Upstate Battles Lees-McRae Wednesday in First of Three Straight Home Games
12/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate men's basketball team, after spending the last three games on the road, returns to the Hodge Center Wednesday evening for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the Lees-McRae Bobcats.
Upstate enters its final contest of 2015 with a 3-11 overall record while Lees-McRae currently sits at 7-6 on the season.
The Spartans are returning to the court for the first time in nine days Wednesday evening after falling at Colorado State 89-61 on Dec. 21. Josh Cuthbertson and Philip Whittington both led Upstate offensively with 11 points each, while Deion Holmes scored 10 off the bench. Malik Moore pulled down a career-high eight rebounds and Jure Span, for the third straight game, had four assists.
Lees-McRae is under the direction of third-year head coach Steve Hardin. The Bobcats are also 4-0 in Conference Carolinas play this season as they have recorded wins over Mount Olive, Belmont Abbey, Pfeiffer and Erskine. Lees-McRae is led offensively by Austin Anderson with 15.5 points per game, while Lepreece Lynch and Kendall Isler add 12.9 and 10.4 points per contest. Anderson also leads the team in rebounding with 5.4 per game.
The Spartans and Bobcats are meeting for the fifth time in program history with Upstate holding a 3-1 lead in the series. The two teams are facing each other for the first time since the 1993-94 season when Lees-McRae won by a score of 87-79. The Spartans had won the first three games in the series with the last coming on Mar. 1, 1993 with a 95-64 victory.
Fans can follow the action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats and audio streaming. Updates will also be posted on the Upstate men's basketball Twitter page (@UPSTMBB).
The Spartans host UMKC on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 2:00 p.m.
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