Montreat College showed signs of promise early in their road game against Emmanuel College but relinquished a first half lead on the way to falling 79-61 on Tuesday, November 10.  

The loss dropped the Cavaliers' record to 0-3, but things might turn around sooner than later.  For one thing, Montreat has yet to welcome an opponent to the friendly confines of McAlister Gym after playing twice in Florida before losing to the Lions in Franklin Springs, Georgia in their last outing.

But Montreat Head Coach Jonathan Bennett sees more than scheduling when he examines the team's prospects for wins.  "We had a 12-point lead early in the game and held Emmanuel to only six points in the first 10 minutes of the first half."   The Lions erased that deficit, but Montreat's cohesive, hustling opening hints at a good team that needs to learn to sustain its effort.

Dustin Harris did all he could to gather that elusive first win, scoring 19 and grabbing 8 rebounds, while Seth Moore scored 12 and Matt Rushing crashed the boards on his way to 13 rebounds.

But those performances weren't enough to overcome 35% field goal shooting and 32 turnovers.  Bennett surveys those statistics and summarizes that those numbers are "not a recipe for success when it comes to winning basketball games.  We did some good things last night but have a long way to go.  We will keep working hard."

Bennett and the players point to Saturday's 4:00 tip-off with local rival Warren Wilson College as a chance to break through.  And, after hundreds of miles worth of road games, they can also finally point home.