Saturday, February 22, 2002
Lenoir-Rhyne
Moves Past Presbyterian, 71-61
HICKORY,
N.C. — The
Lenoir-Rhyne College men's basketball team moved back into a
three-way tie atop the South Atlantic Conference with a 71-61
win over Presbyterian College.
With
Tusculum's win over Carson-Newman, the Bears are now in a
three-way tie with Carson-Newman and Wingate for first place
in the SAC. Both
teams continue conference play on Wednesday at 8 p.m. with L-R
(17-6, 9-3) hosting Wingate University and PC (21-7, 7-5)
visiting Catawba College.
Rashad
Price led the Bears
with a season-high 26 points and four assists. Price finished
6-of-7 from behind the arc and 6-for-6 from the free throw
line. Ryan
Pitts registered a double-double with 14 rebounds and 10
points, while Roman
Davis contributed 17 points, five rebounds, and four
blocks. Randy Mauldin
added 11 points and four rebounds.
Senior Jeff
Whittle led the Blue Hose with 16 points including
hitting 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Senior Rod
Isom
finished with 13 points and six rebounds, while senior Chuck
Rayford
contributed 10 points and four rebounds.
Freshman Michael Drum added nine points and
eight rebounds in the effort for PC.
Statistically
in the game, L-R shot 44.2 percent from the field, while PC
made 38.9 percent of their attempts from the field.
PC won the battle of the boards, 34-31, but the Blue
Hose committed two more turnovers than the Bears, 13-to-11.
After
missing all their shots from behind the arc in the first half,
PC finished shooting 4-of-13 from three-point land, while L-R
shot 9-of-17 from that distance.
L-R also made 24-of-33 from the charity stripe compared
to 15-of-23 for PC. L-R finished with six team blocks compared to zero for the
Blue Hose.
In the
first half, L-R jumped out to a 13-3 lead through the first
6:57. Price started the scoring with a three-pointer and ended
L-R's run with a "three."
Price established a new season high with 19 points in
the first half which included hitting 5-of-6 from behind the
arc. PC closed to within 15-7 with a jumper by Andrew
Dellinger, but L-R maintained at least a eight-point advantage
until a Rayford jumper cut L-R's advantage to 23-17
Statistically
in the first half, L-R shot 45.5 percent from the field while
holding PC to 30.8 percent.
The Bears controlled the boards 18-14, and the teams
committed 11 turnovers combined (five for PC and six for L-R).
L-R shot a remarkable 7-for-10 from behind the arc
while holding PC to 0-for-4 shooting from that distance.
In the
second half, Connelly started the scoring by hitting L-R's
eighth "three."
The Bears went on an 8-2 run over the first 4:30 of the
second stanza to establish a 46-26 lead.
The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, and
the Bears maintained a 48-30 lead with 13:35 remaining.
An Isom free throw brought the Blue Hose to within
48-31 with 12:43 left. The score remained unchanged until
Connelly hit jumper in the middle of the lane to extend L-R's
lead to 50-31 with just over 11 minutes remaining.
Whittle hit
PC's first three-pointer of the game to pull the Blue Hose to
within 53-36 with 9:49 left.
After a PC timeout, Marcus Springs made two free throws
to put L-R back up 55-36 with 9:30 remaining.
Connelly rebounded his own shot and made a put back,
but PC hit their second three-pointer to remain within 18
points of the Bears with 8:29 left. After a Bear turnover,
PC's Drum continued the steady comeback attempt by making two
free throws to pull PC to within 57-41 with 8:17 to go.
PC went on a 10-2 run in the next 3:45 to close to
within 60-51 with 5:32 remaining. Pitts hit a fade away jumper
along the baseline, but PC answered with another score to pull
to within 62-53 with 4:46 left.
Mauldin canned two free throws to lift the Bears to a 64-53 lead, and then Connelly found Andre Reid for a fastbreak layup to extend L-R's lead to 66-53 with just over three minutes remaining. Whittle hit his third three-pointer with 2:30 remaining to bring PC to within 10 points, and Isom connected on an inside one-hander to close to within 66-58 with 1:42 left. After an L-R timeout, the Bears ran the clock down until Pitts was fouled attempting a hook with just two seconds remaining on the shot clock. Pitts hit one-of-two from the line to extend L-R's lead to 67-58 with just over a minute left. Following a PC offensive foul, L-R continued to run out the clock. Price was fouled with just seconds remaining on the shot clock, and he converted with two free throws to extend L-R's lead to 69-58. After a Pitts' rejection, Connelly scored an easy layup. PC closed out the scoring with one more score, but the Bears won 71-61.