APPALACHIAN STATE 80, VIRGINIA 69
GUAYNABO, PUERTO RICO --- Appalachian State University men’s basketball never trailed in an impressive, 80-69, victory over Virginia in the opening round of the San Juan Shootout Tuesday evening at Morales Coliseum. The Mountaineers shot 54 percent from the field and led by as many as 18 in the contest.
Senior Nate Cranford (Harrisburg, N.C.) poured in a career-high 24 points to lead the Mountaineers to their first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference foe in nearly seven years. D.J. Thompson was ASU’s other double-digit scorer with 17 points as ASU improved to 8-3 while the Cavaliers fall to 6-2. UVA was paced by J.R. Reynolds’s 20 points, 11 of them at the free-throw line, and Adrian Joseph’s 16 points.
Appalachian advances to face UCF on Wednesday at 4 p.m. EST in the second round of the San Juan Shootout. The Golden Knights won their opener, 67-61, over Utah Tuesday afternoon.
The Mountaineers hit five of their first seven shots, four of them three-pointers and another three-point play, to take a 15-3 lead five minutes into the contest. Cranford hit three of his six three-pointers during that span. UVA crept back within five points, 17-12, three minutes later, however Cranford and Thompson answered with three-consecutive three-pointers, two of them from Cranford’s hot hand.
Jeremy Clayton (Greensboro, N.C.) then followed with dunk and layup to extend ASU’s lead back to 18, 30-12, capping off a 13-0 run with nine minutes to play and thwarting UVA’s lone challenge at the lead. The Cavaliers got no closer than 11 the remainder of the half as ASU carried a 41-28 advantage into halftime.
UVA shot just 28 percent in the opening half and 13 percent from three-point range compared with Appalachian’s 56 and 50 percent, respectively.
Each time the Cavaliers tried to make a run in the second half, Appalachian answered as Donte Minter (Salisbury, N.C.) began to take control of the game in the post against his former team with seven second-half points. In addition, the Apps slowed down their up-tempo attack to eat away at the clock and got clutch shots as the 35-second clock expired three times to stymie any hopes UVA had of a second-half comeback.
CLEMSON 72, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 60
CLEMSON, S.C. --- No. 22 Clemson’s 14-0 run early in the first half proved to be the difference in the Tigers’ 72-60 victory over Georgia Southern Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Clemson improves to 11-0, tied for its second-best start ever. GSU falls to 6-5.
Senior Donte Gennie (Tallahassee, Fla.) led the Eagles with 19 points and junior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) added 17, going 4-for-4 from 3-point land, to go along with a game-best seven assists. Junior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) notched his fourth straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Graham had 12 points and nine boards in the second half alone.
The trio combined for 51 of the team’s 60 total points.
James Mays tallied a game-high 22 points for Clemson, leading a contingent of four in double-figures.
After shooting 36.4 percent from the floor in the first half, GSU hit 55.2 percent in the second half and 47.1 for the game. The Eagles shot higher from both 3-point territory (50%) and the floor than they did from the free throw line (38.5%).
“I thought it was a pretty hard-fought game,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We kept fighting to get it under 10 and finally we did that, but a couple of crucial plays cost us. I thought we showed some heart and plugged away, but you can’t play a team like this on the road and turn it over 24 times and go 5-for-13 from the free throw line. That really cost us.”
Georgia Southern found itself down 19 points early in the second half on a quick 6-0 Clemson run to start the period, but worked the lead down to 11, almost solely from Gennie, who scored 10 straight points.
A free throw from freshman Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) made the score 46-35 with 12:27 left but Vernon Hamilton hit a trey, then stole the inbounds pass for a lay-up and the lead went back up to 16.
The Eagles cut the margin back to 11 on several occasions and finally got to single digits on a dunk from Graham at the 5:46 mark, but a 10-1 run by the Tigers put the game away.
In addition to the troubles at the line, Georgia Southern committed 24 turnovers and Clemson accumulated 17 steals.
“Some of our turnovers were careless, but a great deal was caused by them and that’s to their credit,” Price added. “They really get after you defensively and make it difficult to run your offense.”
Georgia Southern led 6-4 on 3-pointers from Gennie and Foreman before Clemson went on their back-breaking run.
Mays started what became an 18-1 rally with a jumper and capped it off with a trifecta to put the Tigers up 22-7.
Georgia Southern went 9:16 without a field goal in the first half, going 0-for-5 from the field, while committing eight turnovers, including seven in a row.
Fourteen miscues haunted GSU in the first half which led to 13 Clemson points. CU nabbed 11 steals in the first 20 minutes, two less than their highest total for a game coming into the night.
The Eagles take a nine-day break, returning to action Dec. 30 to host UNC Greensboro at 3:30 p.m.
CALIFORNIA 84, FURMAN 50
BERKELEY, CALIF. --- Freshman Ryan Anderson scored 23 points to lead four players in double figures and California connected on 10-of-17 three-point attempts to defeat Furman 84-50 before 6,987 Tuesday evening at Haas Pavilion.
The Golden Bears (8-3) erased a 17-16 Paladin lead with a 42-11 spurt from the 7:45 mark of the first half until the 14:43 mark of the second half to take a 58-27 advantage. Omar Wilkes keyed the run with 12 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half to stake Cal to a 41-24 lead. After opening the second period on a 10-0 run, Cal’s Patrick Christopher netted back-to-back baskets in transition to cap a 17-3 beginning to the half.
The Golden Bears began the game by racing out to a 6-0 lead. Stanley Jones converted two three-point plays, scored eight points and added a blocked shot to help the Paladins turn a six-point deficit into a one-point lead. It marks Furman’s only advantage of the game.
Cal shot 66.7% (16-24) from the floor and 77.8% (7-9) from three-point range in the second half. The Golden Bears, 54.5% from the floor for the game, also forced 19 Furman turnovers and held a 30-29 edge on the glass.
Theo Robertson scored 16 points, Wilkes registered 15 and Ayinde Ubaka added 10 to join Anderson in double figures. Anderson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while Ubaka recorded a double-double by adding 11 assists.
Jones led Furman with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Senior Moussa Diagne scored seven points to become the 37th player in Furman history to record 1,000 career points. George Brozos came off of the bench to lead Furman in rebounding with nine boards.
Furman shot just 36.4% (20-55) from the floor and 7-of-23 (30.4%) from beyond the arc. The Paladins converted only 3-of-5 free throw attempts while Cal scored 14 points at the line in only 16 attempts.
Furman (5-6) returns to action on December 30, when it hosts Mercer in a 4:00 p.m. contest at Timmons Arena.