Wednesday, March 02, 2005

#3 SEED BLUE HOSE ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS WITH 58-54 WIN OVER #6 SEED LIONS

CLINTON, SC – The #3 seed Presbyterian College advanced to the semifinals with a 58-54 win over the #6 seed Mars Hill College Lions in first round action of the 2005 Food Lion/South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball Tournament held at the Ross E. Templeton Center Wednesday night.

The Blue Hose (18-10) advance to face the winner of tonight’s #2 Lenoir-Rhyne College/#7 Wingate University game on Saturday, March 5 at the Catawba Valley Community Center for a 8:00 pm tip-off. Mars Hill ends the season with a 12-18 overall record.

The first half saw the Lions jump out to a 16-9 lead at the 12:31 mark behind four points apiece from junior wing Walt Baxley (Winston-Salem, NC) and redshirt freshman guard Stephano Jackson (Winston-Salem, NC). Mars Hill held a slim lead over the next few minutes until the Blue Hose tied the game at 26-26 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Drew Biggs (Alpharetta, GA) at the 3:00 mark.

PC’s redshirt freshman center Martynas Versinskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) scored to give the Blue Hose their first lead of the game at 30-29 with 1:29 remaining, but Mars Hill scored the final three points including a jumper by senior wing Reggie Johnson (Soddy-Daisy, TN) to take a 33-30 lead into halftime.

Both team shot extremely well in the first half with the Blue Hose shooting 57.1% from the field and the Lions shooting 56.5% from the floor. The Blue Hose suffered through 15 first half turnovers while Mars Hill was whistled for 12 turnovers.

In the second half, the Lions responded to an early Blue Hose run to push the lead back to seven points on two occasions, the second coming at 50-43 with 9:36 remaining on a jumper by senior post Jeremiah Tinch (Calhoun Falls, SC). PC responded with a 8-0 run over the next six minutes to retake the lead at 51-50 on a jumper by Herren with 3:43 remaining in the game. MHC’s Tinch hit four straight free throws to tie the game at 54-54 with 2:14 left in the game. 

PC’s sophomore guard Sean Dixon (Marietta, GA) hit a pair of free throws with :46 seconds remaining to give PC back the lead at 56-54 and junior forward Tray Ballenger (Wellford, SC) iced the game with :23 seconds left with two more free throws as the Blue Hose fought back to win 58-54.

Ballenger and sophomore forward Grant Herren (Oviedo, FL) led the Blue Hose in scoring with 12 and 11 points apiece while the Lions were led in scoring by Tinch who scored a game-high 23 points on eight-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with 11 rebounds. Johnson rounded out the double figure scorers with 16 points.