College basketball: Catawba men fall to 0-2 in SAC

Published 12:04 am Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Staff report

HARTSVILLE, S.C. — It’s not exactly a hole yet because teams play 22 South Atlantic Conference games, but the Catawba Indians fell to 0-2 in the league with a 94-86 loss here Tuesday night.
Coker’s Cobras (4-2, 1-0 SAC) won the game in the DeLoach Center largely by outplaying Catawba the last five minutes and by making 29 of 39 free throws.
Catawba (3-2, 0-2 SAC) didn’t shoot well from anywhere, with 4-for-17 on 3-pointers, 40.5-percent field-goal shooting and 18-for-31 (58.1 percent) from the foul line.
Catawba’s three top scorers all had strong nights, especially K.J. Arrington, who poured in 31 points on 11-for-23 shooting. Jerrin Morrison had 15 points and 14 rebounds. Jameel Taylor missed five free throws but still checked in with 19 points and seven boards. Andrew Ingram contributed 11 points.
Catawba trailed by 15 points at one point in the first half, but scored the last six of the half on buckets by Arrington, Morrison and Ingram to get within 42-38 at halftime.
With 5:45 remaining, a layup by Ingram put the Indians ahead, 77-76, and a jumper by Morrison with 4:21 remaining pushed the Indians’ lead to 79-76.
But Coker answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Roman Hall (to tie) and JaQuez Motley (for a three-point lead).
Catawba turned it over, and the Cobras scored again. Catawba missed a layup, and the Cobras scored again.
That put Coker up by seven with 1:51 remaining, and Coker made free throws to finish off the Indians.

Catawba is off until Monday night when it hosts Winston-Salem State at 7 p.m.

CATAWBA (3-2, 0-2 SAC)
Arrington 31, Taylor 19, Morrison 14, Ingram 11, Brown 6, McLaughlin 5, McGregor, Sealey, Edwards, Barber, Warren, Robinson.
COKER (4-2, 1-0 SAC)
Motley 19, Barrett 16, Priest 14, Hall 13, Lemke 10, Jackson 8, Cooper 6, Williams 5, Leftwich 3.

Catawba 38 48 — 86
Coker 42 52 — 94