The Hendrix College men's basketball team could not hang on to a 10-point halftime lead, falling to Rust College 72-65 at the Rhodes College Thanksgiving Classic at Mallory-Hyde Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors (1-3) led 40-30 at the break, but the Bearcats (1-3) shot 55 percent in the second half, outscoring Hendrix 42-25 in the final period.Rust started the second half with a 12-0 run to take a 42-40 lead with 17:01 left. The Warriors trailed 47-46 at the 14:32 mark after a Colton Primm layup, but the Bearcats rattled off another 12-2 run over the next four minutes to take control of the contest. Colton Primm, a junior from Fayetteville, paced the Warriors with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds. Nikolovski came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points to go with three assists and two steals. Sophomore guard Nathan McCubbin chipped in nine points, five rebounds and dished out four assists. Senior guard Jaren Riley tied a career-high with six assists and netted seven points.