Lakeland, Fla. —- The Catawba College men's basketball team fell in the finale of the Mocs Thanksgiving Classic in Lakeland, Fla. versus Saint Leo.
TEAM STATS
- Saint Leo shot 28-for-53 (53 percent) from the field, while Catawba was just 24-of-67 (36 percent) from the field
- The Lions were 10-of-19 (53 percent) from three-point range; the Catawba Indians were 7-for-26 (27 percent) from deep
- SLU made 23 of its 26 (88 percent) free throw attempts, while Catawba went 20-for-31 (65 percent) from the foul line
- Catawba recorded 18 assists to 16 turnovers, while forcing Saint Leo to 18 turnovers; the Lions had 23 assists on the game
- The Catawba Indians grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, holding the advantage over the Lions in total rebounds 41-36
- Catawba's bench out-scored SLU's 33-13
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Kris Robinson once again led the way, scoring 19 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range
- Peyton Gerald added 15 points and five rebounds
- Kaleb Wallace pitched in nine points and three steals
- Justin Banks had nine points and six boards
- Dre Nelson recorded seven points in 12 minutes off the bench
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
- Saint Leo jumped out to an early advantage, leading 12-2 after three minutes
- Banks' jumper cut Catawba's deficit to six points a minute later
- De'Angelo Epps' free throws brought the Catawba Indians to within 15-11 at the 15:03 mark
- Kanon Koster answered with a three-pointer to return SLU's lead to seven
- Catawba scored nine of the next 13 points as Gerald's second-chance layup cut the Catawba Indians' deficit to a single bucket
- The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half, as Catawba never led, trailing 32-30 as the teams entered the halftime locker room
SECOND HALF
- Catawba took its first lead of the game on Robinson's three-pointer at the 18:48 mark
- SLU's Logan Ryan answered with a triple to retake the lead for the Lions
- An 18-3 SLU run pushed the Lions' lead to 52-38 just over six minutes into the half
- Banks' three-pointer at the 10:51 mark cut Catawba's deficit down to 10 points
- Another 10-2 run from the Lions got their lead up to 70-52, their largest of the game
- Catawba responded right back with an 11-0 run – eight of which came from Robinson – to cut their deficit down to 70-63 around the five-minute mark
- The Catawba Indians got within six points off Robinson's three-pointer with 3:10 left
- Ryan's second-chance three-pointer returned the Lion lead to double digits with 52 seconds to go
- SLU salted the game away with free throws down the stretch, winning by an 89-75 final
UP NEXT
- Catawba starts up South Atlantic Conference play next Saturday, hosting Lenoir-Rhyne at Goodman Arena for a 7:30 p.m. start
