COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 68, RADFORD 46
CHARLESTON, S.C. ---Tony White, Jr. and David Lawrence scored 12 points each, while teammate Philip McCandies added 13 rebounds as the College of Charleston downed Radford, 68-46, in opening round action in the College of Charleston Holiday Classic before 2,741 at John Kresse Arena on Friday.
With the win, Charleston’s fifth in a row, the Cougars improved to 8-6 overall. Radford is 5-9. The Cougars will take on Fairleigh Dickinson in the championship game at 7:30 on Saturday. The Highlanders will battle IUPUI in the consolation game at 5:00.
Radford’s Chris Oliver scored seven points and Philip Martin’s jumper with two seconds left in the first half tied the game at 25-all at intermission.
A pair of Josh Jackson free throws capped a 17-5 run by the Cougars to open the second half and gave Charleston a 42-30 with 10:52 left in the game. Charleston outscored Radford 43-21 in the second half.
Oliver ended with 12 points and 12 boards to pace Radford, which held a 41-38 rebounding. Charleston got eight points each from McCandies, Jackson and Dontaye Draper.
CHATTANOOGA 83, KENNESAW STATE 67
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga shot 53.7 percent from the floor and grabbed a 21-point halftime lead to coast past Kennesaw State 83-67 in the opening round of the 17th annual Dr Pepper Classic.
The Mocs used a 12-0 run to race to a 19-6 advantage with 12:48 remaining in the first half. The Owls trimmed the lead to seven at 25-18 after an Andre Morgan three-pointer. Chattanooga would respond with a 16-2 over the last 6:42 of the half to build a 21-point halftime edge at 41-20. Kennesaw would cut the UTC lead to 13 points with 1:13 left in the game, but the Mocs were never threatened and went above the .500 mark for the third time this season.
Keddric Mays drained six shots from behind the three-point arc to pace the Mocs (7-6) with 18 points. Mays is now the national three-point leader with 54 made three-pointers. Kevin Bridgewaters was in double figures for the fourth straight game with 17 points while dishing out a career-high seven assists. He posted another career-high with six rebounds. Casey Long added 12 for the Mocs.
Shuan Stegall led Kennesaw (3-10), scoring 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
The Mocs won the battle on the glass 41-40, but turned the ball over 18 times including 11 in the second half.
Chattanooga will face Colorado State in the championship game at 8 p.m. tomorrow. The Rams were 61-56 winners over Alabama State in the tournament opener. Kennesaw State and Alabama State will battle in the consolation game at 6 p.m.
NEW HAMPSHIRE 65, ELON 64
KENT, OHIO --- Jermaine Anderson's layup with two seconds remaining gave the New Hampshire Wildcats a 65-64 victory over Elon in the first round of the Kent State Classic on Friday afternoon.
Down by seven at halftime 34-27, Elon scored the first seven points of the second stanza, including five from LeVonn Jordan, to knot the game 34-34 with 17:08 left in the game. The game would witness seven more ties, the last one coming at 59-59 with 2:10 remaining.
With 1:19 on the clock, Chris Chalko hit a three pointer to give Elon the three-point advantage, 62-59. A layup by Blagoj Janev with 1:01 on the clock and a jumper by Janev with 21 ticks remaining gave the Wildcats the 63-62 lead.
Brian Waters scored a layup with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Phoenix a one-point advantage, 64-63. Waters drew a foul on the play but failed to convert the free throw. Anderson pushed the ball up the floor and tallied the layup to take the win.
Janev scored the first eight points of the game for the Wildcats to give New Hampshire an 8-4 lead with 16:31 left in the first half. The Wildcats then used a 5-0 run to take a nine-point lead at 13-4 with 13:15 remaining. Elon posted its own 5-0 run to cut the Wildcats' lead to four at 13-9 with 11:10 left. But New Hampshire would push its lead to 11 at 28-17 with 3:28 on the clock for its largest advantage of the game. Elon cut the lead to seven on back-to-back free throws from Waters with seven seconds left for the 34-27 score at the break.
Jordan led the Phoenix with 19 points and seven rebounds along with four steals. Waters posted a season-best 15 points and also tallied six assists. Brett James notched nine points along with three assists and three steals.
Janev led the Wildcats with 22 points while Mike Christensen tallied 15 points along with eight rebounds. Tyrece Gibbs notched 10 points and eight rebounds along with four assists. Anderson finished with six points and also tallied five points and six assists.
Elon will face either Kent State or Shawnee State tomorrow in a 4:30 p.m. contest in the second round of the Kent State Classic.
RICE 67, WESTERN CAROLINA 62
MORAGA, CALIF. --- Rice senior Morris Almond, the nation’s leading scorer, made 13 second-half free throws, including five in the final 26 seconds, to propel the Owls to a 67-62 come-from-behind victory Friday in the consolation game of Saint Mary’s Shamrock Office Solutions Classic, played at McKeon Pavilion. Almond was just 9-of-20 from the field, but scored 36 points in the contest, including 29 of Rice’s second-half 37 points.
Almond additionally scored 13 straight at one point as Rice trimmed a 10-point deficit, tying the game at 55-55 after an Almond trey with 3:32 left in the contest. Western was able to regain a two-point lead (59-57) thanks to two free throws by Jake Robinson with 1:07. However, Almond’s 3-pointer with 55 seconds left put the Owls in front by one for their first lead since early in the second half. Nick Aldridge, who was named to the Classic’s All-Tournament Team, answered with a layup for Western’s last lead of the game (61-60) with 38 ticks remaining.
Almond, who scored eight straight inside the final 55 seconds, was fouled shooting a jumper and drained both from the charity stripe. Aldridge tried to answer with two free throws on the other end, but missed the first and made the second as WCU trailed by one with seven seconds left. Almond as then fouled on the inbounds play and sank both for a three-point Owl cushion (65-62). Rice fouled Antonio Russell near half court, but he missed the first free throw and purposefully missed the second. The attempt did not hit the rim to give Rice possession. Chris Hagan was fouled with three seconds remaining and sealed the 67-62 victory by making both free throws.
In the first half, Western played well early, leading by four (13-9) at the 11:08 mark. However, a pair of 3-pointers by Cory Pflieger and a jumper by Paulius Packevicius turned the table to put Rice up four (17-13) two minutes later. With 7:42 remaining in the first half, Robinson drained a 3-pointer, trimming WCU’s deficit to two (20-18), but those points would be Western’s last for over five minutes, not scoring again until a Brandon Giles layup at the 2:25 mark. During the Catamounts’ dry spell, Rice would lead by 12 before Gile’s points. Western would then score the final five points of the half, thanks to a Kyle Greathouse 3-pointer and a Giles layup, and the Cats trailed 30-25 at the break.
The Catamounts build on that momentum to start the second half, charging out on a 21-6 run over the first nine minutes to take a 10-point lead (46-36). Russell scored 11 during the stretch, including a four-point play. Almond got Rice back on track with a 3-pointer as the Owls kept their deficit in single digits the rest of the way.
After scoring 28 points on Thursday, Aldridge scored a team-high 15 and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Aldridge was just 4-of-10 from the field, but was 7-of-11 from the charity stripe, and the freshman came through with three steals. Giles provided a spark off the bench for Western, scoring 12 points, his most versus an NCAA Division I team. Russell, who tied a career-high with eight rebounds, finished with 11, all coming in the spurt to start the second half.
Almond was the only Owl in double figures with Pflieger adding nine points by making three treys in the first 11 minutes of the game.
Western Carolina, who is in the midst of a four-game road swing, will stay on the road to face South Carolina on Wednesday (Jan. 3). Tipoff in Columbia is set for 7:30 pm. The Cats will then host UNC Greensboro on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 2:00 pm before hitting the road again for three more contests.