HICKORY, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball team opened its season on Monday with an 88-82 win over Young Harris in Shuford Arena.
This game was a re-match of last year's NCAA Second Round contest, an 84-78 Bear victory. Despite the recent success, this was head coach
Brent Owen's first season-opening victory as coach of the Bears.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: (RV) Lenoir-Rhyne 88, Young Harris 82
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (1-0), Young Harris (0-1)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Shuford Arena
STORY OF THE GAME
- Simon Wheeler opened the season by scoring Lenoir-Rhyne's first six points of the game.
- A Devere Palmer Jr. free throw put Lenoir-Rhyne up 18-11, but a quick 7-0 run from the Mountain Lions tied it at 18.
- With five minutes left in the half Conner Tilley and Nickalai Anderson hit two threes to put the Bears up 35-30.
- Young Harris closed strong and led 42-40 at the break.
- Three consecutive threes from Jaylen Subject (2) and Anderon (1) gave the Bears a 63-54 lead with 12:21 remaining, their largest lead of the game.
- Young Harris quickly answered with a 12-2 run to put the lead back in their favor.
- The three ball gave the Bears life again, with Anderson, Mike Jones Jr., and Deuce Benjamin hitting three consecutive triples to turn the tide in the Bears' favor.
- Late dunks from Sam Martin and Anderson capped off the victory.
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- Lenoir-Rhyne put six players in double figures, led by Simon Wheeler (16) and Jaylen Subject (14).
- Chae Haynes was tops with seven boards while Sam Martin led with an impressive six blocks.
- The Bears shot 29-55 (52.7%) from the field, 12-28 (42.9%) from three, and 18-26 (69.2%) from the free throw line.
- Lenoir-Rhyne was 7-11 from three in the second half.
- Young Harris was just 32-72 (44.4%) from the floor, 10-30 (33.3%) from three, and 8-15 (53.3%) from the free throw line.
- This game saw nine ties and eight lead changes.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- Lenoir-Rhyne is now 5-0 all-time against Young Harris, scoring at least 80+ points in every game.
- The Bears had not won a season opener since defeating Montreat 65-55 in 2022.
- These teams had opened their season against each other once before, a 101-72 Lenoir-Rhyne win in 2018.
- With his six blocks tonight, Sam Martin moved past former teammate Conrad Luczynski for fifth all-time on the LR career blocks list with 127.
UP NEXT: The Bears will be back in action this weekend when they host Chowan, Clayton State, and Tusculum for the Southeast Region Crossover. Lenoir-Rhyne will take on Chowan on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Shuford.
