SALISBURY, N.C. - The Anderson University men's basketball team erased a 14-point second-half deficit, but a late scoring drought proved costly as the Trojans closed a two-game road swing with a 60-57 setback in South Atlantic Conference action, Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gymnasium.

Anderson (11-13, 7-11 SAC) has dropped two of its last three decisions by a combined five points and fell to the Indians for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign. Catawba improved to 12-12 overall and 9-9 in the conference with its third straight victory.

Freshman Tre' Fields led the Trojans with a career-high 12 points, including seven in the first half, and pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Senior center Chris Ross added 11 points and grabbed five boards, with senior Myson Jones netting 10 points.

Catawba's Vismantas Marijosius and Jerrin Morrison shared game-high scoring honors with 15 points apiece, while Jameel Taylor chipped in 14 points in the win.

Both teams struggled to get untracked early on the offensive end, with Catawba moving out to an early 7-3 advantage, with the Trojans connecting on just one of their first five field goal attempts to open the game and committing a pair of miscues.

Anderson's Fields drained his lone 3-pointer of the first half to even the score for the second time of the contest, at 10-10, with 13:23 on the clock. Catawba regained a three-point advantage on Taylor's jumper and a free throw from Julian Sampah.

Ross knotted the score again, at 13-13, for the third time by dropping in a close bucket and connecting on one of two from the line midway through the half, with the Trojans finally able to wrestle the lead away on Ross's tip-in of Alani Adekambi's miss with 9:11 on the clock, taking a narrow, 15-13, edge.

But Catawba countered with seven unanswered points over the next two-plus minutes to take their largest lead to that point, at 20-15. The Indians extended their surge with a 14-4 run to claim a 27-19 advantage with more than four minutes left in the opening half. Rakish Taylor and Fields answered with four straight points to trim the Indians' cushion to 27-23, but the Trojans would get no closer in the final moments of the half, as Catawba closed the frame with five consecutive points to take a 32-23 edge at the break.

Senior Nick Jackson opened the second half with a dunk for AU, but Catawba opened up a double-digit, 36-25, lead with 17:31 left and built its largest advantage of the game, 41-27, with a 9-4 run to open the second half.

Staring at the 14-point deficit, junior Steven Faust sparked a 13-0 run by the Trojans over the next 2:47, as Anderson slashed the Indians lead to just one. Fields netted five points during the comeback, with freshman Maurice Howard chipping in four of his nine points in the rally.

The Indians rebuilt their lead to seven points twice, with Anderson chipping their lead back to a single point on two occasions before Howard's traditional three-point play with more than five minutes left gave the Trojans their first lead, at 55-54, since the 9:11 mark of the first half.

Howard followed with a steal and found freshman Matthew McClain open for a layup 14 seconds later to boost the Trojans' edge to 57-54 with 5:07 on the clock. But the Trojans went cold and misfired on their final four shot attempts from the field and three from the line, while Morrison and Marijosius were a combined six-for-six from the free throw line inside the final three minutes.

Anderson opens a two-game homestand on Wednesday by welcoming Carson-Newman to the Abney Center for the second meeting of the season with the Eagles. The Trojans will be looking to avenge a 66-52 setback suffered at the hands of the Eagles in late January. Tip-off versus Carson-Newman is slated for 8 p.m.