BREVARD, N.C. - Brevard and Catawba put on an excellent display of basketball for television viewers across the region on Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Gymnasium.
Unfortunately for the Tornados, the final shot refused to fall.
Catawba (7-7, 5-3 SAC) used a three-point basket from Rakeen Brown with 5.5 seconds remaining to defeat the Tornados (2-11, 1-6 SAC) 74-71, whose three-point attempt from Alex Moe as time expired danced tantalizingly on the rim before falling to the floor.
The teams combined for 12 ties and six lead changes in a see-saw affair that included only 2:28 of game action in which either team led by more than two possessions. The final six minutes alone saw the teams deadlock four times and Catawba equal its largest lead of the evening at four points with 1:18 to play before Brevard scored on its next two possessions to set up the final sequence.
The Indians improved to 4-1 on the season in games in which Brown scores less than 10 points. The junior had just two points before his dramatic triple in the final moments. Troy Warren led the Catawba Indians with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, helping Catawba amass 46 bench points.
Miles Leathers led all scorers with 20 points and made half of his 16 field goal attempts. Stevie Williams had a game-high four assists and tied his career high with 12 points. Demarcus Threatt and Omar El Diraoui poured in 15 and 13 points, respectively, giving Brevard four players in double figures for the third time this season.
The Tornados outshot Catawba, finishing at 51.8 percent from the field (29-for-56) while limiting Catawba to the same number of field goals on four more attempts. The Tornados also shot 3.5 percentage points better from beyond the arc and outpaced the visitors 52-34 in the paint.
The first half saw arguably the most explosive play of the afternoon, as Threatt's thunderous dunk in transition off a steal and long outlet pass from Leathers highlighted a 12-2 run spanning nearly three-and-a-half minutes before the break.
Saturday's game was televised locally on WMYA My40, marking the fourth time the Tornados have appeared on the network. Brevard falls to 2-2 all-time in televised games, while Catawba snaps a four-game road losing streak and gives them eight wins in their last nine games against the Tornados.
Brevard is back in action on Wednesday with a trip to Carson-Newman, which won the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Championship and received the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tipoff from Holt Fieldhouse in Jefferson City, Tennessee, is set for 8:00 p.m. as the Tornados look for their second consecutive road victory over the Eagles.
Featured image courtesy of Tommy Moss.
