Men's Basketball Southern Conference

SoCon Men's Basketball Results, Jan. 21, 2003

VMI 61, Davidson 60

LEXINGTON, Va. - Senior Mike Gilbert (Staunton, Va.) hit two shots in the final 1:03 of regulation to rally VMI past Davidson, 61-60, Tuesday night at Cameron Hall.

The win snapped a five-game VMI losing streak and gave the Keydets its first league win of the year. VMI also won its second straight over the Wildcats, with both victories coming at Cameron Hall.

Gilbert, a reserve forward who averaged 5.3 minutes of playing time in VMI's first 15 games, made his first start of the year and scored a season-high eight points on four of seven shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds.

Junior forward Radee Skipworth led the Keydets with 18 points, and junior guard Richard Little added 12 points and nine assists. It marked the 10th game this season that Little had dished out seven or more assists in a contest.

Davidson (9-6, 3-2) placed four in double figures scoring and was led by senior guard Wayne Bernard with 13 points while Conor Grace, Brendan Winters, and Matt McKillop each scored 12 points.

The Wildcats, playing their third game without leading scorer Peter Anderer (broken bone in right hand), took a 60-57 lead with 1:29 left when Bernard hit a layup.

Gilbert answered with a 15-footer at the 1:03 mark to pull the Keydets within one, 61-60. Davidson failed to convert on its next possession when a Bernard 3-pointer was rebounded by VMI's Tim Allmond. Gilbert put the Keydets up for good on the ensuing possession with a 13-foot fade shot in the lane with :24 left.

Davidson's last chance for victory fell short as McKillop's 3-point attempt from the right corner misfired as time expired.

VMI which hit seven of its first eight shots to open the game, shot 40.6% (26-64) from the field and six of 17 beyond the arc (35.3%) - marking only the second time over the last eight games the Keydets had hit 30% or better from 3-point range.

The Wildcats outrebounded the Keydets, 40-36, and were led by Grace with nine rebounds.

Davidson led 32-29 at the break and extended the margin to seven points (40-33) when Winters converted a layup 16:20 left in regulation. The Keydets rallied with seven straight points by Richard Little to knot the score at 40-40 at the 14:51 mark. The game was tied six more times before a Winters free throw with 2:07 left put the Wildcats up, 58-57.

VMI concludes the three-game home stand Friday night against Appalachian State at 7:30 p.m. Davidson hosts UNC Greensboro Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.

VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "I was proud of Mike (Gilbert), and I was proud of everyone. I thought our defense was just tremendous tonight. I thought Tim Allmond had some big baskets and boards, and Levar Joseph gave us some big three's, but it was our defensive effort that did a real nice job tonight. Our guys just refused to lose. A win against a quality program like Davidson makes it even more worthwhile. I hope this win will give us a lot of confidence down the road. The team has been through so much, and to keep fighting like this has been great."

The Citadel 67, Georgia Southern 66

Statesboro, Ga. Kevin Hammack went coast-to-coast and hit a layup with
4.3 seconds left in the game to give The Citadel a 67-66 Southern
Conference win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Georgia Southern (10-6, 3-2 Southern Conference) erased a 14-point Bulldog
lead with a 16-4 run that ended when Julius Jenkins tied the game at 57-57
with 5:38 to go in the game. Jenkins, who scored 11 of the 16 points in
the run, finished with a game-high 32 points.

The Citadel (7-9, 2-3 SoCon) responded with a three-pointer from Erick
Wilson to extend the lead back to three. Jenkins answered with two free
throws before Romas Krywonis made the score 62-59 with a layup. Jenkins'
leaner cut the margin to one with 3:24 to go, then the Eagles took their
first lead of the half when Terry Williams buried a trey from the left
corner to give GSU a 64-62 lead with 2:45 left.

The Bulldogs retook the lead with 1:00 showing when Williams was called
for an intentional foul. Wilson split a pair of free throws to cut the
deficit to one, and Max Mombollet's jumper with 45 seconds left put the
Bulldogs up 65-64. GSU would retake the lead one more time, as Jean
Francois hit his only bucket of the night on a putback with 10 seconds to
play, setting up Hammack's winner.

The Eagles raced out to a 20-11 advantage to begin the contest and led
22-15 with 9:01 to go in the period when The Citadel closed the frame on a
24-6 spurt. Mombollet, who led the Bulldogs with 17 points, was 11-11 from
the charity stripe in the opening stanza.

Jenkins scored 19 of his 32 points in the second half and eclipsed the
30-point barrier for the second time in three games. Williams had 12
points for the Eagles, while Frank Bennett finished with nine points and 14
rebounds. Hammack chipped in 14 points, while Clyde Wormley scored 13 for
The Citadel.

Georgia Southern returns to action on Saturday, traveling to Western
Carolina for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff. The Citadel hosts the College of
Charleston on Saturday at noon in a regionally-televised game on Fox Sports
South.

Western Carolina 70, Appalachian State 69

Cullowhee, N.C. - After missing his first free throw attempt, Western Carolina junior center Rans Brempong sank his second one with four-tenths of a second left in the game to lift the Catamounts to a 70-69 win over Appalachian State in Southern Conference action Tuesday night at the Ramsey Activity Center.

Brempong capped a flurry of activity inside the final 30 seconds for the Catamounts. After Appalachian State's Jonathan Mitchell made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game at 69-69 with 1:06 left, WCU junior Emre Atsur missed a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left. Catamount senior Kori Hatcher picked up the rebound and missed a 3-pointer with four seconds left. Freshman Jared Outing came up with the rebound and the ball found its way into Brempong's hands, which led to a foul and the game-winning free throw.

The win snapped a four game losing streak for Western Carolina, who improves to 5-11 overall and 2-3 in the SoCon, and snapped a seven-game winning streak for Appalachian State (11-4, 4-1 SoCon). It was also Western's first win over Appalachian State in Cullowhee in six tries, dating back to Feb. 26, 1996.

With the Mountaineers leading by three, 68-65, with 5:13 to play, the Catamounts held App State to just one point over its final six possessions for the win. Brempong cut Western's deficit to one, 68-67, with 3:56 to play and the Cats' took a one-point lead, 69-68, on an Outing layup. Mithcell then hit his free throw to tie the game, setting up the final exchange.

The teams played to a 36-36 through the first 20 minutes. Both teams shot 47 percent from the field in the period, but Western held a 25-25 advantage on the boards. The Catamounts ended the game with a decisive 50-32 rebound advantage and held the Mountaineers to just 33 percent shooting in the second half.

Coming into the game, high-scoring guards Kevin Martin (WCU) and Shawn Hall (ASU) looked to be the key matchup. However, Martin was held to nine points on 2-of-14 shooting (1-of-7 from 3-point range), However, the Zanesville, Ohio, native did dish out a career-high five assists and pulled down six rebounds. Hall did lead the Mountaineers in scoring 18 points, but the senior was just 6-of-24 from the field and 2-of-15 from 3-point range.

Hatcher led a well-rounded scoring ensemble for the Catamounts with 14 points, hitting 4-of-8 3-pointers. Atsur added 11 points, with four assists and four rebounds, while Corey Muirhead scored 10 on 5-of-5 shooting. Brempong and Outing each pulled down 12 rebounds, while scoring nine and eight points, respectively.

The Mountaineers put three others in double figures besides Hall. Josh Shehan contributed 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Nate Carson and Chris McFarland scored 11 each. Shehan and Carson each added eight boards.

Western Carolina will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 25) as it hosts Georgia Southern. Tip-off is set for 7 pm at the RAC. Appalachian State will return to the road to face VMI on Friday (Jan. 24) at 7 pm.