HICKORY, NC - The Bears are on fire right now, as they took down Tusculum 95-75 for their sixth straight victory. Leading a balanced scoring effort was Hantz Louis-Jeune, who scored 19 points in just 21 minutes on the court. The Bears have now eclipsed the 90-point mark in five of their 10 games this season.

The six straight wins marks the longest winning streak for the Bears since they opened the 2018-19 season at 7-0.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 95, Catawba 75
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne 8-2 (6-1 SAC), Tusculum 3-6 (3-2 SAC)
Location: Salisbury, NC | Goodman Arena

STORY OF THE GAME:

• A Tay Smith fast break dunk capped off a quick 6-0 run to open the game.
• The Bears extended their lead to 14-5 thanks to back-to-back threes from Junior Hodnett.
• The Pioneers kept things close, eventually taking a 29-28 lead with 7:54 remaining in the opening half.
• A Julian Dozier three sparked an 11-0 run for the Bears, giving them a 39-28 lead.
• The Bears continued to push, extending the lead to 16 at the break.
• The teams went back-and-forth early in the second half, with the Bears lead being just 14 five minutes in.
• A big run by the Bears that was capped off by a Shem Sawy jumper and a Ziare Wells dunk put LR up by 22. 
• Lenoir-Rhyne led by as many as 25 in the second half en-route to the 20-point victory.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

• Five Bears finished in double-figures, with Hantz Louis-Jeune's 19 and Junior Hodnett's 17 leading the way.
• Sam Martin stuffed the stat sheet, finishing with 10 points, seven boards, three blocks and two assists.
• Julian Dozier led with five assists.
• As a team the Bears shot 38-74 (51.4%) from the field and 9-28 (32.1%) from three.
• Tusculum went 28-63 (44.4%) from the field and 9-27 (33.3%) from behind the arc. 
• Lenoir-Rhyne out rebounded the Pioneers 51-30. 

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• This is the second game of the season Lenoir-Rhyne has surpassed the 50 rebound mark.
• Hodnett's five three pointers were a season high.
• The Bears offense is ranked 16th in the country with 90.9 points per game.
• LR has won three of the last four against Tusculum and now leads the all-time series 32-21.
• The Bears are third in the SAC with a conference record of 6-1. Their six wins are the most in the conference.

UP NEXT: The Bears will be off for a week until they host Bluefield next Saturday. Bluefield, an NAIA school out of Bluefield, Virginia, currently holds a record of 2-6 and took down Kentucky Christian University 77-72 earlier today. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.