YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | Ben Waterhouse scored a career-high 25 points as Young Harris College easily defeated Francis Marion University 75-53 in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball game Monday (Dec. 19) afternoon at the YHC Basketball Arena.

The Mountain Lions improved to 8-3 overall and to 2-0 in the conference, while the Patriots slipped to 4-6 and 0-2. Young Harris now takes a break for the holidays and will return to action Jan. 4 when they travel to Savannah, Georgia, for a 7:30 p.m. league contest at Armstrong State University.

Waterhouse went 9-of-12 from the field and nailed six three-pointers (of eight attempts) as well as dishing out five assists. Waterhouse's previous beat was 24 points set earlier this season against the University of Mount Olive. J.B. Charles added 14 points and five rebounds, while Bjorn Walker posted 11 points and seven rebounds. Marcellus Roberts finished with eight points, five rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. C.J. Wilson was held to only three points, but dished out seven assists and had three steals.

Other than a 2-all tie, the Mountain Lions lead for all but 30 seconds in the game. YHC used a 12-4 run to open up a 14-6 lead after back-to-back baskets - the last a dunk - by Walker. The Mountain Lions used 10 unanswered points to open a 26-13 lead after Walker nailed a three-pointer with 9:31 remaining in the half. Young Harris, which led by as many as 17 points (33-16) in the first half, took a 37-24 lead at the half as they connected on 53.3 percent of its shots (16-of-30) from the field. 

Francis Marion got as close as 10 points on four different occasions, but the Mountain Lions quelled any thoughts of a FMU comeback as they scored 14 unanswered points to open up a 63-39 lead on a Roberts free throw with 6:46 to go. Young Harris took its largest lead - 31 points - at 73-42 on a free throw by James Laput with 3:13 left. 

"It was really nice to win by that margin and had several players sharing the load and not having to rely on C.J.," said YHC head coach Pete Herrmann. "Ben Waterhouse was phenomenal on both ends of the ball. In addition to scoring, he did a nice job of keeping their top scorer Detrek Browning under control. It is great going into the holiday break by defending our home court to pick up two big wins."

Detrek Browning led the Patriots with 20 points and six rebounds, while Judah Alexander had 13 points and nine rebounds.