Staff report

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Catawba’s men’s basketball team erased an 18-point deficit, but lost at the end to rival Lenoir-Rhyne in a contentious South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinal that included seven technical fouls, 54 personals and 73 free throws.

The second-seeded Bears survived 84-83 on Thursday and advanced to Friday’s championship game against No. 1 seed Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters beat Carson-Newman 81-78 in the other semifinal.

The Bears have reached the final for the first time since 2019.

Lenoir-Rhyne (25-5) out-shot the Indians by a lot – 52 percent to 37 percent — but Catawba (18-12) made 32 free throws and pulled down 17 offensive boards.

Lenoir-Rhyne led by nine at the half and was in complete control at 69-51 with less than nine minutes left, but that’s when things began to unravel.

A flurry of L-R technicals helped, and the Indians got all the way back at 83-all when Nick Walker made a layup with 37 seconds left.

The Bears scored the decisive point with 15 seconds left on a Ziare Wells free throw.

Catawba had the last shot, but Kris Robinson missed from long range in the final seconds, and Nick Walker’s follow was contested by L-R’s Hantz Louis-Jeune, who was credited with a block.

Robinson scored 25 for the Indians. His eventful day included 5-for-15 3-point shooting and 8-for-8 from the foul line.

Walker scored 18 points. Jashaun Hawkins came off the bench to get 15.

Julian Dozier led four Bears in double figures with 18.

Catawba            32    51   — 83

Lenoir-Rhyne   41    43    — 84

CATAWBA scoring — Robinson 25, Walker 18, Hawkins 15, Banks 9, Carson Daniel 5, Athie 4, McDuffie 3, Jones 2, White 2.