HICKORY, N.C. — The fourth-seeded Catawba Valley Community College men's basketball team withstood a tough quarterfinal test against fifth-seeded Johnston Community College to earn an 89-78 victory in the first round of the Region 10 tournament on Tuesday night at the Tarlton Complex.

Freshman forward Shad Thomas paced the Red Hawks (19-11) with 24 points — 18 of them coming during the second half.

Sophomores Anthony Allen (21 points), Nasim Fuller (14) and Demetrius Washington (11) and freshman Javen Chandler (11) also reached double figures in scoring for Catawba Valley in the game.

The Red Hawks and Jaguars played a back-and-forth first half with Catawba Valley holding a tight 41-35 advance at halftime. Chandler led the Red Hawks with 11 points at the break.

During the first 2:30 of the second half, CVCC scored the first 11 points and appeared to be heading to a convincing postseason victory. Thomas led the early charge with six of those 11 points.

However, Johnston roared back to score 12 points in a row and eventually cut their deficit to as little as 54-53 with 12 minutes remaining.

The Red Hawks remained resilient down the stretch though and pulled ahead by double digits in the closing moments of the game to earn their third tournament quarterfinal win in as many seasons.

The fourth-seeded Red Hawks advance to face top-seeded Davidson-Davie (28-2) in the Region 10 semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner of that contest will play in Saturday's Region 10 championship, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed.