Appalachian State 71, Elon 60
BOONE, N.C. (AP) - D.J. Thompson led three players in double-digit scoring with 20 points to lift Appalachian State past Elon 71-60 in the Southern Conference on Saturday.
Jeremy Clayton added 17 points and Nathan Cranford had 11 for the Mountaineers (10-14, 4-7). Clayton and Cranford each posted five rebounds.
Scottie Rice led four players in double-digit scoring with 14 points and posted six rebounds for Elon (12-12, 8-3). LeVonn Jordan had 13 points, Colin Wyatt tallied 12 and Brett James came off the bench to finish with 10.
The Mountaineers, who led 35-28 at the half, converted 16 Elon turnovers into 17 points. The Phoenix turned eight Appalachian State turnovers into 12 points.
College of Charleston 67, Furman 65
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - David Lawrence's 3-pointer with 59 seconds left lifted the College of Charleston to a 67-65 win over Furman on Saturday.
Furman's Moussa Diagne made a free throw with 38 seconds left to cut the lead to 67-65, and the Paladins (13-10, 6-5 Southern Conference) had a couple of chances to tie or take the lead in the final 30 seconds.
After Lawrence missed the first attempt of a one-and-one, Furman's Robbie Bostain had his drive blocked, Eric Webb missed a 3, and Bostain missed another attempt before Charleston's J.R. Hairston was fouled with 2.9 seconds left.
Hairston missed a free throw attempt but the Paladins couldn't get a shot off.
The Cougars (14-8, 7-4) tied the game at 64 after Drew Hall's layup with 3:43 remaining.
The College of Charleston led 44-29 lead after Hall's 15-footer three minutes into the second half. But Bostain ignited a 20-4 rally that gave Furman a 49-48 lead on Jadee Jones' layup with 9:43 to go. Bostain finished with 19 points.
Josh Jackson scored 14 and Dontaye Draper had 13 for Charleston.
Story courtesy of Wofford sports information
Wofford 84, Davidson 71
SPARTANBURG, SC ? Howard Wilkerson scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Wofford to an 84-71 win over Davidson Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Davidson had entered the game as the Southern Conference’s co-leader in the South Division. The loss leaves the Wildcats at 7-4 in league play, a game behind Georgia Southern at 8-3. Wofford is a game out of fourth place at 5-6.
Wofford (10-14, 5-6) led 36-32 at the half before Davidson tied the game at 41. The game was tied again at 44 after Wofford’s Shane Nichols hit three consecutive free throws with 14:35 to play in the game. The Terriers increased their lead to as much as 10 points at 63-53 with 8:36 remaining.
Davidson (14-9, 7-4) was within three points at 72-69 with 1:58 to play following an inside basket by Ian Johnson. Nichols hit a three-pointer from the left corner with 1:24 remaining to put Wofford up six at 75-69. Brendan Winters hit a 10-foot jumper with 1:13 left that cut the Terrier lead to four.
Byron Fields made his second three-pointer of the night to put Wofford ahead 78-71 with 35 seconds remaining. The Terriers finished the game on a 9-0 run including a pair of breakaway slam dunks by Wilkerson.
Wofford shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half, making 18 of 29 field goal attempts. The Terriers were eight of 12 from 3-point range after the half including a three-of-four performance from freshman Matt Estep. Drew Gibson and Nichols also each hit a pair of three-pointers in the second half.
The Terriers’ three back court starters, Nichols, Gibson and Fields, combined to hand out 15 assists while committing just two turnovers.
Davidson was led by Johnson who scored 23 points and grabbed five rebounds. Winters scored 19 points while Thomas Sander contributed a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Davidson had won four straight over Wofford entering tonight’s game.
Wofford will visit Furman Monday night in a 7 p.m. start. Davidson will return to action Monday night at The Citadel.
Story courtesy of Georgia Southern sports information
Georgia Southern 96, The Citadel 68
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Georgia Southern had five players score in double figures, leading the Eagles to a 96-68 win over The Citadel Saturday night. The Eagles move to 17-7 overall and 8-3 in SoCon play, and are now in first place in the Southern Conference.
Georgia Southern opened the game with a 26-3 run, including three treys by Elton Nesbitt. The Eagles held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly four minutes before a Donny McClendon jumper ended the drought. A three-pointer by Diogo Salazar with 5:37 to play in the half gave the Eagles a 28 point lead at 42-14, their largest of the half. The Citadel (7-17, 0-11 SoCon) came alive late in the first half, going on a 16-9 run to end the half, making the halftime score 51-30.
Nesbitt led all scorers with 20 points in the first half, and was perfect from the floor including three three-pointers.
Donte Gennie added eight points and three rebounds. Demetrius Nelson led the Bulldogs with seven points and five rebounds. The Eagles shot 57.7 percent from the field (15-26) while holding The Citadel to 26.7 percent shooting (8-30).
Nesbitt came out of the lockerroom and hit a quick three-pointer to open the second half. The Citadel’s J’Mel Everhart’s jumper with 19:24 on the clock cut the Bulldog deficit to 22 at 54-32. Nesbitt hit his fifth trey of the evening with 17:30 to play, increasing Georgia Southern’s lead to 28 at 62-34. Jimmy Tobias’ layup with 9:13 remaining in the game put the Eagles up 32, 80-48, their largest lead of the night. Courtnei Houston’s trey with five seconds to play gave the Eagles a 30 point lead, but a McClendon jumper at the buzzer made the final score 96-68.
Nesbitt led all scorers with 31 and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Will Dunn had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds, while Tobias and Gennie each added 11 points. Louis Graham finished with 10 points and two blocks. Everhart and Terry led the Bulldogs with 13 points each while Scott scored 12.
The Eagles shot 52.7 percent (29-55) from the field and 57.9 percent from behind the arc, hitting 11 three’s.
GSU held The Citadel to 35.4 percent shooting (23-65) and forced 11 turnovers.
Georgia Southern will travel to Charleston Monday night for a 7:00 p.m. regionally televised contest against the Cougars. The game will be aired on Comcast Sports South.
The game will be broadcast on 107.3 FM in Statesboro, with the pre-game show with Georgia Southern play-by- play announcer Ricky Ray and color analyst Frank Kerns beginning at 6:50 p.m.
Story courtesy of UNC Greensboto sports information
Chattanooga 76, UNC Greensboro 67
GREENSBORO, NC ? Casey Long’s three-pointer with 2:31 to play was the big blow in a late 7-0 run that pushed Chattanooga to a 76-67 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference men’s basketball action at Fleming Gym on Saturday night.
Steve Cherry led all scorers with a career-high 19 points, one of four Mocs in double figures. Ricky Hood added 15 points, including 9-for-11 from the line. He was 7-for-8 at the line in the final 1:22, with the lone miss resulting in a key offensive rebound by the Mocs (15-11, 6-5 SoCon).
“I thought we were lucky as heck to be tied at the half ,” said Chattanooga coach John Shulman. “We were bad defensively in the first half. We did a nice job with our doubles in the second half and figured out a way to win on the road.”
Sophomore forward Kyle Hines scored 15 of his 16 points in the first half to lead UNCG’s scoring. After going 7-for-8 from the field in the first half, Hines did not attempt a shot in the second half, mostly because of foul trouble. Hines also had a big first half in the loss at Chattanooga earlier this season, scoring 19 of his 23 in the first 20 minutes. The Mocs were able to neutralize him that day. His fourth foul did on Saturday.
“Kyle hasn’t gotten in a lot of foul trouble this season and I think our guys were a little shaken,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “But Matt Akinosho gave us a great lift, got a couple of baskets and couple of rebounds, and we should have been fine.”
UNCG’s Ricky Hickman added 15 points, including the 1000th of his career with a pair of free throws at the 4:10 mark. He is the 13th player in school history to surpass the milestone and just the fifth to do so as a junior. He also extended his streak of games with 10 or more points to 23 straight. However, Hickman shot just 4-for-18 from the field, including 2-of-13 from behind the three-point arc.
Kevin Oleksiak also had 15 points and David McClenny added 10 points for the Spartans (11-14, 4-7 SoCon).
“You look at the box score and you hold (Keddric) Mays to 0-for-7 from the field, you should feel pretty good about your chances,” said Dement. “But we gave up too many offensive rebounds (18).”
The Mocs used a 10-2 run to open up an early six-point advantage, 14-8, as Cherry scored eight of Chattanooga’s first 11 points. But UNCG used a 8-2 spurt of its own, capped by a three-pointer by David McClenny from the right wing, to knot the score at 19-19 midway through the first half.
Chattanooga held a small margin for most of the remainder of the half, but the Spartans came up with a big play as time expired. Kyle Hines was whistled for a foul with 6.3 seconds left, which resulted in an in-bounds under the basket. Oleksiak intercepted the in-bounds play near mid-court, and fed it to Hines, who raced in for a dunk just before the buzzer to tie it at 31-31.
Both teams started out slow in the second half, but the Mocs were able to forge a lead. Chattanooga opened up a five-point lead after a three-pointer by Jerice Crouch (10 points) with 14:55 left. Nearly two minutes later, Khalil Hartwell scooped up a loose ball and layed it in to give the Mocs a 43-36 lead with 12:56 to play.
Both teams began to have big man foul problems. UNCG lost Hines to his fourth foul with 12:14 to play, while Chattanooga’s Nicchaeus Doaks fouled out with 11:20 to play to make the Mocs already thin front line a little thinner.
Akinosho, who had recorded just one field goal since the middle of December, stepped up with five points and two rebounds in the next four minutes after Hines went to the bench to keep the Spartans in it.
Ricky Hickman gave UNCG a brief lead, 51-49, with a three-pointer from the top of the key with 8:15 left. But Chattanooga scored the next five points to take a three-point lead, forcing UNCG to bring Hines back with 6:43 to play.
UNCG cut the margin to two before the Mocs ran off seven straight to take a 63-54 lead with 2:10 to go. The big blow in the run came on Long’s three-pointer with 2:31 to play.
Oleksiak knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut it to six with 1:23 left. After a UNCG foul, Hood made just one of two, but Hartwell got a hand on the rebound and Hood gathered it in to go back to the line and seal the win. Hartwell had a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with seven points, a big lift in place of Doaks.
The Spartans now must go back on the road for three straight games. UNCG, looking to snap an eight-game road losing streak, will first step out of conference for its BracketBusters Pool match-up against St. Peter’s next Saturday at 3 pm.