Wednesday, January 17, 2001

THE BLUE HOSE ROLL PAST THE LIONS 69-52

MARS HILL, NC - The Mars Hill College men's basketball teams hosted South Atlantic Conference (SAC) rival Presbyterian College (PC) tonight in Stanford Arena.  Mars Hill's men team (0-4, 2-11) fell to the Blue Hose (3-1, 10-5) 69-52.  The Presbyterian men's head coach Gregg Nibert picked up his 200th career win with the victory.

In the men's game, PC head coach Gregg Nibert obtained his 200th career coaching victory with a 69-52 win over the Lions.  PC never trailed in the contest.  The Blue Hose jumped out to a 21-8 lead by the 11:30 mark after freshman guard Andrew Dellinger (Mauertown, VA) nailed a three-pointer.  Presbyterian enjoyed a 20-point (37-17) lead at the break, a season low in first half scoring for the Lions.  PC hit 60.9% (14-23) of their field goals in the first half and forced 11 Lion turnovers in the opening period.  Mars Hill cut the Blue Hose lead to 12 points (54-42) with 10:10 left in the contest after senior guard David Delgado (Tenerife, Canary Islands) hit a shot from long range.  That was as close as the Lions would get.  PC went on a 11-to-4 run to lead by 19 (65-46) at the 3:46 mark when senior forward D.J. Humphries (Union, SC) hit a layup.  PC cruised down the stretch to the 17-point victory.  With the win PC shares the top spot in the league with Lenoir-Rhyne College, Wingate University, and Catawba College that all have a 3-1 record in league play.

Humphries and sophomore guard Chuck Rayford (Greenville, SC) paced the Blue Hose with 12 points apiece.  Sophomore Jeff Whittle (Strasburg, VA) added 11 points in the win.  Sophomore wing Donielle Davis (Greenville, SC) led Mars Hill with 12 points followed by senior wing Edo Mlatac (Pula, Croatia) with nine.

On Saturday, the Blue Hose will face the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College at 4:00 pm while the Lions play host to Wingate at 8:00 pm.