Hickory, N.C. ? The Mars Hill College Men?s Basketball Team (8-6, 3-1) increased its winning streak to four games with a thrilling, 85-83 win over Lenoir-Rhyne University (3-12, 1-4) Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.? Mars Hill also won for the first time on L-R?s home court in 20 years.

Dion Malachi (Shelby, N.C.) and Danny Sanders (Shelby, N.C.) each scored 19 points while Malachi added 10 rebounds to complete the double-double for the Lions in the victory.

L-R senior guard Marcus Hodges (Wake Forest, N.C.) and junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) scored 23 points apiece despite the setback for the Bears.? Hodges matched his career-high in scoring but Lenoir-Rhyne suffered its fourth straight loss.

Lenoir-Rhyne took a 38-32 lead into the break and pushed its advantage to as many as 12 points (47-35) early in the second half before Mars Hill began its rally.

Mars Hill responded with a 12-point run to tie the game at 47 at the 15:08 mark of the second half but Lenoir-Rhyne pushed its lead back to nine points at 58-49 on a three-point play from Blackmon with 12:33 remaining.

From there, the Lions would slowly cut into the Bears? margin and would take their first lead of the game on a three-point put-back by Dallas Johnson (Auburndale, Fla.) with 44 seconds left for an 82-81 advantage.

A game-tying three-point attempt by Lenoir-Rhyne would have tied it with 23 seconds left but the shot rimmed out and Mars Hill?s Stoney Polite (Morganton, N.C.) iced the contest with a free throw for a four-point advantage (85-81) with seven seconds on the clock.? Polite finished with 17 points.

Lenoir-Rhyne hosts first-place Lincoln Memorial on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m., in a league contest while Mars Hill returns home to take on Catawba at 4 p.m.