March 1, 2008

Mars Hill Men’s Basketball Surprises Lenoir-Rhyne, 80-68, In Regular Season Finale

L-R shares the South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Title with Wingate

Mars Hill, N.C. – The Mars Hill College Men’s Basketball Team (12-15, 5-9) picked up a surprising victory over No. 11 Lenoir-Rhyne College (21-5, 12-2), 80-68, Saturday afternoon at Stanford Arena in Mars Hill, N.C.

Despite the setback, L-R shares the 2007-08 South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship with Wingate, who defeated Carson-Newman Saturday at home.

Mars Hill’s Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) led the Lions with 24 points while Jamarl Glen (District Heights, Md.) added 16 points en route to the win.

Senior forward Reggie Bratton (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte HS) tallied a double-double, 20 points and 11 rebounds, and junior guard Josh Rudder (Graham, N.C./Southern Alamance HS) chipped in with 16 points but the Bears were done in with 23 turnovers.

Mars Hill, who shot 52 percent (29-of-56) from the field, held a 39-33 advantage at halftime and never trailed in the second half.

After the Lions built a 44-33 advantage thanks to a trey by Polite with 17:17 remaining, the Bears closed the gap to two points (57-55) at the 8:36 mark

However, Mars Hill took command again with a 17-7 run for a 74-62 lead with 2:48 left that put the game out of reach.

Lenoir-Rhyne holds the tiebreaker over Wingate in the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament and will be the No. 1 seed when the tournament starts next week. L-R will host Lincoln Memorial next Wednesday in the first round beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6.00 for adults and $3.00 for kids 12 and under and college students who show the proper ID.

Box Score