HICKORY, N.C. – The Coker College men's basketball team dropped a South Atlantic Conference midweek road matchup 69-60 to the Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears on Wednesday evening (Jan. 20).

Neither team could pull away during the first 13 minutes with Lenoir-Rhyne holding a slim 24-23 lead. However, the next seven minutes would be all Bears, as they outscored the Cobras 17-8 to close out the half and take a 10-point 41-31 lead into the locker rooms.

The latter 20 minutes would be much of the same, with the Navy and Gold cutting the deficit to just four with 10:15 left. However, the Cobras could not get any closer than four over the next 10 minutes and the Bears would take notch the nine-point 69-60 win.

Jake Barrett led Coker offensively with 16 points on 7-12 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench. Donte Samuels finished with 13 points, nine of which came from behind-the-arc. The trio of Aubrey Daniel, Jalen Watson and Stefan Osborne chipped in eight points apiece, with Watson pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

The Cobras will be back in action on Saturday (Jan. 23) when they take on the visiting Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters. Opening tip set for 4 p.m.