Box Score
Box score
SALISBURY, N.C. - The Anderson University men's basketball team
erased a 14-point second-half deficit, but a late scoring drought
proved costly as the Trojans closed a two-game road swing with a
60-57 setback in South Atlantic Conference action, Saturday
afternoon at Goodman Gymnasium.
Anderson (11-13, 7-11 SAC) has dropped two of its last three
decisions by a combined five points and fell to the Indians for the
first time since the 2010-11 campaign. Catawba improved to 12-12
overall and 9-9 in the conference with its third straight
victory.
Freshman Tre' Fields led the Trojans with a career-high 12
points, including seven in the first half, and pulled down a
team-high six rebounds. Senior center Chris Ross added 11 points
and grabbed five boards, with senior Myson Jones netting 10
points.
Catawba's Vismantas Marijosius and Jerrin Morrison shared
game-high scoring honors with 15 points apiece, while Jameel Taylor
chipped in 14 points in the win.
Both teams struggled to get untracked early on the offensive
end, with Catawba moving out to an early 7-3 advantage, with the
Trojans connecting on just one of their first five field goal
attempts to open the game and committing a pair of miscues.
Anderson's Fields drained his lone 3-pointer of the first half
to even the score for the second time of the contest, at 10-10,
with 13:23 on the clock. Catawba regained a three-point advantage
on Taylor's jumper and a free throw from Julian Sampah.
Ross knotted the score again, at 13-13, for the third time by
dropping in a close bucket and connecting on one of two from the
line midway through the half, with the Trojans finally able to
wrestle the lead away on Ross's tip-in of Alani Adekambi's miss
with 9:11 on the clock, taking a narrow, 15-13, edge.
But Catawba countered with seven unanswered points over the next
two-plus minutes to take their largest lead to that point, at
20-15. The Indians extended their surge with a 14-4 run to claim a
27-19 advantage with more than four minutes left in the opening
half. Rakish Taylor and Fields answered with four straight points
to trim the Indians' cushion to 27-23, but the Trojans would get no
closer in the final moments of the half, as Catawba closed the
frame with five consecutive points to take a 32-23 edge at the
break.
Senior Nick Jackson opened the second half with a dunk for AU,
but Catawba opened up a double-digit, 36-25, lead with 17:31 left
and built its largest advantage of the game, 41-27, with a 9-4 run
to open the second half.
Staring at the 14-point deficit, junior Steven Faust sparked a
13-0 run by the Trojans over the next 2:47, as Anderson slashed the
Indians lead to just one. Fields netted five points during the
comeback, with freshman Maurice Howard chipping in four of his nine
points in the rally.
The Indians rebuilt their lead to seven points twice, with
Anderson chipping their lead back to a single point on two
occasions before Howard's traditional three-point play with more
than five minutes left gave the Trojans their first lead, at 55-54,
since the 9:11 mark of the first half.
Howard followed with a steal and found freshman Matthew McClain
open for a layup 14 seconds later to boost the Trojans' edge to
57-54 with 5:07 on the clock. But the Trojans went cold and
misfired on their final four shot attempts from the field and three
from the line, while Morrison and Marijosius were a combined
six-for-six from the free throw line inside the final three
minutes.
Anderson opens a two-game homestand on Wednesday by welcoming
Carson-Newman to the Abney Center for the second meeting of the
season with the Eagles. The Trojans will be looking to avenge a
66-52 setback suffered at the hands of the Eagles in late January.
Tip-off versus Carson-Newman is slated for 8 p.m.