Georgia Southern 116, UC Davis 73
DURHAM, N.C. --- Georgia Southern received a career-high 26 points from senior Donte Gennie and rang up the most points by a GSU team in over 15 years, coasting to a 116-73 win over UC Davis Sunday evening in the CBE Classic at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It was a record-setting game for the Eagles (1-0) as junior Louis Graham tied the school’s career shot blocking record, swatting five shots on the night to give him 112 for his career. He notched a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards.
Junior Dwayne Foreman also set new personal bests with 13 assists, fifth-most in school history, and eight rebounds. He was two boards shy of a triple-double as he poured in 15 points.
“I’m thrilled with our effort,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “I thought we played extremely hard. In your first game you just never know what your team is going to look like, so I was pretty pleasantly surprised. We shot the ball well early in the game and I thought that broke their spirit a little bit.”
Five Eagles reached double-figures including Gennie, Graham, Foreman, senior Jimmy Tobias (14) and freshman Antoine Johnson (11). Johnson shot 4-for-6 from the field, and had four steals and three assists in his first career game.
Gennie hit double-figures for the 11th straight game and sets a new career high for the second consecutive game. Gennie notched 22 points in the 2005-06 season finale at Charlotte. His five treys (5-for-11) are also a new career high.
Georgia Southern’s 116 points are believed to be the most by a non-Duke team ever at Cameron Indoor Stadium and is the highest single-game scoring output since putting up 119 vs. Centenary on Jan. 16, 1992.
All told, the Eagles shot 46-of-92 from the floor (50%) and pulled down 65 rebounds to UC Davis’ (0-1) 36.
“We were just a lot more active on the glass,” Price added. “We had 21 offensive rebounds and when you take 92 shots, there’s going to be a lot of rebounds. Cal-Davis is more of a 3-point shooting team. Our focus was to guard the 3-point line and I thought we did a nice job of that. They were 6-of-23 so I thought we did a good job.”
The win puts GSU in the CBE Classic Durham Region final, setting up a likely showdown with the host Duke Blue Devils.
“It’s going to be a great experience for us,” said Price. We want to come in with the mindset that we are going to play as well as we can and hopefully make a good showing for Georgia Southern. For us and our program it might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing and hopefully we’ll take advantage of it.”
The game will be shown on ESPN2 Monday night at 7 p.m.
Davidson 91, Central Connecticut State 64
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Thomas Sander connected on 12-of-17 from the floor for a career-high 26 points as Davidson cruised to a 91-64 victory over Central Connecticut State on Sunday afternoon in the final of three games in the John Thompson Foundation Challenge hosted by the University of Michigan. As a team the Wildcats shot 55 percent from the floor to improve to 2-1 on the season, while CCSU fell to 0-3.
Sander, a 6-8 forward from Cincinnati, Ohio, shattered his previous personal-best of 19 points that was set in the Wildcats thrilling come from behind triumph Friday evening against Eastern Michigan in both team’s season debut. Along with his final points total, he knocked down two buckets from downtown and led Davidson with eight boards in 31 minutes of action.
After trading buckets over the first 3:25 to find themselves deadlocked at 7-7, Davidson caught fire and went on a 15-4 run to push the game to a double-digit advantage (22-11), where it would stay the remainder of the contest.
The Wildcats extended their lead to as many as 17 on a William Archambault three-point play with just under seven minutes left in the first, but a small CCSU spurt cut the margin to 42-29 at the half.
Sander and Davidson point guard Jason Richards led the way offensively for both clubs in the opening period with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Wildcats found their touch from the outside drilling six of 14 attempts (42.9 percent) from behind the arc before the break.
At the 12:55 mark in the second half, Davidson hit the Blue Devils with an 18-3 streak that was sparked by 13 consecutive points from Sander. The Wildcats’ most productive flurry of the weekend gave them their largest lead, 76-46, with 5:46 left.
Freshman Stephen Curry finished in double-figures for the third consecutive outing with 16 points. The Charlotte, N.C., native was one of four Wildcats with 10-plus points and concluded the event with a combined 63 points in the three contests. For his outstanding play in the three-day challenge, Curry was named to the All-Challenge Team.
Richards (15) and Boris Meno (12) also turned in double-digit scoring performances and the three Wildcat junior captains including Sander recorded 53 of Davidson’s 91 points.
Led by Richards’ career-best nine assists, the ?Cats finished the evening with an impressive 25 set ups on 35 field goals.
Along with their overall hot-shooting effort, the Wildcats knocked down 45.8 percent (11-24) of their shots from long range and missed just two of 13 freebies for a finishing clip of 83.3 percent.
The young Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure this evening holding Central Connecticut State to just 24-of-65 (36.9 percent) shooting. Davidson also finished with an edge on the glass, 39-36.
The Wildcats’ strong play and hustle on both ends of the floor led to 42 points in the paint.
Javier Mojica and Tristan Blackwood were the only Blue Devil players in double figures tallying 23 and 14, respectively.
Davidson returns to action in its home opener Wednesday, Nov. 15 against Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. Central Connecticut State plays at New Hampshire on Saturday, Nov. 18 in a 7 p.m. tip.
John Thompson Challenge
All-Challenge Team
Stephen Curry, Davidson
Javier Mojica, Central Connecticut State
Carlos Medlock, Eastern Michigan
Ron Coleman, Michigan
Courtney Sims, Michigan
Challenge MVP
Dion Harris, Michigan
Michigan State 73, The Citadel 41
East Lansing, Mich. ? Senior forward Joseph Thompson came in the game late in the first half to hit back-to-back three-pointers with two and a half minutes left in the period, putting The Citadel down by only six points. The Bulldogs went into halftime with only an eight-point deficit but could not hold on as Michigan State’s offense took a 44-20 point advantage in the second, defeating The Citadel 73-41 Sunday night in East Lansing, Mich.
It was 11:43 in the first half when The Citadel connected on their first basket, a jumper by junior forward Demetrius Nelson assisted by senior forward J’Mel Everhart. While off to a slow start, the Bulldog defense kept them in the game, down only 12-2. It was not until a Vytautas Valiulis layup at the 7:30 mark that the Bulldogs started to heat up, going on a 16-9 run that ended with Thompson’s long range shots. The Citadel went into the half down 29-21 and still in the hunt.
“I thought we did some really nice things late in the last 10 minutes of the half,” said The Citadel Head Coach Ed Conroy. “But what we did that concerned me was that we didn’t come out as intense as we needed to be in the first 10 minutes.”
Going into the half, The Citadel hit 8-of-22 shots, averaging 36.4 percent. While six players had scored points for the Bulldogs, The Citadel’s defensive performance recorded four steals, six defensive boards and held the Spartans to only eight field goals and two long range shots.
“I thought our defense hung in there for a while,” Conroy added. “Early in the first half, I think they were trying to please me so much that they were passing up great opportunities. However, I couldn’t be prouder of these guys. They did a good job buying into the game plan and they tried hard to execute it.”
Michigan State started the second half with two quick fouls, but missed free throws by Nelson and senior guard Kevin Hammack, who got into early foul trouble, only decreased the Spartan lead by one. Nelson hit another jumper at 17:56 to make the score 31-24, but MSU went on a 19-5 run that saw the Bulldogs down by the as much as 21 points with 9:40 left in the game. Senior Mark Schiavoni connected from long range at 9:04 to decrease the Spartan lead to 16, but The Citadel was never able to bring it any closer. Michigan State, who hit six long range shots in the second half, extended their lead to as much as 34 with 1:40 left in the game before ending with a 32-point advantage over the Bulldogs in the 73-41 final.
Hammack, who finished the night with three points and one assist, fouled out of the game at 10:48. Nelson led the Bulldogs in scoring with nine points, while Everhart brought in eight boards. The Citadel shot for 29.4 percent in the game and 13.6 percent from long range, only hitting 3-of-22, while missing nine free throws.
“In this kind of atmosphere it’s not unusual for guys to go 1-for-2 from the free throw, but the problem is that we have several guys going 1-for-2,” Conroy said. “We’re working on it. We have been working on it since the fall and I see some signs of guys improving.”
Both teams scored 20 points in the paint and six points on fast breaks, however The Citadel only scored two second chance points, while the Spartans totaled 15. Drew Neitzel led the Spartans with 17 points and five assists, while two others scored in double-figures. MSU outrebounded the Dogs 36-29 and shot 47 percent from both the field and long range.
The Citadel (1-1 overall; 0-0 SoCon) will head to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes of Iowa on Monday, Nov. 13 before heading back to the Charleston to take on Charleston Southern on Thursday, Nov. 16 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
For more information on The Citadel Athletics, go to www.CitadelSports.com.