SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for November 24, 2007
UNC GREENSBORO 93, USC UPSTATE 76
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Kendall Toney set a school-record and nearly an NCAA record with eight consecutive three-point field goals and Kyle Hines recorded his 33rd career double-double as UNC Greensboro topped USC Upstate, 93-76, in men’s basketball action at Fleming Gym on Saturday night.
Toney, a sophomore from Charlotte, NC who led the Southern Conference in three-point shooting percentage a year ago, connected on his first eight attempts from behind the arc and was one shy of the national record.
However, he front rimmed his ninth attempt with 4:11 to play, missing the Division I record accomplished three times. UNCG’s previous best was a 6-for-6 effort by Nathan Jameson against Saint Peter’s in 2001, which is a SoCon record for field goal percentage in a game. Toney finished the night with 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting, all from behind the arc.
Hines extended his streak to 54 straight games with 10 or more points, the longest current in the nation. The All-America candidate finished the night with 19 points and 11 rebounds, including the 800th board of his career. He played just 24 minutes on the night.
The Sicklerville, NJ native extended the streak before half for the 27th time in the 54 games. On Saturday, he extended it before the game was 12 minutes old, crossing into double figures with a conventional three-point play at the 8:44 mark. He wound up only playing 10 minutes in the first half as he picked up his second foul shortly thereafter.
Sophomore forward Ben Stywall also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 points and Mikko Koivisto chipped in with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Luke Payne, son of coach Eddie Payne, led USC Upstate (0-5) with 15 points, including the 1,000th of his career. Rashawn Brailsford added 14 points.
“It felt great out there tonight,” said Toney, who hit eight three-pointers last year in an overtime loss at North Carolina State. “When they were calling plays for me, I was getting good looks and they just kept going down. I didn’t know anything about the national record out there.”
“We were thinking about Oleksiak’s record of nine and then they came and told (the bench) about the national record when Kendall was at eight,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “So I called his number to give him a chance at it and he took a bad shot. He came up top and took a tough shot with the guy right on him.
“He shot it well tonight and that was very valuable for us tonight. We still need to work on our zone offense. I thought they moved the ball better than we did. Our turnovers hurt, too. They played 75 percent zone and we still had 18 turnovers.”
UNCG (3-1) got out of the gate quickly, jumping out to a 10-2 lead. USC Upstate recovered briefly before back-to-back three-pointers by Toney extended the home team’s lead to 25-10 just eight minutes into the game. Coming out of the media timeout, another trey by Toney and a lob to Hines for a dunk grew the lead up to 20.
UNCG looked to be on cruise control until USC Upstate made a 9-3 run to close out the first half and cut the deficit to 14 at the break, 50-36. That came with both Hines and point guard Dwayne Johnson on the UNCG bench with two fouls.
The teams played fairly even through the first part of the second half as Toney remained hot. USC Upstate got as close as its halftime deficit - 14 - a couple of times in the second half. But UNCG shot 59 percent from the floor in the half to prevent any further damage, stretching the lead back to 86-62 with 4:57 to go.
Toney made his eighth three-pointer with 6:11 to play, but then missed for the first time all night two minutes later.
UNCG’s 50 first-half points were the most it had scored in an opening half since December 16, 2004 when it scored 52 on Guilford on the way to a 96-65 win. The Spartans are now 28-13 all-time in home openers, including 14-3 in the Division I era. UNCG has also won 32 of its last 34 home non-conference contests.
USC Upstate, a first-year Division I program in the Atlantic Sun Conference, has trailed wire-to-wire in four of their five losses.
UNCG returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Kent State.
THE CITADEL 63, WEBBER INTERNATIONAL 63
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? After being down by as many as 14 points late in the first half, The Citadel Basketball rallied from behind to claim a 66-63 win over Webber International on Saturday at McAlister Field House.
The Bulldogs, who got off to a slow start, opened the game with a jumper by freshman guard Cameron Wells at 19:02 on the clock. A fast-paced Warrior team quickly tied the game with a layup by Ishmael Firova at 18:50, followed by a Demetrius Nelson layup at 18:36 to give The Citadel their only lead of the first half at 4-2. A couple of missed jumpers on both ends of the court left the next basket for either team coming at the 16:58 mark when Webber’s Michael Floyd tied the game at 4-4. However, the Warriors ran away with the lead as Halston Schaffer put the next eight points on the board for Webber starting a 25-11 run to extend their lead by as much as 14 points with 3:30 left in the half.
A three-point shot by freshman Zach Urbanus at 3:14 quickly put a stop to any more of a Warrior run as freshman Phillip Pandak followed with a long-range shot of his own to bring Webber’s lead back down to single-digits at 29- 21 with 2:11 left in the half. However, fouls by Daniel Eykyn and Pandak sent the Warriors to the free throw line of which they took advantage of as they extended their lead going into the half to 10 points at 31-21. The Bulldogs connected on only nine baskets in the first half, shooting 27.3 percent, while Webber International hit 13-of-26 shots for 50 percent from the field.
Coming out more aggressive in the second half, Nelson and Wells cut the Warrior lead down to four points by scoring the next eight points for the Bulldogs and starting the half on an 8-2 run with 17:05 on the game clock. The two teams traded baskets until 11:40 when The Citadel tied the game for the first time since early in the first half at 40. A three-point basket by Alex Carmona for Webber extended their lead back to three points at 11:25; however Nelson connected on a layup and free throw to tie the game again at 43.
A foul by Tyrell McDowell sent Warrior Jermaine Miller to the line, connecting on both shots and extending the Warrior lead again by two at 45-43 with 10:49 on the clock. Nelson, again to the rescue, quickly bounced back and added three more of his own after a foul by Webber’s Otis Smith set him up for the three-point play with 10:36 left.
Freshman forward Matt Clark connected on a 3-point basket to extend the Bulldog lead to four points, but Carmona answered with a shot from behind the arc to cut The Citadel lead back to one point with 9:30 left in the game. Urbanus connected on another 3-point shot at 4:32 to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 58-52 with 4:32 left. The Warriors closed the margin back within one point with 49 seconds left but two clutch free throws by Demetrius Nelson put the final points on the board for either team with 25 seconds left as the Bulldogs held out for the 66-63 win.
The Citadel’s second half shooting improved to 58.6 percent as they hit 17-of-29 shots. Overall they hit 26-of-62 shots for 41.9 percent in the game. Webber International shot 36 percent from the field in the second half for 22- of-51 and 43.1 percent in the game.
“I wasn’t pleased with our effort in the first half, but we came out with a better effort in the second half,” said Bulldog Head Coach Ed Conroy. “At halftime, I told them they were going to have to come out and play really hard and focus in order to come back and win. We did a better job on the ball in the second half and we were able to get the ball inside and not turn the ball over. “I’m proud of the way we fought back and didn’t get down on ourselves,” Conroy added. “Now we look to CSU and look to come out with a better flow out of the gates.”
Nelson led all scorers with 22 points and five boards. Wells added 12 points and three assists, while Matt Clark had a solid performance contributing 11 points, seven boards and three assists. Schaffer led the Warriors with 21 points, while Carmona added 11 points and eight boards. The Bulldogs will be back in action on Monday, Nov. 26 at 7:05 p.m. when they take on crosstown rival Charleston Southern at McAlister Field House.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 73, FORDHAM 68
BRONX, N.Y. -- Freshman Donavan Monroe scored 15 points while Tony White, Jr. and Andrew Goudelock added 12 points each lifting College of Charleston to a 73-68 win at Fordham before 2,110 at Rosey Hill Gym on Saturday.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 2-3 on the season. The Rams fell to 2-3. The Cougars play host to Charleston Southern in a 7 p.m. tipoff at the North Charleston Coliseum on Wednesday.
Monroe, from Waxhaw, N.C., hit 5-of-8 field goals, 1-of-1 3-point attempts and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. White, Jr. scored 10 points in the second half, including Charleston's first eight points after intermission. Charleston's Jermaine Johnson added 11points and Dustin Scott pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Fordham got a game-high 19 points from Marcus Stout and 17 points from Mike Moore.
Charleston, which led 34-24 at halftime, hit its final six free throw attempts over the last 17 seconds to seal the win. For the game, Charleston shot 51.0 percent from the floor (25-49) and 72.7 percent from the line (16-22). Fordham shot 49.1 percent from the floor hitting on 28-of-57 attempts. The Cougars held a 32-28 rebounding edge including 17-9 in the second half.
Charleston, which jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed in the game, nearly saw a 13-point lead at 66-53 with 3:58 slip away. Moore hit back-to-back 3-pointers that cut Charleston's lead to 66-59 with 2:54 remaining in the game.
Marcus Stout's steal and layup cut the lead to five, and after a Charleston miss, Stout converted again in the lane to narrow the margin to 66-63 with just 19 seconds left.
After Moore hit another 3-pointer with five seconds left, Charleston's Marcus Hammond hit two free throws with 2.9 seconds left to seal the Cougars' second win over an Atlantic 10 foe this season.
DAVIDSON 98, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 50
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Stephen Curry led five Davidson players in double figure with a game-high 16 points, and the Wildcats led tip to horn in a 98-50 men's basketball victory over North Carolina Central Saturday afternoon at John M. Belk Arena.
Senior Thomas Sander posted 13 points for Davidson (2-2), while sophomores Stephen Rossiter (13), Bryant Barr (12), and William Archambault contributed double digits off the bench. Rossiter also had 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Senior Jason Richards added five points and a game-high 10 assists, while junior Max Paulhus Gooselin collected five points, five assists and eight rebounds.
Bryan Ayala led North Carolina Central (1-6) with 13 points, and Charles Futrell added nine.
The Wildcats forced 27 Eagle turnovers and turned them into 24 points. North Carolina Central was held to just 36 percent shooting from the field. Davidson also turned 25 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.
Davidson jumped out to a 12-2 lead 3:50 into the game as Curry and Richards opened the contest with consecutive 3-pointers. A Barr trey from the corner increased the margin to 24-10 with 11:20 left in the half, and the Wildcats never looked back.
The margin grew to as many as 20 in the first frame at 37-17 after Gooselin made 1-of-2 free throws with 4:05 remaining. The Wildcats increased their lead to as many as 48 points in the second stanza after one of Aaron Bond's two buckets from long range in the contest.
The Wildcats open their SoCon schedule with a contest at in-state rival Appalachian State Monday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
WOFFORD 83, VIRGINIA-WISE 62
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Wofford used a strong second half, including a solid performance from the foul line, to pull away in the second half against Virginia-Wise for a 83-62 victory Saturday afternoon inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C.
The Highland Cavaliers played with the Terriers for much of the first half, especially early when Joey Blackwell's 3-pointer at 15:40 knotted the score at 9-9. Sophomore Junior Salters would then hit a bucket to start a 7-2 Wofford run, which was quickly evaporated by UVa.-Wise on a Jarred Soles triple and Adam Hood jumper tying the score again, at 16-16, with 11:44 to play in the opening frame.
A pair of free throws by Corey Godzinski, his second and third straight points for the Terriers, pushed the advantage to nine, 39-30, with 1:36 left. However, the Highland Cavaliers would slice into the lead before the break on the strength of a layup by Eric Swords and a 3-pointer by Robert Amis to make the halftime edge just six, 41-35.
Two free throws by Tyler Whatley and a trey by Salters would inch the lead back to nine, 46-37, at the 16:58 mark of the second half. Amis countered with another 3-pointer, at 14:00, but back-to-back triples from Salters gave Wofford (2-1) its first double-digit margin of 12, 54-42, with 13:05 to play.
Freshman Terry Martin would then take over on the low block, drawing fouls and making his foul shots. He would finish the game with a 14-of-15 effort from the charity stripe, making all 11 of his attempts in the second half, on his way to a career-best and game-high 22 points.
Soles hit a basket at 8:16 to cut the lead to nine, 59-50, which would be the closest Virginia-Wise (4-5) would get the remainder of the game. Behind Martin's free throws and baskets by Norm Nixon, Marcus Jackson and Tim Johnson, Wofford closed the contest on a 24-12 surge.
Salters finished with 17 points, including a game-high four 3-pointers, while Nixon added 12 and Godzinski poured in 11 to give the Terriers four players in double figures. Freshman Noah Dahlman grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, leading Wofford to a 43-25 edge on the boards.
Soles paced the Highland Cavaliers with 15 points with Bryan Sexton contributing nine. Pance Kecev and Justin Sorensen hauled in a team-best four caroms.
The Terriers will return to action at 6 p.m. Monday when they host Toccoa Falls inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH 79, ELON 61
RICHMOND, VA. - The VCU Rams shot 59.2 percent from the floor and posted three players in double figures in scoring to knock off the visiting Elon Phoenix by a 79-61 margin in non-conference men's basketball action from the Siegel Center on Saturday night. The Rams have now won all three contests in the series with the Phoenix and own a 3-2 overall mark. Elon dropped its second consecutive game and now sits at 2-3 on the year.
Elon grabbed its only lead of the game when Ola Atoyebi put in a jumper 23 seconds into the game to put the Phoenix up 2-0. The teams would see the score tied three times, the last at 6-6 after Brian Waters hit a jumper for Elon with 16:46 to go in the first half. VCU grabbed the lead for good at 8-6 on a Jamal Shuler jumper on the next possession.
After a Michael Anderson dunk with 14:07 to go put the Rams up 14-11, both squads went cold as nobody scored until VCU's Larry Sanders sank a jumper with 11:13 left in the period. An old fashioned three-point play from Ed Nixon put VCU up 22-13 with 9:48 showing and the Ram lead eventually reached 10 points when Eric Maynor's three pushed the score to 29-19 with 4:32 left. The Rams would close the half on a 12-1 run after that three to build a 41-20 halftime edge. Elon managed to only net seven points in the final 10:10 of the first half.
During the second half, the VCU advantage grew to as many as 25 when Wil Fameni sank one of two free throw attempts with 17:10 to play. The Phoenix chipped away and whittled the lead down to 15 points when Monty Sanders put in one of two from the charity stripe to put the score at 68-53 with 5:02 to play. Elon could inch no closer and VCU outscored the Phoenix 11-9 the rest of the way.
Atoyebi led the Phoenix with 16 points while Chris Long added 11 markers. On the boards, Brian Waters grabbed a team-best and equalled a career-high with six caroms. Long also passed for a career-best five assists.
Shuler led all scorers with 17 points while Famine added 12 and Maynor 10 for the Rams. Both T.J. Gwynn and Sanders had six rebounds. Maynor finished the night with seven assists.
The Phoenix actually committed less turnovers (9-10) and had more steals (7-4) than the Rams. Elon's nine turnovers were a season low and the fewest for the Phoenix since turning the ball over eight times at The Citadel on Feb. 5, 2007.
Elon will open up Southern Conference play by hosting Western Carolina a 7 p.m. on Tuesday night from Alumni Gym.