Wofford 73, Fairleigh Dickinson 62
MORGANTOWN, WV ? Led by 24 points from junior guard Eric Marshall and two others in double figure scoring, the Wofford men’s basketball team opened its 2005-06 campaign with a 73-62 victory Saturday over 2005 NCAA Tournament participant Fairleigh Dickinson at the Guardians Classic in Morgantown, WV.
With the win, the Terriers advance to the second round of the tournament at 3 p.m. Sunday against #14 West Virginia. The Mountaineers advanced to the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Tournament last March.
Marshall nailed four of five attempts from behind the 3-point arc and connected on a game-high eight of 11 from the foul line in leading Wofford. He also tied with teammate Howard Wilkerson, a preseason All-Southern Conference selection, with a team-high six rebounds.
Wilkerson added 14 points for the Terriers while sophomore Shane Nicholls drained 17 in his first Wofford action after transferring from St. Peter’s. Nicholls, a sophomore and former rookie of the year in the Metro Atlantic Conference, sat out last season due to NCAA transfer regulations. Also garnering his first start in a Terrier uniform was junior forward Matt O’Connor who saw action in place of injured senior Tyler Berg. O’Connor is another transfer into the program, coming from Iowa Western Community College last winter.
After the Knights hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring at 19:42, Wofford used an 8-0 run over the next 3 and one-half minutes to take an 8-3 edge before FDU battled back to tie it at 8-8 with 16:06 to play in the first half.
Following another deadlock at 16 with 12:47 remaining, the Terriers had a 14-3 surge to take a commanding 30-19 advantage with 8:09 to go on a Nicholls lay-up. Wofford would match its 11-point margin two other times in the half, the last off a Wilkerson lay-up to make it 34-23 with 6:16 left.
Fairleigh Dickinson scored five of the final seven points of the half to close within 37-28 at halftime.
Five points by Nicholls opened the second half as the Terriers pushed their lead to 14, 42-28, within the opening minute. The lead would grow to as many as 20 at the 8:40 mark when O’Connor converted one of two free throws to give Wofford a 61-41 lead.
Slowly but surely, the Knights attempted to narrow the margin and eventually brought the margin down to seven, 69-62, with 1:42 left on a pair of shots from the charity stripe by Jordan Ingram.
A total of four free throws by the Terriers inside the final minute provided the winning margin.
Andre Harris paced Fairleigh Dickinson with 18 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Chad Timberlake posted 11 points while a pair of threes by Eric Hazard factored into his 10 points off the bench for the Knights.
In his first collegiate action, Ralph Hegamin registered four points for the Terriers. Also seeing the floor for the first time as collegians were Ruppert, WV native Matt Estep and fellow rookie Tyler Whatley.
Senior guard Byron Fields tied FDU’s Bernell Murray for game-high honors with four assists. Fields was also credited with both Wofford blocked shots.
The Knights Andrea Crosariol, a 7-foot presence in the paint, led all players with three blocks but was held to just four points. All of his points came from the foul line.
Wofford outshot FDU 43.1 percent to 37.5 percent in field goal percentage. The Terriers tallied a 45.8 percent mark during the final 20 minutes of action on 11 of 24 shooting from the field.
The victory was Wofford’s first in a season opener since the 1993-94 campaign when the Terriers garnered 93-67 win over North Carolina Wesleyan while playing at the NCAA Division II level.
It also provided Wofford a win in its first meeting with the Knights. The game featured the NCAA experimental rules including a deeper 3-point line, wider foul lane and the inclusion of a no-charge zone.
Radford 69, Western Carolina 56
Blacksburg, Va. -- Radford placed three players in double figures, including junior Chris Oliver’s 29, to lead the Highlanders past Western Carolina, 69-56, Saturday afternoon in the NABC Classic at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum. Joining Oliver in double digits was senior Whit Holcomb-Faye with 18 and junior Reggie McIntyre with 12.
Western Carolina (1-1) looked as if it would control the game early, jumping to a quick 6-2 lead, but a host of turnovers by the Catamounts opened the door for Radford. The Highlanders scored 14 straight points to open a 16-6 lead. In all, RU forced 16 first-half turnovers by WCU and scored 14 points off those turnovers to take a 29-18 halftime lead.
The Catamounts came out firing in the second half and outscore RU 7-2 to close within four on a three-pointer by Eric Wilson. Oliver responded with two free throws and sparked a 12-0 RU run. The Highlanders pushed the lead as high as 21 on an Oliver layup before WCU cut it back to 14 on a pair of free throws by Trey Hopkins. That would be as close as Western Carolina would get as Radford made its free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
WCU was paced by Antonio Russell’s 12 points and Negus McKenna’s 10 points. David Berghoefer and Jared Outing each had five rebounds for the Catamounts.
RU (1-1) held the Catamounts to 35.3 percent shooting from the field while firing at a 45.8 percent clip. Both teams were phenomenal from the stripe, shooting a combined 36-for-40. Oliver (5-for-5), McIntyre (6-for-6) and Ross (4-for-4) were all perfect from the line. Ironically, all of Radford’s misses came from Holcomb-Faye (8-of-11), RU’s best free throw shooter.
Oliver also had two blocks and two steals for RU. Radford’s defense forced 12 steals in all. Junior Andre Bynum, who also had five assists to pace RU, collected a team-high three steals. McIntrye, Holcomb-Faye and Ross also had two steals apiece.
Western Carolina will conclude the NABC Classic playing host team Virginia Tech, who fell to Bowling Green Saturday, 72-71. (Western defeated Bowling Green in the first day of the Classic.)
Chattanooga 104, Cambellsville 69 (Exhib.)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Charles Anderson scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting to lead the Chattanooga Mocs to a 104-69 exhibition victory at McKenzie arena Saturday night.
UTC had five players in double-figures on the night, led by Anderson’s 17. Casey Long, Keddric Mays, and Khalil Hartwell each had 14 points, while Nicchaeus Doaks had 13. The newcomers to the Chattanooga program made their presence felt immediately. Mays was 4-of-5 from behind three-point line, including three in a row during a 76-second span. Hartwell was a perfect on all five of his field goal attempts and was 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Doaks made 15 trips to the free throw line and converted 11 times. He also gathered six rebounds. Tyler Troupe led the Mocs with eight rebounds.
Chattanooga head coach John Shulman played 12 players 15 or more minutes in the contest, and no player played more than 22 minutes. “This was the first time a lot of these guys had played a collegiate game with lights, people, and uniforms, Shulman said.” So I made a decision early in the first half to play them as much as possible.”
Zach Ingles led the Tigers with 26 points and six rebounds. He was perfect in 10 trips to the free throw line. Ingles led Eastern Kentucky to the NCAA tournament last season before transferring to Campbellsville.
The Mocs open the regular season in one week at Mississippi State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.