ROME, Ga. | Seth McCoy led five Young Harris College players in double figures as the Mountain Lions defeated Shorter University 89-71 in a non-conference men's basketball contest Saturday (Dec. 7) afternoon at the Winthrop-King Centre. 

The Mountain Lions won their second consecutive game as they improved to 2-5, while the Hawks fell to 2-7. Young Harris will break for final exams and return to action next Saturday (Dec. 14) when they host Tusculum University in a 4 p.m. game at the YHC Basketball Arena.

Young Harris, which led all but 50 seconds in the game, took the lead for good at 7-4 on an old-fashioned three-point play from Paul Miller with 16:34 left in the first half. That jump started an 11-0 run by the Mountain Lions that saw them open up a 15-4 lead on a Ryle Owens three-pointer - one of 15 by Young Harris - with 13:42 to go.

Shorter whittled the lead down to seven points (15-8), but the Mountain Lions used an 12 -2 run to expand their lead to 17 points (27-10) after Kristian Collins sank a three-pointer midway through the first half. YHC took its largest lead - 21 points (45-24) - off the first half on a McCoy long-distance shot with 2:47 to play. 

YHC, which led 45-32 at the half, saw its lead fall to 12 points (47-35), but the Mountain Lions used an 11-0 run - a Jonathan King layup and a McCoy three-pointer sandwiched around two three-pointers from Miki Tadic - to open up a 23-point advantage (58-35) with 17:05 remaining.  The closest the Hawks would get the remainder of the game would be 16 points.

McCoy led the way for the Mountain Lions with 17 points, while Owens tallied 16. Tadic finished with 12 pints and was followed by Miller (11) and Brian Harper (10). Owens grabbed eight rebounds for Young Harris, which outrebounded the Hawks 46-38, while Harper and Tadic had six each.

Bryan Polanco led Shorter with 17 points, while Frenki Lilaj (15), Ricky Knight Jr. (12), Joe Russell (10) amd Keeving Etienne (10) also were in double figures. Knight also led the Hawks with 10 rebounds.