Box Score
Box score
ANDERSON, S.C. - The Anderson men's basketball team erased a
one-point halftime deficit with 10 unanswered points to start the
second half, as the Trojans opened a two-game South Atlantic
Conference homestand by topping Catawba, 81-61, Saturday afternoon
at the Abney Athletic Center.
Anderson (17-6, 12-5 SAC) has won eight of its last nine overall
and nine straight past Catawba, while maintaining a share of second
place with Carson-Newman in the league standings. Catawba (6-15,
6-11 SAC) suffered its fifth loss in its last six outings.
"The big difference was that we started the second half with
[several] defensive stops," said Anderson head coach Jason Taylor.
"We also starting guarding the post better. Collectively, it was a
good overall team win."
The Trojans held a 48-36 advantage in the battle of the boards,
while pulling down 17 offensive rebounds, and converted 16 Catawba
turnovers into 15 points. Neither team was hot from the field, with
Anderson shooting 37.7 percent on the afternoon, while the Indians
were 20-of-58 for 34.5 percent. But the Trojans were 24-of-27 (88.9
percent) from the free throw line for their second-highest accuracy
of the season.
Senior guard Chandler Hash led all scorers with 22 points, while
handing out two assists and grabbing three steals. Senior guard CJ
Gleaton added 15 points, with junior guard Myson Jones chipping in
13 points and swiping two steals. Junior center Chris Ross tallied
11 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while senior forward Kyle
Sledge equaled a career high with four assists.
Catawba sophomore Elon Edwards led three Indians in double
figures with 17 points. Preseason First-Team All-SAC selection
Tyrece Little netted 13 points, while sophomore forward Julian
Sampah chipped in 10 points.
With both teams looking to shake off the rust from a weeklong
layoff and playing the first of three games in a seven-day span,
the Trojans scored the first five points of the game, with Gleaton
scoring on a short jumper and Jones following less than a minute
later with the first of his three 3-pointers on the day.
But the Indians stayed close, as the first half featured nine
ties and seven lead changes, with Catawba garnering its first lead
of the game, at 23-22, on a 3-pointer from Edwards with just more
than five minutes left in the opening half. Less than three minutes
later sophomore guard Kijuan Arrington gave Catawba its largest
lead of the game, 29-26, with his traditional three-point play.
Catawba still held a three-point lead with less than a minute
left in the frame, before Hash trimmed the Indians' cushion to just
33-32 with a pair of free throws just before intermission.
The Trojans erupted with 10 unanswered points to open the second
half, as Gleaton opened the stanza with a short jumper and Jones
sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a basket from Hash, as AU
claimed a lead it would not relinquish, at 42-33, with 18:01
remaining in the contest.
With Anderson holding a 13-point advantage, the Indians sliced
AU's lead to just 54-49 midway through the half, but it was as
close as the visitors would get, as Hash stemmed the Catawba run
with two from the line.
Anderson reclaimed the double-digit cushion on two Gleaton free
throws and steadily pulled away in the final minutes.
Anderson will look to win its fifth straight home game as the
Trojans wrap up the two-game homestand with Mars Hill invading the
Abney Athletic Center on Monday at 8 p.m. The game will be a
rematch of an earlier contest that saw AU hold off the Lions,
79-70, in Mars Hill, N.C.