HICKORY, N.C. — Despite having a quintet of players score in double figures, the Catawba College men's basketball team fell short in an intense battle with Lenoir-Rhyne, 75-71, on Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Arena.

TEAM STATS
- Catawba (3-2, 0-1 SAC) recorded an unfavorable 36.5% field goal percentage, falling well short of Lenoir-Rhyne's (7-2, 2-0 SAC) above-average 52.3% night from the field
- LR filled the cup early and often from long range with a 9-for-15 (.600) clip compared to the 7-for-24 (.292) mark by the blue and white
- Although the Bears led Catawba 20-10 in made free throws, the hosts were notably inefficient as the Catawba Indians held a 76.9%-58.8% advantage in shooting percentage at the stripe
- Catawba was out-rebounded for the first time this season, grabbing 37 boards while allowing the Bears to gain 40 – the most by a Catawba Indian opponent since last year's meeting with LR on Feb. 26 in the same venue
- Takeaways haunted the Bears in a 22-gaffe affair, while Catawba broke even with 14 steals and 14 turnovers

INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Ibra Athie topped all scorers with 14 points including a perfect 4-for-4 clip at the free-throw line
- Jashaun Hawkins racked up more points than minutes, burying a trio of three-pointers to power a 13-point night in just 10:46 of action; all of his points came in the last six minutes
- LeVionne Lindsey and Nick Walker, making his first appearance since the season opener, each netted 11 points with a block
- Carson Daniel also reached double digits in scoring with 10 points in addition to grabbing five rebounds, while he and brother Chase Daniel combined for nine assists
- Justin Banks captained the Catawba Indians outside of the scoring column, notching team highs of nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- After Julian Dozier laid in the first basket, Catawba scored the next six points as Lindsey tied it and Athie established the lead with back-to-back makes
- The Catawba Indians continued to impose their will in the opening eight minutes, sinking three buckets from downtown to widen the gap to 17-7
- The Bears gradually closed the deficit and went ahead using a gridiron-esque 28-7 run that produced a 35-24 LR lead with 3:17 to go in the half
- A persistent attack supplied by the blue and white allowed them to lessen the margin to seven in a 38-31 ledger heading into the locker room

Second Half
- Early in the period, Lindsey got a tip-in to fall as Athie drove and laid in a basket on the next possession, followed by an LR technical foul that resulted in a 2-for-2 trip to the line for Athie; the wild sequence resulted in Catawba making it a one-possession game
- A few comeback bids by the visitors were denied; instead, the Bears poured in 10 consecutive points to take their largest lead of the night at 63-49 with inside seven minutes to play
- Hawkins emerged as a leading candidate for Catawba's big push as he put together a monster four minutes, chipping in 10 points to tighten the LR edge to six in the final minute
- Though the Bears bumped their advantage to 75-68 with 16 seconds left, Catawba went the length of the floor and Hawkins drilled a triple to give the blue and white a spark
- The hosts drew a foul and missed the ensuing free throws, but Catawba ultimately ran out of time as a three-ball missed the mark while time expired on a 75-71 result in the South Atlantic Conference opener

UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians return to Goodman Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6, for their second home game – first in conference play – of the year against Lincoln Memorial at 4 p.m.