ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University men's basketball team (7-0, 2-0 SAC) defeated Mars Hill (6-1, 1-1 SAC) on Saturday evening to secure their place as the South Atlantic Conference's only unbeaten team.
 
"Really proud of our effort tonight. These guys are a joy to coach." said head coach Jimmie Williams. "Night in and night out we give everything we have, and we genuinely celebrate each other's successes. We knew we would be tested tonight. Crack KT has done a heck of a job getting people excited at Mars Hill. They have really good players, and they run tough actions that put pressure on defenses."
 
After an even start to the first half of the game, the Trojans regained their lead in just the fourth minute. In the second half, Anderson recorded their largest lead with an eight-point run to make the score 49-74 in the 11^th minute. The Black and Gold held a statistical edge in almost every category, shooting 33.3% from deep and tallying 14 steals.
 
Freshman Rashawn Inglemon (Sacramento, Calif.), junior Dallas Jones (Gainesville, Fla.), Osmar Garcia-Araujo (Sugar Hill, Ga.), junior AJ Wright Jr. (Clearwater, Fla.), and senior Malachi Reeves (Lexington, S.C.) each tallied double digits on the court to lead the team to their seventh-straight victory.
 
Inglemon took the lead for Anderson with 16 points on the game while going 6-for-10 in field goals. Garcia-Araujo totaled 13 points on the court with seven rebounds, four assists and a perfect free throw percentage. Wright Jr. posted 12 points on the court while also recording four rebounds, three assists and going 2-for-2 from behind the arc. Reeves notched 12 points on the board for the Trojans all while going 3-for-5 in free throws.
 
Redshirt senior Kadyn Dawkins (Greensboro, N.C.) was second on the team with six rebounds and went 3-for-3 from the line. Sophomore Sentinel Moore (Oklahoma City, Oak.) and redshirt senior James Repas (Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) both posted a perfect field goal percentage while Moore also added four rebounds to the team's total.
"Thankful we had a week to prepare for today, and it showed." added Williams. "Our guys battled and stayed on mission defensively to what we wanted to do. Many guys had a big hand in this win. AJ was outstanding tonight. He is so good at ending runs for the team that try to get momentum. Every time we needed a stop tonight, he made the big play. Osmar and Rashawn did the same thing on the offensive end making big plays to end droughts. Our bench contributes to be a big factor in our early season success. Dallas, Caleb, and Sentinel were huge tonight. We are going to enjoy this one tonight but are also excited to get back to work."
 
The Black and Gold are back in action when they travel to Jefferson City, Tenn. for a conference matchup against Carson-Newman on Saturday, Dec. 13. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m.