BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College men's basketball team battled back from an early deficit and led by as many as three points in the latter stages of the game, but fell to visiting Mars Hill by a 66-61 count on Wednesday evening.
Brevard (9-12, 7-8 SAC) trailed the Lions (9-12, 4-11 SAC) 56-48 with 6:33 remaining before scoring the next 11 points to take a 59-56 lead. Darius Moose followed a Brayden Masten layup with a three-point field goal that drew the Tornados to within three points. The shot was the 500th made field goal in the career of Brevard's all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
Four Phil Wallace free throws over the next two possessions gave Brevard a tenuous one-point advantage before Trevon Shaw connected on a shot in the paint to put the Tornados up by three with 2:38 remaining. But Brevard would only be able to muster two additional points the rest of the way as the Lions closed the game on a 10-2 run.
Mars Hill jumped out to a large lead in the contest and threatened to run away with the game in the early going. An old fashioned three-point play by Trevon Shaw opened the scoring, but Mars Hill scored the next 13 points to open up a double-digit advantage. At the 9:55 mark of the first half, Brevard was 2-for-15 from the field and trailed the Lions 21-5.
But the Tornados showed their resiliency, battling to stay in the contest for much of the remainder of the half before nine straight points closed the gap over a 3:34 span just before halftime. Brevard then continued its run of success into the early portion of the second half, concluding a 21-3 run by taking a 38-35 lead less than three minutes into the second stanza.
The Tornados were led by Miles Leathers' 17 points. Leathers made his first four three-point attempts, giving him nine consecutive made triples dating back to his 5-for-5 performance against Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday. Shaw and Wallace added 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Darius Moose was limited to eight points. Brayden Masten had a complete game, with six points and five rebounds to go along with three assists, a block, and a steal, while Stevie Williams had three steals and was one of three Tornados with two assists.
Mars Hill was led by Isaiah Cuthbertson, who had 19 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double. The senior forward entered the game as the SAC's third-leading rebounder and was ranked fourth nationally in offensive rebounds per game. But he was outdueled by teammate Valentine Bauer, who failed to improve upon his conference-leading assist-to-turnover ratio but pulled down 10 rebounds from his point guard position.
Despite its loss, Brevard remains in a tie for sixth place in the conference with Coker at 7-8 in league play. The Cobras, which currently own the tiebreaker over Brevard by virtue of their 75-51 head-to-head win on January 3 in Hartsville, visit Boshamer Gymnasium on February 14. Brevard next takes to the floor on Saturday afternoon in a home matchup with Queens schedule for 4:00 p.m.
