SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College men's basketball team was successful in its invasion of Salisbury's West End on Monday night, vanquishing crosstown rival Livingstone in 87-63 fashion.

TEAM STATS
- Solid mid-range shooting bumped Catawba (9-3) to a 46.2% success rate from the field, while its defense limited Livingstone (4-9) to 35.4% – the second-lowest by a Catawba Indian foe
- From long range, the blue and white snapped a three-game streak of going .300 or better with a 28.6% clip; the hosts were slightly better, flushing one-third (5) of their 15 tosses
- The Catawba Indians tied their season high of 33 free throw attempts and registered a 63.6% ledger, compared to the Blue Bears' 12-for-24 (50.0%) night – that average is also the second-lowest by a Catawba opponent
- Catawba pocketed a whopping 54 rebounds, setting a 10-game high, to outdo the Blue Bears who came down with 37; on Livingstone misses, the Catawba Indians won the battle 34-15
- The visitors committed 17 turnovers against Livingstone's 15, furthering an anomalous trend in which Catawba is unbeaten (4-0) when losing the turnover margin

INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Jordan Simpson headlined the offensive attack, putting up 20 points to record a third consecutive game in which he has matched or exceeded that output
- Justin Banks chalked up his second double-double of the season using 12 points and 10 rebounds while swatting a pair of Blue Bear shots
- Solomon Tucker set season highs of 10 points and six rebounds, highlighted by three rim-rocking slams
- Jashaun Hawkins also found his way into double figures by gaining points from all three levels with a 2-for-3 clip from beyond the arc
- In a team-high 30 minutes, Carson Daniel posted a diverse stat sheet with six points, six assists, four steals and four boards
- Jacob Bryant recorded his best outing to date, racking up nine points and three assists offensively to complement six rebounds and three takeaways on the defensive end

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- It took three minutes for either team to break the ice, but Livingstone assumed the upper hand early despite Catawba's persistent ability to close the gap
- Following the first media timeout, the contest's neck-and-neck nature failed to change except for the Catawba Indians forcing the Blue Bears to play catch-up
- The north siders rode a 9-2 wave after being tied at 13-all to install the largest lead of seven points with seven minutes left in the opening half
- Prowess in the paint from Tucker and company widened the margin to 30-19, which was cut into by three points thanks to a free throw and tip-in
- Nick Walker drilled a last-second jumper to give Catawba the final seven points of the half, sending the visitors into the locker room with a considerable 37-22 advantage

Second Half
- A swipe-and-slam by Simpson in the first 30 seconds set the tone for the matchup's second 20 minutes, which set up five-point bursts by Bryant and Simpson – the latter's two buckets were heavily facilitated by Daniel who tallied a steal, a rebound and two assists
- With the scoreboard at 51-31 coming out of the initial media break, the Catawba lead reached 25 before Livingstone fired back to shrink the deficit to 19
- However, the hosts' momentum faded during a 9-0 Catawba run that saw the Blue Bears go scoreless for nearly three minutes smack-dab in the middle of the stanza
- Two- and three-point buckets from Erick Coffey terminated the drought, but quick entries into the double bonus paired with continued fouling limited either squad's chance of a long run
- Hawkins buried three-pointers that increased the gap to 29 points on two separate occasions
- Livingstone netted the last five points of the contest, shortly after Catawba hit cruise control en route to its 87-63 victory in the program's final non-conference test of the regular season

UP NEXT
Catawba wraps up its early-calendar road gauntlet on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at South Atlantic Conference rival Wingate. Previously scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start, tipoff has been adjusted to 6 p.m.