Furman 76, Appalachian State 64
Greenville, S.C. -- Moussa Diagne record a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds to lift Furman to a 76-64 Southern Conference victory over Appalachian State in front of a crowd of 2,888 at Timmons Arena on Tuesday evening,
Trailing 38-36 three minutes into the second half, Furman reeled off a 10-0 run to open up a 46-38 advantage with 14:35 remaining. Eric Webb buried a three to start the run and put the Paladins ahead 39-38. After a Diagne layup, Robby Bostain drilled a three-pointer following Alex Opacic’s offensive rebound to up the lead to six. Diagne capped the run with a turnaround jumper from the baseline. Appalachian State trimmed the lead to four with under nine minutes left, but could get no closer.
“Our guys came through with a pressure win tonight,” said Furman head coach Larry Davis. “This was a game that we had to have and we found a way to get it done. I thought we didn’t play scared and showed alot of confidence in ourselves tonight.”
The Paladins shot a blistering 63.6% (14-22) from the field in the second half while sinking 12-of-13 attempts at the charity stripe. Furman, who converted 25-of-43 (58.1%) field goal attempts on the evening, made
9-of-22 three-pointers, including 5-of-12 in the final 20 minutes.
Webb scored 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 beyond the arc. The junior made four of his five attempts at the foul line. Bostain tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to join Webb and Diagne in double figures.
Nathan Cranford led five Mountaineers in double figures with 13 points.
Eduardo Bermudez netted 12 points while Jeremy Clayton, McLaughlin-Williams and D.J. Thompson each tallied 10 points. Appalachian shot 44.2% (23-52) from the field and 10-of-27 (37.0%) from three-point range.
Furman, who improved to 10-1 at home this season, held a commanding 33-20 edge in rebounding and converted 17-of-22 free throw attempts.
The win snapped Furman’s three-game SoCon losing streak and upped the Paladins’ record to 13-9 overall and 6-4 in league action. Furman continues its three-game homestand Saturday when it hosts the College of Charleston in a 6:00 p.m. contest at Timmons Arena. The matchup will be televised live on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS).
The Citadel 80, Savannah State 73
Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel basketball and their fans have a reason to celebrate as they ended their 13-game losing streak with a win over the Savannah State Tigers Tuesday night at McAlister Field House, 80-73.
Off to a slow start, the Bulldogs (7-16 overall; 0-10 SoCon) allowed Savannah State (2-23) to hold onto the longest lead they’ve had all season in the first half. However, after going into the locker room down 38-31, The Citadel returned to the second period with a new energy and the points to go with it.
To kick-off action, Tigers’ sophomore guard Joseph Flegler shot a layup with 18:13 on the clock, followed by a Flegler three-pointer at 17:33, to put Savannah State up, 5-0, to start of the game. A layup by freshman guard Vytautus Valiulis at 16:30 put the first points on the board for the Bulldogs, but Flegler immediately answered with another layup and a free throw after a foul by senior center Andy Miller at 15:54.
Behind by as much as12 points at 13:47 in the first period, the The Citadel brought the margin within one point at 7:05, but could not hold on to the momentum. Hitting 11-of-28 shots, shooting only 39.3 percent from the field, the Bulldogs trailed the entire first half, going into halftime down by seven.
“We missed a ton of early layups and I thought that was the big factor in our slow start. We need to do better finishing,” said The Citadel Head Coach Pat Dennis.
Leading the Bulldogs in a great second half effort was junior forward J’Mel Everhart. Everhart opened the second period with a rebound and put back off a missed three-pointer by senior guard Dante Terry that began a 22-5 run by The Citadel. The run, that included another layup by Everhart at the 14:49 mark to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 44-43, ended at 10:45 with two free throws by Savannah State’s freshman forward Chris Linton.
Still in the game, Savannah State never gave up, bringing the margin within two points after two back-to-back Michael Bennett three-pointers, the second falling at 8:43. However, after a couple of free throws by junior forward Joseph Thompson and a couple of layups by sophomore forward Demetrius Nelson, the Bulldogs found themselves back up by 10 points at 3:20 left in the game. The Citadel led by as much as 11 and never allowed the margin any closer than six points.
Everhart, who ended the first half with five points and six boards, came back to lead the Bulldogs to the win, outscoring the Tigers in the second half by 14 points. He hit 7-of-8 shots in the second period, totaling 20 points 11 boards, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots for the night. Tuesday’s performance was Everhart’s sixth double-double of the season and second consecutive double-double.
“We had a slow first half and I just knew that somebody had to step up and take charge and just be a leader out there. That’s what I wanted to do,” Everhart said.
Flegler led the Tigers with 24 points, four assists and three boards for the night. Also a major factor for Savannah State was junior guard Javon Randolph who contributed 17 points, four steals and three assists, while Linton added another 16 points and eight boards.
The Citadel improved their shooting in the second half to 58.6 percent, averaging 49.1 percent for the game. They hit 17-of-31 free throws, while totaling 13 steals. Senior forward Matt Davis recorded a career high of six steals, while senior guard Dante Terry tied his career high in assists with six.
“I think we learned that we can’t have a bad practice then expect to come out and play a good game,” Dennis said. “So hopefully we can learn from that.”
“We just came out and wanted to play hard like we’ve been doing the past three or four games and the hard work finally played off,” Everhart added.
“It’s really great to get this win after going through the tough losses we’ve had recently, losing by one to Appalachian State and then in overtime to Chattanooga,” Davis said. “We’ve been playing better and it’s good that we got the win tonight, regardless of who the team is. I just hope it gets us on a roll.”
The basketball team was not the only ones rewarded for their successful performance Tuesday night. Cadets who cheered the team to victory found themselves cheering more after the game when learning they would receive several incentives for their attendance and support of the basketball team Tuesday night.
“We had a great number of cadets here. That was awesome and it was good to get a win,” Dennis said. “It feels good because we were so close. We have been playing well. Tonight was not one of our better games, but it still feels good to get the win.”
The Bulldogs will return to conference action on Saturday, Feb. 11 when they travel to Georgia Southern for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. They will then return home for their last three home games against Davidson, College of Charleston and Furman, before playing at Savannah State on Feb. 22 and ending the regular season on Feb. 25 at Wofford.