CONFERENCE NOTES:
Davidson and SoCon Games: Davidson is tied with Georgia Southern in the South Division with identical 9-4 records. The two teams meet on Tuesday in Statesboro, with a share of the division crown going to the winner. Davidson won the first meeting 83-58 on Jan. 21 on its home floor behind 17 points from Eric Blancett and 15 from Brendan Winters. Eight of the Wildcats’ nine league victories have been by an average margin of 22.3 points, while The Citadel game was the closest at four points at 81-77.
First Round Byes up for grabs: Davidson, Elon and Georgia Southern all have secured first round tournament byes. Two byes remain with five teams vying for the positions: College of Charleston, Furman, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Wofford.
Elon Claims North Division Crown: Elon won its first-ever Southern Conference North Division crown on Feb. 14, knocking off Chattanooga 69-61. Five players reached double digits in scoring, led by LeVonn Jordan and Scottie Rice, who each had 13 points. The Phoenix finished a perfect 7-0 at home during league play and have won a program-best nine SoCon games. The win also secured one of five first round byes for Elon, which advances to the quarterfinals on Friday, Mar. 3.
Elon’s Chalko Named to Academic All-District Team: Elon senior Chris Chalko was named to the College of Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District IV First Team two weeks ago. Chalko, who maintains a 3.64 GPA in exercise sports science, is the lone Southern Conference representative on the team.
Nesbitt Continues Scoring Pace: Georgia Southern’s Elton Nesbitt has scored in double figures in 19 consecutive games and leads the SoCon with a 22.3 points-per-game average. He has paced the team in scoring in nine straight contests. Nesbitt registered back-to-back 30-point performances for the second time in his career two weeks ago, posting 31 points against The Citadel and 30 at College of Charleston. He is 19 points shy of becoming the first Eagle to score 600 points in a season more than once in a career. With 1,661 career points, Nesbitt moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time scoring list against Wofford.
Five Nearing 1,000 Points for Career: Five players from five different teams are closing in on reaching the 1,000 point plateau for their career. Appalachian State’s D.J. Thompson is seven points from 1,000, while Furman’s Robby Bostain is 11 shy. In addition, Wofford’s Tyler Berg is 31 points away, with Western Carolina’s Corey Muirhead one point in back of Berg. Dontaye Draper of College of Charleston is 47 points shy.
SoCon Tournament Tickets On Sale: Tickets for the Southern Conference Men’s and Women’s Tournament officially went on sale Feb. 3 at Ticketmaster outlets and at the North Charleston Coliseum box office. Single session tickets are $12 or a tournament book for all sessions is $60. Tickets are also available through SoCon member institution ticket offices.
Seven Games on SIRIUS in February: Seven SoCon games will be broadcast on SIRIUS Satellite Radio in the month of February, beginning with the Wofford at Appalachian State game Feb. 2. Each game will take the home feed. Below is a listing of this month’s scheduled games.
Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Schedule for February on SIRIUS
Feb. 2 ? Wofford at Appalachian State, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 4 ? Western Carolina at Davidson, 1 p.m. (Channel 117)
Feb. 11 ? Elon at Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m. (Channel 107)
Feb. 13 ? Georgia Southern at College of Charleston, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 18 ? Furman at Davidson, 2 p.m. (Channel 181)
Feb. 23 ? UNC Greensboro at Appalachian State, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 25 ? College of Charleston at Davidson, Noon (Channel 110)
SoCon Tournament Returns to Charleston: After a one year hiatus where the conference tournament was being held in Chattanooga, TN in 2005, the SoCon Tournament returns to the North Charleston Coliseum for the fourth time in five seasons ? and for each of the next two years. The start of the championship is being moved back a day to Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5 to accommodate a Sunday afternoon finals broadcast on ESPN2. The 2006 edition of the conference championship will be the SoCon’s 86th tournament, the longest Division I men’s basketball championship.
TEAM NOTES:
APPALACHIAN STATE (11-15, 5-8 SoCon): Appalachian State had its two game win streak snapped at Chattanooga on Monday, 64-50...D.J. Thompson led the Mountaineers with 20 points, while Jeremy Clayton added a game-high 11 rebounds...Thompson was the lone ASU player to reach double digits in scoring...He has led the team in scoring in each of the last three games and a total of 20 times this season...Thompson enters Thursday’s regular season finale against UNC Greensboro needing seven points to reach 1,000 for his career and is nine steals away from becoming only the third ASU player to record 200 career steals...Clayton pulled down 10 or more rebounds for the fourth time this season, and the most since grabbing 13 against Marshall Jan. 4.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (16-9, 8-5 SoCon): The Cougars went 2-0 last week, defeating The Citadel (72-52) and Georgia State (83-75)...Dontaye Draper has scored 20 or more points in each of his last three games, a career long for the junior...In his last 12 games, Draper is averaging 18.9 ppg. and has scored in double digits in each of those 12 contests...Entering this week’s play Draper is 47 points shy of becoming the 23rd player in Cougar history to score 1,000 career points...The win over the Bulldogs last Thursday gave CofC its 15th win of the season, marking the 27th consecutive year that the Cougars have won at least 15 games...Sophomore Josh Jackson scored 25 points in the win over Georgia State, one point off his career best of 26 set against Furman on Jan. 7...Jackson is 11th in the SoCon in scoring at 13.4 ppg, more than eight points better per game than during his freshman campaign...Jermaine Johnson pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds versus Georgia State, his sixth game of 10-plus boards this year...After Wednesday’s home game with Wofford, CofC closes out the regular season on ESPN2 at Davidson.
CHATTANOOGA (16-12, 7-6 SoCon): Chattanooga won for the fourth time in its last six games with a 64-50 win Monday against Appalachian State...The 50 points allowed tied for the fewest points allowed against UTC this season (Milligan on Dec. 10)...Charles Anderson led the Mocs with 15 points , while Casey Long added 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals...The Mocs made more free throws (21) than field goals (18) in their win over the Mountaineers, marking the third time this season that they have recorded more made free throws than field goals...Chattanooga hosts Western Carolina on Saturday in the team’s final regular season game...UTC is 4-1 in its last five home games.
THE CITADEL (7-20, 0-14 SoCon): The Citadel dropped a pair of league games last week at home, a 72-52 loss to College of Charleston and a 64-41 setback to Furman...Dante Terry was the lone Bulldog to score in double digits against the Paladins with 10...In the loss to CofC, J’Mel Everhart and Matt Davis paced The Citadel with 11 points each, while Donny McLendon added 10...Everhart is one of only 10 Bulldogs to pull down 600 or more rebounds in a career and is currently ninth with 616...Everhart is 17 boards away from moving into sole possession of eighth place...The Bulldogs are at Savannah State on Wednesday, then close out the regular season Saturday at Wofford.
DAVIDSON (16-9, 9-4 SoCon): Senior Jason Morton had a streak of 11 consecutive three-pointers made end against the Paladins...He hit his last three attempts against UNCG on Feb. 8, did not attempt a shot in two minutes of play at Wofford, set a Davidson record with six trifectas without a miss at The Citadel Feb. 13 and nailed his first two against Furman before one went off the mark...No other Wildcat has ever hit that many threes in a row...Over the last seven games, Morton has been solid behind the arc, hitting 24-of-45 (.533) three-pointers...Senior Kenny Grant has moved up to ninth in the nation with 6.3 assists per game after handing out nine helpers in the win over Furman...The 18-point win over the Paladins avenged Davidson’s defeat in Greenville earlier this year, which ended the Wildcats’ 27-game conference winning streak...Sophomore Thomas Sander has recorded double-doubles in two of the last three games, giving him three this season...Brendan Winters has reached double figures in scoring in each of the last 13 games and has posted at least 10 points 97 times in his career...The Wildcats are 10-0 when shooting at least 50 percent in a game...A win this evening at Georgia Southern Tuesday would clinch at least a share of the South Division title, which Davidson has had in each of the last four seasons...After the GSU game, Davidson hosts College of Charleston in a game that will be televised on ESPN2.
ELON (13-13, 9-4 SoCon): Elon secured the school’s first-ever North Division crown on Feb. 14 after a 69-61 win over Chattanooga...The Phoenix also claimed one of five first round byes in the conference tournament...The 13 overall wins and nine league victories are the most by an Elon program since moving to Division I...Scottie Rice, who has 204 career steals, needs three steals to become the school’s all-time leader...Jackson Atyoebi moved past the 600 career rebound mark against Western Carolina last Saturday and has 604 caroms...Colin Wyatt scored a season-high 21 points in the overtime loss to the Catamounts...Wyatt was 8-of-10 from the field and also pulled down four rebounds and dished out a pair of assists...Elon finished the conference schedule with a perfect 7-0 record at home...The Phoenix, who are 11-4 in their last 15 games, close out the regular season Saturday at UNC Greensboro in the league’s game of the week on FSN South.
FURMAN (15-11, 8-6 SoCon): Furman rebounded from a 77-59 loss at Davidson on Saturday with a 64-41 win at The Citadel on Monday...Eric Webb led the Paladins with 13 points against the Bulldogs, while Robby Bostain chipped in 11 points and 14 rebounds...Bostain is 11 points shy of reaching 1,000 points for his career...Webb was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line and leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.873)...In the loss to the Wildcats, Moussa Diagne had a team-high 20 points in 24 minutes of action...Diagne was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and was 8-for-10 overall from the field...Jadee Jones came off the bench to add 10 points and three boards in only eight minutes of playing time...Furman hosts Georgia Southern in the regular season finale for both schools.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (18-8, 9-4 SoCon): Georgia Southern had its six-game win streak snapped Saturday at Wofford, 78-62...Elton Nesbitt led the Eagles with 15 points, tying for his lowest scoring output over his last eight games...Nesbitt moved into fifth place in school history with 1,661 career points...Nesbitt has a league-leading 92 3-point field goals this season, tying his single season high and is two shy of setting a GSU record...His 251 career treys are sixth all-time in league history and is five shy of moving into sole possession of fifth place...Will Dunn had 12 points against the Terriers for his third consecutive double digit game...Louis Graham had a team-high 12 rebounds versus Wofford, the sixth time in his last seven games that he has registered 10 or more rebounds...GSU hosts Davidson on Tuesday and is at Furman on Sunday.
UNC GREENSBORO (11-15, 4-7 SoCon): UNC Greensboro lost at Saint Peter’s on Saturday, 80-76 in overtime...Kyle Hines led the Spartans with 29 points, while he and Ricky Hickman tied for team honors with 11 rebounds...It was Hines’ league-leading ninth double-double of the season and the 20th of his career...Hines moved into 19th place on the school’s career points list with 877...Dwayne Johnson set a school record going 13-for-13 from the free throw line versus Saint Peter’s, which is also tied for 12th in SoCon history...Hickman became the ninth Spartan to record 100 3-point field goals in a career and has hit at least one trey in 22 consecutive games, tied for fourth in UNCG history...UNCG has three games this week, beginning Tuesday at Western Carolina...The Spartans then travel to Appalachian State and close out at home on Saturday against Elon in an FSN South game.
WESTERN CAROLINA (12-15, 6-6 SoCon): Western Carolina evened its league mark at 6-6 with an 85-78 overtime win over Elon...Corey Muirhead led the Catamounts with 25 points, hitting 7-of-10 shots from the floor and 11-of-15 from the free throw line...Negus McKenna tied his career mark with 24 points in the win over the Phoenix...McKenna was 5-for-7 from 3-point range...As a team the Catamounts connected on 12 3-pointers versus Elon, the sixth time this year that WCU has recorded 12 or more treys (which was the previous record before hitting 15 against Chattanooga)...WCU hosts UNC Greensboro on Tuesday and is at Chattanooga Saturday.
WOFFORD (11-15, 6-7 SoCon): Wofford won its lone game last week, a 78-62 win over South Division leader Georgia Southern...Howard Wilkerson led the Terriers with a career-high 30 points...It’s the first time in three years that a Wofford player scored 30 or more points in a game...The win was the Terriers fourth in a row at home and only the second victory this season when trailing at halftime...Wofford is winners of four of its last five overall and six of its last nine...The Terriers join Furman as the only teams in the SoCon to have defeated both Georgia Southern and Davidson this season...Wofford is at College of Charleston on Wednesday, then hosts The Citadel on Saturday to finish the regular season.