Men’s Basketball downed by sharpshooting Railsplitters

SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College men's basketball team's misses from the field spelled doom in an 86-76 defeat to 18th-ranked Lincoln Memorial on Saturday afternoon.

TEAM STATS

- Lincoln Memorial (4-1, 2-0 SAC) scorched the net with a 62.8 clip from the floor while Catawba (4-3, 2-2 SAC) posted a 37.1 mark

- Beyond the arc, the hosts shot 19.0 percent (4-for-21) as LMU had more efficient 3-for-9 affair from downtown

- Catawba hit 69.2 percent (18-for-26) of its free throws, better than the visitors' 61.4 percent (27-for-44) but LMU had a mighty advantage in volume

- Fast breaks haunted the Catawba Indians who trailed 30-5 in quick strikes and 48-32 in paint scoring

- The rebounding battle was narrowly won by Catawba, 38-37, although 18 of the blue and white's boards came from misses on offense while LMU corralled 31 defensive grabs

- The Railsplitters were turned over 12 times, seven of which were attributed to Catawba steals, against Catawba's eight turnovers that included four LMU steals

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Kris Robinson topped Catawba with 18 points featuring four three-pointers

- Caleb Jones notched a season-high 13 points while recording a pair of steals

- Snatching six offensive boards was Justin Banks whose 11 points and 11 rebounds logged the third consecutive game with a double-double performance by a Catawba player

- Montraivis White made four double-figure scorers on the day with 10 points

- O'Mazeon Tinsley dished out a team-best two assists in addition to eight points

- Catawba rolled with Carson Daniel in the contest as the freshman had an assist and a steal in his 3:30 off the bench, finishing at a plus-minus of +8

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- Ibra Athie and Robinson opened the scoring to make a 4-0 Catawba edge, but the Railsplitters went on a 12-point run featuring successful and-ones by Elyjah Freeman and EJ Smith

- Multiple Banks boards and two buckets by the Schaumburg, Ill. native helped the home team slowly catch up as a second pull-up jumper from Tinsley evened the score at 18-18

- The final nine minutes of the opening half saw the South Atlantic Conference opponents go blow-for-blow with Catawba's offense featuring a variety of contributors while LMU's ran mostly through Wes Enis who ended the first period at nine points

- Jones got an and-one conversion as well as a one-and-one free throw with six seconds left, putting Catawba slightly ahead at 37-36

Second Half

- A two-point bullseye by White was matched by five straight points from Smith, flipping the score to favor the Railsplitters early in the second half

- Robinson drilled a second-chance seconds before a Catawba timeout, making it 44-43 which became the squad's last lead of the game

- Osmar Garcia-Araujo punished the Catawba Indians in the post with three buckets in four minutes while Freeman and Enis dumped in points from outside, stretching the LMU advantage to 13

- The blue and white went on a 12-4 run powered by White's eight points, cutting the gap to six at the under-four media timeout

- Firm defense and solid shooting at the charity stripe kept LMU's lead from slipping away as the Splitters snagged a vengeance triumph over the defending SAC Tournament champions

UP NEXT

Catawba continues its homestand on Wednesday, Dec. 4 against Lenoir-Rhyne at 7:30 p.m.