By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

 MARS HILL — Caleb Mauldin is joining Mars Hill’s basketball program.

So the basketball journey continues for Mauldin, who graduated from West Rowan five years ago.

Mauldin is listed at 6-foot-9 and he has physical maturity, good hands and a soft touch, so it’s possible he’ll be an inside presence in the South Atlantic Conference.

Mauldin was a highly regarded high school player, a rare 2,000-point scorer, only the third male in Rowan County history to reach that milestone, and he also amassed over 1,500 rebounds for coach Mike Gurley’s Falcons. He was a two-time county player of the year, conference player of the year and district player of the year. He played in the North Carolina-South Carolina All-Star Game and the East-West All-Star Game and held his own against some of the top players in the Carolinas.

He attended prep school at Fork Union Military Academy in 2018-19, performed admirably there and graduated as an officer.

His next stop was North Georgia University, an upper-tier Division II program. He redshirted a season there and played a little in 2020-21, but that was the COVID season that essentially became a redshirt for everyone.

Mauldin started over at that point and carved out a role the last two seasons for good teams at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. He averaged 10 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2021-22 and posted similar numbers in 2022-23.

Caldwell recently concluded a 22-5 season with a loss to Cape Fear in the semifinals of the Region 10 Tournament. Mauldin had one of his better games in his finale for CCC&TI, scoring 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting.

Mars Hill is head-coached by Larry Davis, who once was a McDonald’s All-America in the South Carolina high school ranks. Davis signed with UNC and played on the 1993 national champions. He later transferred to the University of South Carolina and starred for the Gamecocks.

Davis was hired in the spring of 2022, with the task of turning around the Lions. They were 9-19 overall in 2022-23 and 4-14 in the SAC, so there’s opportunity for playing time.