored just 18 points in the first half on Wednesday, dug a 19-point deficit and couldn’t get all the way back against rival Lenoir-Rhyne.

The Bears held on to take the South Atlantic Conference contest, 73-65, and moved ahead of the reeling Indians in the league standings.

Catawba (13-5, 6-4) got double-figure scoring from Jameel Taylor (17 points), Devin Cooper (14) and Jordan McElveen (13).

L-R (14-4, 7-3) was led by Jonathan Jean with 16 points.

Catawba didn’t score for almost four minutes at the outset of the game and was down 21-6 after 10 minutes. It was 37-18 at the break. Catawba made only seven field goals in the first half and went 0-for-7 on 3-point tries.

Catawba rallied in the second half to make it interesting.

Catawba fought back within 59-54 when Taylor made a 3-pointer with 5:47 remaining, but Deontae Weaver answered with a big 3-pointer for the Bears.

The Indians got within 65-61 with 1:35 left on a McElveen free throw, but  R.J. Gunn got loose for a layup for the Bears.

Marcell Haskett made a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to get Catawba back to 69-65, but Jean made clutch free throws to push the lead back to six.

Haskett missed on a 3-point try with eight seconds left. That was the last gasp for the Indians, who travel to Tusculum on Saturday.

 

CATAWBA(65) —Taylor 17, Cooper 14, McElveen 13, Haskett 7, Zemonek 6, McLaughlin 4, Lilly 2, Constantine 2, Barber, Johnson.

LENOIR-RHYNE (73) — Jean 16, Thomas 13, Gunn 11, Hawks 9, Diallo 7, Weaver 6, Bradford 5, Dailey 2, Simmons 2, Awana 2.

Catawba               18     47 — 65

Lenoir-Rhyne      37    36 — 73