SPARTANBURG, SC – The Emmanuel Men's Basketball team continued play this afternoon in the Conference Carolinas Championship Semifinals with a match up against the #2 seed, Young Harris Mountain Lions. The Lions jumped out to an early lead, taking a 39-34 lead into the halftime break. The Mountain Lions closed the gap in the 2^nd half, outscoring the Lions 37-29 to make things interesting late. With 1:33 to play, Young Harris took their first lead of the day and held onto earn the 71-68 win to move onto tomorrow's championship game.

The Lions came out on fire in the first half, jumping out to a 10-2 lead behind jumpers from Rett Van de Mark and Ezra McKee along with three pointers by Isaac Jones and Devn Story. Issac Jones stayed strong from three-point range connecting on another triple to put the Lions up 15-5 with 13:53 to play in the half. Massimo Moretti joined in on the fun, scoring a quick eight points to push the Lions lead to 23-9 with 11:13 to go. Midway through the half, the Mountain Lions closed the gap to a 29-24 Lions lead with 5:31 to play in the first. A three-ball by Story put the Lions up 11 with 3:20 to play in the half, 36-25 but Young Harris closed the half out strong to pull within five points at the halftime break, 39-34. In the first, the Lions shot 44% from the field, connecting on 6-11 from three-point range. 

Two quick jumpers from Story and a three from McKee put the Lions back up by double digits to start the 2^ndhalf, 46-36. Young Harris responded to cut the lead to four points, 46-42 with 15:15 to play. The teams traded buckets with the Lions using buckets from Moretti and Jones to hold onto a three-point lead. With 10:04 to play, the Mountain Lions tied the game at 52-52 but the Lions answered quickly with a layup from McKee. Brady Peery got into the scoring action with back-to-back layups to make it 58-54 Lions with 7:04 to play. A three from Jones and a jumper from Peery pushed the Lions lead to 63-58 with five minutes left to play, but Young Harris answered to cut the Lions lead to 63-62 with 4:09 to play. The Mountain Lions took the lead with 3:39 to play but a key three from Sam Thacker put the Lions back up by two, 66-64. With 1:33 to play, the Mountain Lions retook the lead, 67-66 and finished strong to take the win, 71-68 and move onto tomorrow's Conference Carolinas Championship game.

Devin Story led the Lions with 16 points on the day, with Ezra McKee (13), Isaac Jones (13) and Massimo Moretti (10) rounding out the top scorers. Rett Van de Mark led the team in rebounds with 11, while Sam Thacker added 6 assists.
Congratulations, Lions on a fantastic run! 

For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.