COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 65, FORDHAM 56
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Jermaine Johnson scored a game-high 17 points and Dontaye Draper added 12 points and six assists as the College of Charleston downed Fordham, 65-56, in men’s college basketball action before 3,042 at John Kresse Arena on Saturday.
The Cougars, who won for the fourth straight time, improved to 7-6 on the season. The Rams are 5-5.
Fordham, who got 13 first-half points from Chris Bethel, held a 22-12 lead with 9:00 left in the half. Charleston’s Marcus Hammond hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the half to tie the game at 31 at intermission.
Draper’s 3-pointer with 14:34 left in the game gave Charleston the lead for good at 42-39. Charleston’s biggest lead was the final margin.
Charleston, who shot 38.6 percent shooting from the floor, held the Rams to just 1-of-8 shooting from behind the arc in the second half after they connected on 6-of-12 in the opening stanza.
Josh Jackson came off the bench and added 10 points for the Cougars while teammate David Lawrence added a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Rams got 16 points from Bryant Dunston and 11 points from Marcus Stout.
The Cougars host Radford at 7:30 on Friday in the opening round of the College of Charleston Classic. IUPUI will take on Fairleigh Dickinson at 5:00 in the classic’s first game.
UNC GREENSBORO 74, DELAWARE 64
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Freshman Ben Stywall recorded his first career double-double and Kyle Hines had a game-high 27 points as UNC Greensboro led wire-to-wire in a 74-64 win over Delaware on Saturday at Fleming Gymnasium.
The Spartans led by as many as 23 before the Blue Hens scrambled back into the game late with full court pressure. Leading by nine with 47.2 second to play, Dwayne Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one. But Stywall grabbed his 13th rebound of the day for UNCG and the Spartans were able to hold on for their third straight win.
Stywall, a native of Charlotte, NC, finished with a career-high 23 points and 15 rebounds. His previous high for points this season was eight.
Hines, a junior from Sicklerville, NJ, scored in double figures for the 32nd straight game, extending his school record. He scored 10 points in the first 11 minutes of the game as the Spartans jumped all over the Blue Hens right from the outset. The All-America candidate leads the Southern Conference in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 21.7 points and
10.1 rebounds per contest.
“If you had told me before the game that Ricky (Hickman) would have seven points and we would win, I’d say no way,” said Hines, who went over the 1,200-point mark for his career. “We still have our best basketball to play. I like some of the things we are doing, but we haven’t gotten it going yet to where everyone is going at the same time.”
Delaware got 21 points from Herb Courtney and 13 points from Zaire Taylor, including three three-pointers. Calvin Cannon also chipped in 12 points.
The loss dropped Delaware to 0-9, the worst start for a Delaware team since 1929-30. The Blue Hens are one of two teams in Division I winless this season, joining Iona.
“We didn’t finish the game the way we would have liked, obviously,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “But we did do some good things to get our selves into that position earlier in the game.”
UNCG (5-6) turned up the defense right from the opening tip on Saturday, going out to a 19-2 lead. Delaware missed its first 10 shots from the floor and did not record a field goal until the 10:40 mark, when Sam McMahon knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner.
After UNCG extended the lead to 20, the Blue Hens got back into the swing of things. Delaware scored eight straight points with Brian Johnson and Calvin Cannon each scoring four points to pull back to within 28-16.
Delaware got no closer in the first half as UNCG took a 37-24 lead to the locker room.
But UNCG, which held a 41-27 advantage on the boards, used Hines and Stywall to put together a run to open the second half and push lead back out over 20 again. The Spartans started the half on a 13-4 run with Stywall scoring eight points and Hines scoring five in the run to give the Spartans a 50-28 advantage.
Delaware made a late run, holding the Spartans scoreless for more than three minutes. The 11-0 run, sparked by full court pressure, closed the gap to just 65-54 with 2:36 to play. A three-pointer by Darrell Johnson with 1:01 left got the Blue Hens to within nine, 69-60.
UNCG, winners of five of their last seven, returns to action on Saturday, December 30 when it hits the road to take on Georgia Southern for a Southern Conference contest. Game time is 3:30 pm.
CLEMSON 103, WESTERN CAROLINA 60
Clemson, S.C. ? Western Carolina, playing without three starters, could not withstand a Clemson run at the end of the first half and another to start the second as the 22nd-ranked Tigers handed the Catamounts a 103-60 setback Saturday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson (12-0) got 24 points and eight rebounds from K.C. Rivers while four others scored in double figures.
The Tigers, leading by just one with 6:07 left in the first half, ended the period with a 15-5 run to take a 44-29 lead at the break.
While Western was able to execute its offense to start the second half, several missed layups and the hot shooting from Rivers put the Tigers on a 29-4 run with the 39-point deficit (76-37) too much to overcome for the Catamounts. Rivers hit five treys in the second half, including three straight to essentially seal the win.
The Catamounts were without Nick Aldridge, Arnold Gore and Brandon Giles, who were suspended one game for a violation of teams rules. However, Western handled Clemson touted press, committing just 13 turnovers. Also, the Cats shot well from 3-point range in the first half with six of its nine field goals being treys.
Midway through the first half, Western would build a four-point lead (15-11). Then with just over nine minutes remaining before the break, Negus McKenna hit a 3-pointer for a 3-point WCU lead (23-20). However, Vernon Hamilton answered with a jumper for Clemson and James Mays would convert a fast break dunk putting the Tigers up one (24-23), which was a lead their would not relinquish the remainder of the contest.
Rivers finished the game making 8-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Mays, who had a game-high seven assists, added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. They were joined in double figures by Cliff Hammons (17), Hamilton (12) and Matt Morris (11).
The Catamounts were led by McKenna’s 16 points and six rebounds, while Antonio Russell contributed 13 points. With the suspensions, McKenna and Eric Wilson (nine points and four rebounds) got their first start in three games, while Jake Robinson (nine points and five rebounds) registered his first career start.
Western Carolina will fly out to Moraga, Calif., Tuesday morning as the team will play St. Mary’s on Dec. 28 at 7:30 pm (PT). On the following day, the Catamounts will play either Rice or Belmont, depending on who wins and losses on day one. Game times for day two are set for 5 and 7:30 pm (PT).