DAVIDSON 66, UNC GREENSBORO 63
GREENSBORO, N.C. --- Stephen Curry scored 24 points and Boris Meno added a career-high 19 to lead the Davidson Wildcats to a 66-63 road victory over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference men's basketball action Monday evening at Fleming Gymnasium. Davidson improves to 2-0 in league play for the third consecutive season and 6-3 overall, while the Spartans fall to 2-6 and 1-1 in the SoCon.
Curry, a freshman from Charlotte, N.C., went over the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season hitting nine shots including four from downtown. The 6-1 guard also contributed four rebounds, four assists and a steal in 38 minutes of action.
After sitting out the Wildcats? conference opening win over Elon, Meno returned to form on both ends of the floor. The native of Paris, France, finished 9-of-14 from the field with six rebounds and four steals.
Trailing a majority of the first half, Davidson went on a 20-8 run, which included seven unanswered points that was capped off by a Meno layup with one second remaining to give the Wildcats a 34-30 advantage at the break.
UNCG stretched its lead to as many as eight on four separate occasions, but Davidson forced and made the most of 14 Spartan miscues in the first 20 minutes of action turning them into 13 points.
With 11:30 remaining in the contest, Kyle Hines gave UNCG its first lead since the 1:53 mark in the opening period, but it didn?t last long as Jason Richards responded a minute later with a bucket to put the Wildcats back in front, 45-44. Another Richards? layup with 7:06 left gave Davidson a bit of a cushion before Kyle Hines scored four consecutive points to tie the game at 53 each.
Following a Meno jumper, Ricky Hickman drilled a three-pointer pushing the Spartans back in front, 56-55, with 4:34 to go. Over the next 2:30 of action, the two teams battled and traded points to find themselves deadlocked (59-59) for a sixth and final time. Thomas Sander broke the tie with a pair of free throws after a Ben Stywall foul to give the advantage back to the Wildcats for good. Hines made one of two from the charity stripe in the Spartans next possession, but a Curry layup with the shot clock winding down and two freebies from fellow frosh William Archambault secured the game for Davidson.
Hines, selected Co-Preseason Player-of-the-Year by league head coaches, led all-scorers with 30 points missing just three of his 16 attempts from the floor. The conference?s top-scorer and rebounder also finished with a game-high 15 boards.
Kevin Oleksiak also concluded the evening in double figures for the Spartans with 12 points.
UNC Greensboro shot 44.4 percent (24-54) from the floor, but only connected on 4-of-17 tries from deep and 61.1 percent (11-18) of its attempts from the line, which included just 2-of-6 in the closing 2:43 of the contest.
Davidson entered the affair as the top-rebounding team in the SoCon, but was unable to control the glass as UNCG outrebounded the Wildcats 44-33.
The Wildcats finished with a final shooting percentage of 37.5 (24-64) and drilled eight baskets from long range for 36.4 percent. Unlike the Spartans, Davidson took advantage of its trips to the line making good on 9-of-11 in the final stanza.
Davidson will return to the hardwood Dec. 9 when it entertains cross-county rival Charlotte in the annual battle for the Hornets? Nest Trophy at 7 p.m.
UNC Greensboro travels to Greenville, S.C. for a 7 pm. tip-off at Furman Saturday.
APPALACHIAN STATE 56, THE CITADEL 52
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Forward Jeremy Clayton scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Appalachian State came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half to knock off The Citadel, 56 -52, in Southern Conference basketball action at McAlister Field House on Monday night.
With the game tied at 52 with 16 seconds left, a foul by senior forward J’Mel Everhart sent Appalachian State (5-2, 2-0 SoCon) forward Doug McLaughlin-Williams to the free-throw line.
After making the first shot, he missed the second but the Mountaineers were able to tip the rebound out and guard D.J. Thompson ran the ball down. After getting fouled himself, Thompson went to the line and made the first before missing the second.
The Mountaineers got another offensive rebound, but Clayton missed the layup and Everhart was fouled trying to grab the loose ball. Everhart missed the front end of a one-and- one, but The Citadel (2-8, 0-1 SoCon) got another chance after junior forward Demetrious Nelson was fouled trying to grab the offensive rebound. Nelson missed both free throws and guard Nathan Cranford hit two from the charity stripe on the other end to seal the win for Appalachian State. After being down by 16, the Mountaineers outscored the Bulldogs 28-8 to end the contest. Everhart scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Bulldogs while Nelson added 12 points and five boards. Thompson, who came in averaging 19.5 points, was held to only eight by The Citadel defense.
“Well first of all I was really proud of our guys. They really laid it on the line and they followed the game plan very well, so I don’t have many complaints there,” head coach Ed Conroy said. “We tried to mix defenses a lot and I think tonight was our best game communicating. I think we had them off balance all night and I don’t think they really got into a flow. It just came down to those free throws at the end.” The Bulldogs shot just 2-of-9 from the free-throw line for 22 percent compared to Appalachian State who went 11-of-16 for 69 percent.
“We shoot free throws a ton in practice,” Conroy said. “I realized when I took the job where we were as far as free-throw shooting. These guys are working so hard and that’s what’s frustrating. Sometimes they try too hard. They are a very close team and maybe that’s the problem. They are tightening up because they don’t want to let each other down.”
With the game tied at 10 with 12:58 remaining in the first half, the Mountaineers went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-10 lead on a layup by guard Eduardo Bernudez. The Bulldogs came back, however, and finished the half on a 21-7 run. After Everhart tied the game at 19 with a jumper, freshman Bryan Streeter hit a three-pointer to give The Citadel a 22-19 lead with 3:55 remaining until halftime. A dunk by Clayton gave Appalachian State the lead back at 24-22, but the Bulldogs scored the last nine points of the half, including sophomore guard Vytautas Valiulis’s three-pointer with 49 seconds left in the half that sent The Citadel into the locker room with a 31-24 lead. Everhart led the Bulldogs with eight points and four rebounds in the first half, while Clayton and guard Demetrious Scott paced Appalachian State with six points each. The Mountaineers shot just 34 percent in the first half compared to The Citadel’s 50 percent.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to double digits right out of the locker room as senior guard Donny McLendon nailed a three on the first possession of the half. McLendon drilled a runner in the lane to push the lead to 11 and Nelson hit a layup to make it 38-25 with 16:17 remaining in the contest. The Citadel’s lead ballooned to 16 after Everhart converted a three-point play with 14:35 left. The Mountaineers finally hit their first field goal of the second half with 14:08 remaining as Cranford hit one from beyond the arc to pull Appalachian State to within 13, but sophomore guard Chris Diasparra answered with a three-pointer of his own to make it 44-28.
Thompson got the Mountaineers back in the game as he hit a layup to score his first points of the contest with 12:36 remaining and hit a three-pointer to punctuate an 11-0 Appalachian State run that pulled them to within five at 44-39. Clayton hit a layup to pull Appalachian State to within three, but a jumper by Nelson stopped the 13-0 run by the Mountaineers and gave The Citadel a 46-41 advantage with 6:49 left. Clayton followed with another layup to make it 46-45. The Mountaineers climbed all the way back to regain the lead with a three-pointer by McLaughlin-Williams, but McLendon hit a jumper to tie the contest at 48, while Everhart layed it in on a pass from senior guard Kevin Hammack to take back the advantage for The Citadel at 50-48 with 2:16 remaining in the game.
Clayton hit two from the charity stripe to tie the game at 50 and Thompson nailed a pair of his own from the line to give the Mountaineers the lead back at 52-50 with 1:53 remaining. Sophomore guard Vytautas Valiulis missed a pair of free throws, but an amazing over the shoulder tip-in by Nelson tied the game once again at 52 with 48 seconds left. However, the Mountaineers were successful from the free throw line down the stretch and claim their second victory in three days after defeating the College of Charleston on Saturday in Charleston.
The Citadel has a 14-day break before hitting the court again on Dec. 18 at Western Carolina for the first of a two-game road trip.
HIGH POINT 62, ELON 48
HIGH POINT, N.C. ? Arizona Reid posted 18 of his 22 points in the first half to lead the High Point Panthers to a 62-48 win over the Elon Phoenix on Monday night in non-conference action at the Millis Center. With the win, High Point moves to 5-3 on the year while Elon falls to 1-6.
Reid connected on nine of his 16 shots while also pulling in nine rebounds. Troy Bowen added 11 points for the Panthers, going 4-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-5 from three-point range. Jerald Minnis posted 10 points and seven rebounds while Landon Quick tallied seven assists.
Elon was led by Brett James’ 15 points along with 11 points from LeVonn Jordan. James led the Phoenix with six rebounds while Ola Atoyebi pulled in five boards.
Elon took an early 7-4 lead with 16:15 on the clock but an 11-0 run by the Panthers gave High Point a 15-7 lead on a lay up by Reid with 12:06 left in the first half. The Panthers held onto the eight-point advantage, leading 21-13 with 5:16 remaining before Elon cut the lead to three, 21-18, on a three-pointer by James and a lay up from Atoyebi with 2:26 to go.
The Panthers used a 7-1 run, with all seven points provided by Reid, to close the half and take a 28-19 lead into the break. High Point shot 36.7 percent in the first half while posting 12 points off Elon’s 13 turnovers. Elon shot just 25 percent from the floor, registering five baskets, all coming from James and Atoyebi.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 20-3 run to take a 26-point lead at 48-22 with 13:57 remaining in the contest. Elon used a 13-3 run to cut the lead to 16 at 51-35 on a three-pointer by Jon Ogolo with 8:21 left to play. High Point pushed the lead back to 23 at 60-37 on a free throw from Minnis at 6:26. The Panthers maintained a 23-point advantage at 62-39 at 2:34 before Elon finished the game on a 9-0 run to cut the defecit to 14 at the final score of 62-48.
High Point finished the contest shooting 46.2 percent after posted a 59.1 shooting percentage in the second half. The Panthers tallied an 83.3 three-point shooting percentage in the second stanza to finish the game shooting 38.9 percent from long range. The Panthers shot just 38.9 percent from the line, sinking seven of its 18 free throws. The Panthers forced 26 Elon turnovers and tallied nine steals and 18 assists.
Elon shot 34.9 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from three-point range while posting a free throw percentage of 75.0. The Phoenix finished the game with 11 steals and out-rebounded the Panthers 32-31.
Elon now takes a break for exams and will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 16 at Notre Dame in a 7:30 p.m. contest.