Men’s Basketball knocks off Coker, advances to SAC semifinals

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team advanced to the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament semifinals with an 80-75 toppling of third-seeded Coker on Wednesday afternoon, holding the Cobras to their lowest scoring output of the season.

TEAM STATS

- The Catawba Indians (18-11) registered a 45.5% shooting percentage – dominating the paint with a 42-20 scoring difference – against Coker's (19-10) 33.9% clip

- Catawba drained just a trio of triples, going 3-for-14 (21.4%) from beyond the arc compared to Coker's 12-for-37 (32.4%)

- The Cobras held an edge in free throw efficiency at 78.9%, but Catawba made its way to the line more often with a 27-for-35 (77.1%) performance

- The blue and white commanded a firm 46-35 advantage on the boards despite the Cobras' 17-12 edge in second-chance points

- Catawba recorded a season-high 10 blocks while Coker managed just three

- Coker won the turnover battle by a 24-17 margin and possessed a 19-14 lead in points off miscues

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Nick Walker posted a team-leading 20 points and grabbed eight boards, also dishing out two assists with a steal and a block

- Kris Robinson sank three darts from long range, totaling 18 points while chipping in three rebounds and two dimes

- Ibra Athie flirted with a double-double, netting eight points with 12 rebounds

- Justin Banks rejected a career-high six shots with eight boards in an eight-point affair

- Jashaun Hawkins racked up 12 points in just 13 minutes of action off the bench

- Montraivis White tallied half of the squad's assists, distributing five helpers with a team-best point differential of +13

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

- Catawba rolled out to a 6-2 edge with four points from Caleb Jones, but Jonah Vaysbakh banked in a floating layup moments before the first media timeout, cutting the gap down to a bucket

- The Cobra defense began to tighten up, intercepting multiple Catawba passes to complement a settled-in offense as Coker used a 10-4 run to slip ahead

- A couple of tip-ins and a left-wing triple from Robinson allowed the Catawba Indians to jump into the driver's seat momentarily, but a 6-0 kick in 90 seconds shifted momentum back to the snakes

- Behind 28-22, Catawba enjoyed a surge with back-to-back Robinson three-pointers separated by a Banks block off the backboard to tie it; the Schaumburg, Ill. product had four swats in the first half alone

- Hawkins followed a successful drive to the hoop with a scoop-and-score seconds later, drilling the charity attempt to take a 37-34 advantage

- Max Hurray tallied five points to close the half, evening the ledger at 39-39 through the first 20 minutes

Second Half

- The score remained unchanged for roughly three minutes when Walker broke the silence with a gritty bucket down low

- The Hattiesburg, Miss. native supplied two second-chance baskets to widen the margin to five, but a three-point play from Xavier Harris reduced the Cobra deficit to 51-49 at the under-12 media

- Catawba stomped on the gas, out-scoring Coker 9-3 featuring a 7-for-7 clip at the line in the ensuing five minutes to take its largest lead of the contest at 60-52

- The snakes continued to battle, however, responding with Hurray and Murray three-balls that kept the contest within two possessions

- Another pivotal and-one conversion by Hawkins capped a 7-2 run for the blue and white, further lifting the Catawba advantage to 69-60

- Coker made its big charge over the next few minutes, putting forth a 10-1 run that left a six-point gash in Catawba's edge

- Catawba responded to the Cobras' late fouling strategy with a 7-for-7 clip at the charity stripe, weathering the storm for an 80-75 triumph

UP NEXT

Catawba moves on to face No. 2 seed Lenoir-Rhyne tomorrow (Mar. 6) in the semifinal round of the SAC Championship Tournament at 2:30 p.m.