COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 62, CHATTANOOGA 60
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Dontaye Draper scored 18 points, including the game-winning layup with 4.1 seconds left, as the College of Charleston rallied for a 62-60 win over Chattanooga in Southern Conference action before 3,133 at John Kresse Arena on Thursday.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in league play. Chattanooga fell to 4-5 and 0-1.
Draper capped a 12-1 Charleston run over the final 5:49 with a layup from the left side of the lane. Draper’s 18-foot jumper from the left wing with 51 seconds left tied the game at 60-all. Draper blocked Kevin Brigdewater’s 30-foot, 3-point attempt at the buzzer to preserve the win.
UTC erased an early 10-0 Charleston lead to grab a 30-23 lead at the intermission. Chattanooga built a 47-34 lead on a Tyler Troupe 3-pointer with 12:36 remaining and held a 59-50 lead with just under six minutes left.
Jermaine Johnson and Marcus Hammond added 13 points each for Charleston, while teammate David Lawrence added a game-high nine rebounds and a career-best four assists. Casey Long and Ricky Hood led the Mocs with 11 and 10 points each, respectively.
Charleston shot 47.2 percent for the game, including 55.6 percent in the second half. The Mocs shot 41.5 percent from the floor and connected on 12-of-27 3-point attempts.
APPALACHIAN STATE 93, BRERVARD 53
BOONE, N.C. --- Jeremy Clatyon (Greensboro, N.C.) matched a career high with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting to lead ASU in a 93-53 rout over visiting Brevard College Thursday evening. Donte Minter (Salisbury, N.C.) added 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds in his Appalachian debut.
The Mountaineers improve to 6-3 overall and remain unbeaten at home (4-0) with the victory, while the Tornados fall to 3-7. Center Jonathan Whitson led Brevard with 14 points and five rebounds in the loss.
Appalachian forced 27 turnovers and converted those into 36 points, including 21 in the first-half alone to build a 48-27 halftime lead. The Mountaineers only added to that lead in the second half, shooting 59 percent during the period en rout to a 55 percent clip for the game, their highest mark since shooting 58 percent against Western Carolina last season on February 13.
ASU opened the game with three-consecutive three-pointers from D.J. Thompson (Raleigh, N.C.) and Nate Cranford (Harrisburg, N.C.) to open up a 9-2 lead that would slowly be trimmed as close as three, 15-12, on a three-point play from Brevard’s Brian Davison. The Mountaineers responded to Brevard’s charge with 13-straight points, six of them courtesy of Thompson free throws, to reassert control of the game.
Thompson finished the evening with 14 points to move past Tyson Patterson into 19th on ASU’s career scoring list with 1,223 career points.
During the second half, ASU held Brevard without a point for a five-minute stretch and went on a 13-0 run too extend its lead to 37, 77-40, with six minutes left. Brevard would get no closer than 33 points for the remainder of the contest.
The Apps will return to action on Saturday when they host Georgia Southern in a conference game starting at 5 p.m. on the Holmes Center hardwood. Last season, ASU upended the top-seeded Eagles in the Southern Conference tournament, 74-61, and also defeated them in the Holmes Center, 90-84, in overtime. Thompson has averaged nearly 28 points per game in his last three meetings with the Eagles including a career-high 33 points last season at home.