Offensive woes doom Men’s Basketball in setback at Emory & Henry

EMORY, Va. – The Catawba College men's basketball team was held to its lowest number of defensive rebounds and recorded its second-lowest steal total of the year on Saturday, chalking up a 93-78 loss to Emory & Henry.

TEAM STATS

- The Wasps (6-19, 4-17 SAC) shot 58.3% from the field, draining two-thirds of its second-half attempts, while Catawba (14-10, 11-9 SAC) was restrained to a 37.9% success rate

- Emory & Henry was just as efficient from beyond the arc with a 56.5% three-point percentage, topping the 31.8% (7-for-22) amassed by the visitors

- Catawba went 21-for-28 (75.0%) from the charity stripe, while E&H made more free throws in nearly the same number of chances with an 82.8% mark

- The points off turnovers (23-16) and second chance points (20-10) segments favored Catawba, who also led the contest in rebounds (34-32) and steals (7-4)

- The South Atlantic Conference's top-ranked team in blocking showcased its swatting ability, logging six stops to overshadow the Catawba Indians' three

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Kris Robinson enjoyed his best scoring performance of the season with 28 points on a career-high 10 field goals, tying his high-water mark of six three-pointers

- Solomon Tucker's 19-point affair notched his highest total as a Catawba Indian; the Queen City native went 9-for-10 at the free-throw line

- Ibra Athie collected six rebounds and two steals to support his 11 points and three assists on the offensive end

- In less than 14 minutes of action, Zion McDuffie tacked on seven points, six boards, one steal, and a team-high two blocks

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- The opening five minutes featured a neck-and-neck battle as Catawba held a slight edge prior to Jackson Crawford's go-ahead three and two buckets by Athie to snatch the lead back

- The Wasps leveled the score at 14-14 before Assad Madassalia blocked two shots, keeping the visitors' scoring limited but E&H failed to capitalize

- Tied at 18 halfway through the first half, the Wasps went on a 9-3 run to establish a stronger lead before extending the margin to 38-27 with 4:01 until halftime

- Four points from McDuffie slimmed the deficit to four, but E&H logged six of the last eight points to possess a 44-36 advantage at the break

Second Half

- Catawba burst out of the locker room with a 9-0 run, briefly surpassing the Wasps on a Robinson pull-up triple

- Down four, Robinson went back-to-back from beyond the arc to gain a two-point edge at 51-49

- The Wasps embarked on a run of their own, outscoring Catawba 13-2 in a six-minute span before bumping the gap to double digits a few possessions later

- With 7:10 to go, Robinson netted a trey while drawing a foul to convert a four-point play and bring the deficit back to nine; however, Korbin Dixon responded with a three and Jalen Leftwich floated in a basket, making the count 76-62

- A retaliative Wasp offense and off-target Catawba Indian shooting rejected the blue and white's bids to close the gap, helping E&H secure its sixth SAC victory

UP NEXT

Catawba returns to friendly confines on Wednesday, Feb. 19 to host Limestone at Goodman Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tip.