Staff report
Catawba’s men’s basketball team pulled out a 76-73 SAC victory at Brevard’s Boshamer Gym on Wednesday’s night.
It’s never easy on the road in the SAC, and Catawba had to shoot 60 percent in the second half to beat a team that is now in last place in the league.
Catawba (12-3, 4-0) was outrebounded 40-37. Brevard (8-6, 1-4) also won the turnover battle.
Senior Cliff Burns (Davie) came through with a nice effort for the Indians. He had 14 points, five boards and four blocks.
Antonio Houston scored 16 points. Rob Fields came off the bench to score 15, and Donald Rutherford produced 10 points. Dominick Reid dished out five assists.
Brevard’s Jonathan Whitson was a handful, as he’s been for most of the teams in the league. The 6-foot-7 junior scored 25 points and blocked three shots.
Brevard, which led by as many as nine points in the first half, took its last lead at 69-68 with 3:50 remaining, but layups by Donzell Williams and Burns put the Indians ahead to stay.
Whitson’s layup with 41 seconds left made it 74-73 Catawba.
The Indians turned the ball over with 18 seconds left on a steal by Nathan Whitmire, but Whitson missed from close range with four seconds to go. Reid got the rebound and made a pair of free throws with one second left.
The SAC scoreboard was very favorable for first-place Catawba on Wednesday, as its three closest pursuers lost. Lenoir-Rhyne, Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman dropped games on the road and now have two SAC losses each.
Catawba is home against Mars Hill on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
In Wednesday’s SAC games:
* Jesse Wheeler scored 26 points as Newberry beat Lincoln Memorial 65-49 at Eleazer Arena.
* P.J. Gore scored 20 points as Mars Hill won 90-80 against Lenoir-Rhyne for its first league win.
* Wingate’s Tommy Coles scored 18 points to lead an 87-74 victory over Carson-Newman at Cuddy Arena.
CATAWBA (76) ó Houston 16, Fields 15, Burns 14, Rutherford 10, Williams 7, Reid 7, Rose 5, Magnusson 2, Shoemaker, Sossamon.
BREVARD (73) ó Whitson 25, Carlisle 10, Whitmire 9, Freeman 8, Chilton 4, Dellinger 4, Galloway 4, Johnson 4, Siniard 3, Ferretti 2.
Catawba 32 44 ó 76
Brevard 36 37 ó 73