ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team enters its postseason this week, kicking off the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament on Wednesday as the sixth seed.
Regular Season Recap
- The Catawba Indians pulled out all the stops on Senior Day, delivering a 104-54 lashing to regionally-ranked UVA Wise to close the regular season at 17-11 overall and 14-10 in the league
- Saturday's victory over the Highland Cavaliers marked Catawba's fourth SAC sweep as the blue and white previously went 2-0 against Carson-Newman, Tusculum and Mars Hill
- With the exception of blowout wins over UVA Wise on Mar. 1 (104-54) and Carson-Newman on Dec. 14 (91-63), the squad tallied each of its wins by 10 or fewer points
- On home court, the Catawba Indians excelled with a 12-3 record at Goodman Arena featuring three victories against teams who were either ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes in the poll
All-Conference Pair
- Kris Robinson and Nick Walker were tabbed to the second and third All-SAC teams, respectively, on Monday afternoon
- Having two Catawba Indians highlighted marked an increase from the beginning of the year as none appeared on the two Preseason All-SAC squads
- Catawba has recorded three straight years with two all-conference honorees
Robinson's Records
- Robinson completed his fourth regular season in Salisbury with a career-high eight three-pointers on Saturday, coming one shot shy of the in-game record but shattered another
- Needing five threes to tie Marcell Haskett's top single-season mark of 82 triples, the Lincolnton, N.C. native's explosive affair gave him a three-trey advantage at 85 for the year
- The senior guard already holds the career three-pointers record, swishing 279 long-range darts in 113 games
- With his current pace of accuracy at the free-throw line, Robinson will be the record holder with an 85.4% clip at the charity stripe – the current record belongs to Devin Cooper at 84.7%
Stat Sheet Summary
- Scoring-wise, Robinson leads the way with 14.6 points per game and ranks second in the SAC for three-point shooting both on a per-game basis (3.04) and total (85)
- Ibra Athie slots as a top-10 rebounder among conference players, gathering 7.7 rebounds per game to go with 10.7 points; the Cincinnati, Ohio product has logged seven double-doubles
- Walker has been a vital piece in the paint for Catawba, recording the nation's 10th-best field goal percentage (63.9%) while netting 13.7 points and grabbing 6.7 boards per game
- Montraivis White paces the lineup in both assists (3.3) and steals (1.6) per game
- Justin Banks is putting up a block per game with 22 total swats, followed closely by Walker at 21 denials
Let's Rock
- Last March, Catawba left Rock Hill, S.C. with the SAC Tournament crown for the 10th time in program history
- The route to the title started with an 87-77 victory over sixth seed Coker in the quarterfinal round; in this year's postseason meeting, the roles are reversed
- The Catawba Indians have played in Rock Hill five times, going 4-1 in the city; before last season's title run, Catawba defeated Limestone 109-104 in a neutral-site game and fell to Winthrop in November 1978
Scouting the Cobras
- Coker finished the regular season with a 19-9 record, going 15-9 in SAC competition
- The Cobras dropped back-to-back tilts against Lincoln Memorial and Wingate, then capped the campaign with a 108-92 takedown at Carson-Newman
- Averaging 101.1 points per game, Coker boasts the nation's second-highest scoring offense thanks to its run-and-gun attacking style that produces 14.3 three-pointers per game – the best mark in the country
- Third Team All-SAC pick Ian Blue paces the Cobras with 13.1 points per contest, followed by Jamie Muldowney and Judson Coan with 12.8 apiece
- Max Hurray earned a SAC All-Freshman nod with 12.0 points per game in his rookie campaign as a strong off-the-bench option for Coker, factoring into the squad's Division II-best 47.54 bench scoring average
Follow Along
All SAC Tournament games will be streamed on FloCollege ($) with live stats on cneagles.com/livestats.
