Mars Hill Men's Basketball Escapes With An 85-83 Victory Over Lenoir-Rhyne
January 13, 2010
Lions defeat the Bears for the first time in 20 years on the road
 Senior guard Marcus Hodges tied a career-high with 23 points in Lenoir-Rhyne's 85-83 loss to Mars Hill at home Wednesday night. |
Hickory, N.C. – The Mars Hill College Men’s Basketball Team (8-6, 3-1) increased its winning streak to four games with a thrilling, 85-83 win over Lenoir-Rhyne University (3-12, 1-4) Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. Mars Hill also won for the first time on L-R’s home court in 20 years.
Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) and Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) each scored 19 points while Malachi added 10 rebounds to complete the double-double for the Lions in the victory.
L-R senior guard Marcus Hodges (Wake Forest, N.C.) and junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) scored 23 points apiece despite the setback for the Bears. Hodges matched his career-high in scoring but Lenoir-Rhyne suffered its fourth straight loss.
Lenoir-Rhyne took a 38-32 lead into the break and pushed its advantage to as many as 12 points (47-35) early in the second half before Mars Hill began its rally.
Mars Hill responded with a 12-point run to tie the game at 47 at the 15:08 mark of the second half but Lenoir-Rhyne pushed its lead back to nine points at 58-49 on a three-point play from Blackmon with 12:33 remaining.
From there, the Lions would slowly cut into the Bears’ margin and would take their first lead of the game on a three-point put-back by Dallas Johnson (Auburndale, Fla.) with 44 seconds left for an 82-81 advantage.
A game-tying three-point attempt by Lenoir-Rhyne would have tied it with 23 seconds left but the shot rimmed out and Mars Hill’s Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) iced the contest with a free throw for a four-point advantage (85-81) with seven seconds on the clock. Polite finished with 17 points.
Lenoir-Rhyne hosts first-place Lincoln Memorial on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m., in a league contest while Mars Hill returns home to take on Catawba at 4 p.m.
