HICKORY, N.C. — The Catawba Valley Community College men's basketball team tied its best start to a season in school history on Saturday with an 81-63 victory against visiting Lenoir Community College at the Tarlton Complex.

Catawba Valley sophomore forward Jordan Powell scored 22 points against the Lancers, following up a season-high 24-point performance on Wednesday against Davidson County.

In a back-and-forth first half between the two squads, CVCC was able to take a 32-28 lead against Lenoir at halftime.

Leading 41-40 with 13:32 remaining in the game, the Red Hawks (8-1, 2-0 in Region X) exploded offensively out of a timeout, going on a 14-0 run during a four-minute span to push them ahead for good in the game.

Lenoir (5-6, 2-4 in Region X) would make a late run though with a pair of 3-pointers by Brandon Kelson and Kristian Williams to cut their deficit to just four points. The Lancers made 12 3-pointers in Saturday's game, including four by Kelson and three by Tyler Wilson.

However, CVCC answered the run with back-to-back 3-pointers of its own from Byron Sanders and Zach De La Cruz to push its lead back to double digits on its way to the 18-point conference victory.

Freshman guard Byron Sanders scored a season-high 12 points for the Red Hawks, while fellow freshman guard Dezure Moulden added 11 points — nine of those coming in the first half.

Kelson paced the Lancers with 17 points, while Jason Robinson added 16 points.

The CVCC men's basketball team returns to action on Friday for the first of two-straight games.

The Red Hawks play Central Carolina Community College at 6 p.m. Friday and return to the court on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against Johnston Community College.