#5 Chattanooga 78, #8 Appalachian State 75
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Forget the Final Four. For Chattanooga Coach John Shulman, the big day is Sunday.
``We are 40 minutes way from playing for our national championship,'' said Shulman after his Mocs defeated Appalachian State 78-75 Saturday in the semifinals of the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
The conference championship, he said, ``I firmly believe is our national championship.''
Keddric Mays had 16 points and Charles Anderson added 14 as Chattanooga overcame a sluggish start then withstood a furious rally to beat Appalachian State and gain the finals.
Chattanooga (19-12) and the defending tournament champion, meets the winner of Saturday's second game between Davidson and Elon in Sunday's final with a trip to the NCAA Tournament at stake.
``Nobody believed in us,'' Shulman said. ``But the kids have done a great job keeping the faith. We still have one game left.''
Appalachian (15-15) and the tournament's No. 8 seed, defeated Wofford and top-seeded Georgia Southern on consecutive days but ran out of steam against the Mocs.
Appalachian raced out to a 10-0 lead and was almost five minutes into the first half before the Mocs notched their first basket.
Down 21-7 with 11:31 remaining in the period, the Mocs went on a 17-2 run capped by freshman Khalil Hartwell's hook in front of the basket which gave Chattanooga its first lead at 24-23.
Appalachian responded with 8 straight to again build a 7-point lead. But the Mocs closed just before halftime with Steve Cherry's 3-pointer giving Chattanooga a 36-34 lead at the break - a lead the Mocs never surrendered.
``We came out kind of flat,'' said Jerice Crouch, who finished with 15 for the Mocs. ``Once we got going, we got a little tentative. We realized that and kept punching.''
Chattanooga led by as many as 16 points in the second half. But the Mountaineers rallied and cut it to 1-point, 75-74. D.J. Thompson, who led Appalachian with 25 points, then made a 3-pointer and a free throw after he was fouled by Jerice Crouch with 14.1 seconds remaining.
But Appalachian , which shot 38 percent from the field, got no closer as the Mocs converted free throws in the closing seconds. The Mocs shot 53 percent from the field.
Thompson was 6-13 from behind the arc, and Demetrius Scott and Nathan Cranford each had 15 for Appalachian. Crouch added 14 for Chattanooga.
It was the second straight year Chattanooga eliminated Appalachian from the conference tournament in the semifinals. Chattanooga won 64-50 in the regular season meeting.
#3 Davidson 75, #2 Elon 68
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Ian Johnson had 23 points, including 15 from 3-point range, to pace Davidson to a 65-58 victory over Elon on Saturday and a spot in the championship game of the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
The Wildcats meet Chattanooga, an earlier 78-75 winner over Appalachian State, for the tournament championship on Sunday with the winner advancing to the NCAA tournament.
Davidson (19-10) trailed only once on Saturday, at 19-18 in the first quarter. But then Johnson hit a 3-pointer for a lead the Wildcats held the rest of the way.
But it wasn't a walkover.
Davidson, the tournament's third-seed, led 35-28 at the half and built the lead to as many as 13 in the second half.
But Elon would not go away and was able to close to within 4 points twice in the final minute, but could not draw any closer.
Chris Chalko missed a 3-pointer that would have narrowed the margin to 60-59 with 38 seconds remaining. Davidson hit foul shots in the waning seconds for the final 7-point margin.
Elon (15-14) was the tournament's No. 2 seed but Davidson has not lost to Elon since the Phoenix joined the league in 2003-04. And Davidson has eliminated Elon each year in the conference tournament.
Johnson went 8-of-10 from 2-point range and was 5-6 from behind the arc. Brendan Winters added 14 points for the Wildcats while Jason Morton contributed 14.
Jackson Atoyebi led Elon with 14 while Chalko added 12.
Davidson shot just over 41 percent from the field although Elon shot almost 45 percent. But Davidson was 44 percent from 3-point range while Elon was only 20 percent from behind the arc.