Men's Basketball Southern Conference

SoCon Men's Basketball Exhibitions

Furman Opens Season Nov. 17

Furman's men's basketball team tips off its 2002-03 season Sunday night
when it takes on Alabama State in the first round of the Guardians Classic
Tournament in Omaha, Neb. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 EST (5:00 CST).
Furman returns three starter off last year's team that posted a 17-14
record and finished as Southern Conference Tournament runner-up. The
Paladins were recently picked to win the league's South Division this year
in voting by conference head coaches.

College of Charleston 111,Akron Wingfoots 73

Charleston, S.C. -- Troy Wheless scored 22 points while Zeke Johnson
added 21 points and 10 rebounds leading the College of Charleston to a
111-73 win over the Akron Wingfoots in men's college exhibition basketball
action before 2,466 at John Kresse Arena on Nov. 16.

Wheless, a senior from Bunn, N.C., hit on 8-of-9 shots from the
field including 6-of-7 from behind the 3-point arc. Johnson hit 8-of-16
from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc.

Despite the fact it was an exhibition game, Charleston reached the
100-point plateau for the first time in any game since the Cougars defeated
Central Florida, 103-61, at Kresse Arena on February 1, 1996 - 161 games
ago.

The Cougars also got double figure scoring efforts from Mike Benton
(15), Quinton Hollis (13), Thomas Mobley (12) and Tony Mitchell (11).

Akron was paced by Darnell Taylor and Skouson Harker, who had 15
and 14 points each, respectively.

For the game, the Cougars, who led 64-34 at intermission, hit 54.4
percent of their shots (37-68). The Wingfoots hit on 42.1 percent of their
field goal opportunities (24-57).

The Cougars open regular season play next Friday when they take on
rival Charleston Southern in a 7:30 tipoff at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Chattanooga 113, Team Georgia 109

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---Jason Rogan scored six of his team-high 24 points in
overtime Nov. 16 as the Chattanooga men's basketball team edged Team
Georgia 113-109 in overtime in the Mocs' second exhibition game of the
preseason.

Rogan made a layup and four free throws in the extra frame to hold off the
team of former college players. His two free throws with 10 seconds
remaining gave UTC the insurmountable lead of 112-108.

While the Mocs cruised to an easy 120-72 victory over VASDA USA Gold in
last Tuesday's exhibition game, they had to dig deep to pull this one out.

"It was good for us to have a close game," UTC head coach Jeff Lebo said.
"This will help us in the regular season. They put a lot of heat on us,
and that was good for our kids. I could tell this was coming. After our
last win, our guys probably felt that we would win easily. They had to
work for this one."

Azuka Oji's layup with 17 seconds left in regulation gave Team Georgia a
95-93 lead. Rogan canned two free throws with four seconds on the clock to
tie the score, and LeRon Green's last-second try was off the mark to send
the game into overtime.

The teams traded leads several times in the first half. A 12-2 spurt right
before the half gave UTC a 45-36 lead with 33 seconds left, and it led
45-38 at the break. The margin grew to 12 when Tim Harris converted a
layup to make it 59-47 at 15:46 left in the second half. Two straight
three-pointers by Keith Lundy trimmed the deficit to 63-60 at the 12:32
mark, and the visitors tied the score for the first time in the half at
93-93 on Isaac Cooke's three-pointer at 1:10.

Team Georgia's Larry Knotts led all scorers with 25 points and made five
triples. Cooke added 15 points, and Lundy had 14.

Tim Parker followed Rogan with 19 points for UTC and was 12-of-13 from the
free throw line. Alphonso Pugh was also in double figures for the Mocs
with 15. Ray Trowell had 14 and 10 assists, Ashley Champion chipped in 13
points and Aaron Morgan had 11.

The Mocs open the regular season Friday at Samford at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Davidson 113, Vasda USA 76

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Junior Jouni Eho led an octet of Wildcats in double figures with 18 points as Davidson, in its lone exhibition game of the season, posted a convincing 113-76 victory over the Vasda USA Gold Team.

The Wildcats played the game without preseason all-conference selection Wayne Bernard, who sat the game out with an injury as a precaution. Junior Terrell Ivory didn't let Davidson miss a beat, playing 30 minutes at the point while posting a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists, nine of which came in the first half.

Senior Michel Lusakueno scored six of Davidson's first eight points of the game, including a layup that gave the 'Cats the lead for good at 8-7.

Vasda hung tight for the first eight minutes of the game, trailing just 21-20 after a three-pointer by Lamont Roland. But Davidson knocked down four three-pointers in a 1:33 span for a 33-23 advantage.

By halftime, the Wildcats had built a 17-point lead as senior Peter Anderer led the squad with all 13 of his points in the opening half.

Davidson didn't wait long to extend its lead to 20 as Lusakueno and sophomore Conor Grace hit layups to start the second half. Before the game came to a close, the 'Cats led by as many as 40.

Lusakueno also recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Grace finished the game with 17 points, while freshman Brendan Winters hit all six of his shots, including three three-pointers, to post 15 in his collegiate debut.

Freshman Matt McKillop, the son of Davidson head coach Bob McKillop, tallied 14 points in 20 minutes on the court, hitting a pair of trifectas while going 5-of-9 from the floor. The eighth Wildcat in double figures was freshman forward Ian Johnson with 12.

For Vasda, Roland hit 9-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-7 on his three-pointers, to lead all scorers with 26 points. Reggie Elliot and Chris McSwain came off the bench to score 14 and 12, respectively.

Despite graduating its top three rebounders from last season, Davidson outrebounded Vasda by a 47-28 margin. The Wildcats shot nearly 59 percent as a team, plus had assists on 33 of their 47 field goals. Nearly half of their 80 shots came from behind the arc (35), as they drained 13 for a 37.1 percentage.

Davidson will open its season on the road, traveling to Durham, N.C., on Nov. 25 to play the Duke Blue Devils at 7 p.m. The game will be telecast by ESPN2 and broadcast on the Wildcat Radio Network by WHIP 1350 AM out of Mooresville, N.C., with John Kilgo back for his third season as the play-by-play commentator and Brad Childress providing color commentary.

Western Carolina 72, Erskine 69

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina sophomore Kevin Martin scored a game-high 33 points to lead his Catamounts to a 72-69 come-from-behind, exhibition victory over Erskine Nov. 15 in the Ramsey Activity Center.

Martin, who scored 18 of his 33 in the second half, drained a 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the game to give the Cats a 70-69 advantage, which was their first lead since 8:23 left in the first half. The Zanesville, Ohio, had a key blocked shot on Erskine's next possession, then sealed the game with two free throws with 21 seconds left. Martin finished the game shooting 11-of-26 from the field (7-of-14 from 3-point range) and 4-of-4 at the line, while adding six rebounds and two blocked shots.

While Martin was the Western's star of offense, it was the Catamount defense which won the game in the final five minutes. With 4:45 left in the contest, Flying Fleet sophomore Bobby Isom hit back-door layup to give Erskine a 67-57 lead. Just over one later, with 3:29 left in the game, Erskine staked a nine-point lead (69-60) on a jumper by Jeff Wiersma. The Cats would hold the Fleet scoreless the remainder of the game to pull out the win. Over that final 3:29, Western forced three turnovers, two of which led to open 3-pointers by Martin on the other end.

"Obviously we struggled at times," said WCU head coach Steve Shurina. "Erskine is a solid, veteran team. On the other hand, I looked out at our lineup many times and saw we had four freshmen and a sophomore on the floor. I am pleased we figured out a way to win this game, despite having a lot of wide-eyed, scared players on the floor. We made plays when we had to."

Western jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the contest. Erskine answered with a 10-0 run and no team lead by more than three points through the first 12 minutes. However, a pair of free throws by Wiersma and a 3-pointer by Kevin Parker gave Erskine a seven-point lead (27-20) with 6:56 left before the break. Western trimmed its deficit to three (27-24) with 5:06 on a pair of free throws by Kori Hatcher, but would get no closer as Erskine took a 38-34 lead at halftime.

The Catamount made several runs at Erskine throughout the second half, but Erkine kept at least a 3-point lead most of the period. Once the Fleet scored its final basket of the night, WCU freshman Corey Muirhead elevated his game, getting a steal and a pair of layups to start the Cats' rally. After a Martin 3-pointer, David Berghoefer made a nice move in the paint to make the score 69-67 in Erskine's favor. Martin would do the rest to lead Western to the win and provide the final 72-69 margin.

In addition to Martin, Western was led by freshman Jared Outing, who pulled down 13 rebounds. Berghoefer added seven boards and eight points, while Alex Osipovitch scored eight as well. Erskine had several solid performances in the loss. Wiersma paced the Fleet with 19 points, nine rebounds and a game-high six assists, while Idris Mayo and Markus Oertelt added 112 and 11 points, respectively.

Western was able to overcome 17 turnovers, with only seven assists, while Erskine dished out 14 assists and shot 42.9 percent from the field in the contest. The big story for the Cats was their 59.1 percent shooting in the second half, which allowed them to shoot 44.6 percent for the game.

Western Carolina will open its 2002-03 season next Friday (Nov. 22) when it hosts Coastal Carolina. The following night, the Cats will host Toccoa Falls. Both contests start at 7:00 pm in the RAC.