SoCon Men’s Basketball recaps for December 17, 2007

 

ALABAMA 80, WOFFORD 73

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team had a one point lead at the half, but were defeated 80-73 by Alabama on Monday night at Coleman Coliseum. Wofford hit ten three-pointers in the first half, including four by Junior Salters.

 

The Terriers are 4-4 overall and 1-1 in SoCon play. Alabama is 6-3 overall on the season. The game was the first for both teams in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic. Shane Nichols led the Terries with 20 points and Tim Johnson had ten points and a team-high 14 rebounds for his first career double-double. Alabama was led by Alonzo Gee with 21 points.

 

“We did everything that we could tonight,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “We shot the first out of the ball in the first half and had Alabama on their heels for a while. We gave ourselves a shot, but it was not good enough.”

 

Wofford began the game by hitting seven straight three-pointers to take a 21-15 lead at 12:34 in the first half. Tim Johnson scored on a tip-in at 9:09 for the Terriers first two-point basket of the game and a 23-18 lead. Wofford was able to extend the lead to eight points on two occasions after three-pointers by Corey Godzinski and Junior Salters.

 

Alabama’s Richard Hendrix scored five straight points for the Crimson Tide in the last 55 seconds of the first half to cut the Terriers lead to 37-36 at the half. Wofford was 10-14 from behind the arc in the first half (71.4%) and made all five free throws. In addition, Wofford had a 21 to 11 lead on the board after twenty minutes.

 

In the second half, Alabama went on an early 4-0 run to gain a 40-37 lead. After two lay-ups by Tyler Whatley, Wofford had gained the lead again at 41-40, which was the last lead of the game for the Terriers at 17:26 in the second half.

 

Wofford was able to cut the lead to one at 56-55 at 9:47 in the second. Alonzo Gee hit back-to-back three pointers to give the Crimson Tide a 66-57 lead at 7:17. Alabama increased the lead to ten points at 71-61 after a three-pointer by Brandon Hollinger at 5:32.

 

With two minutes to go in the game, Wofford hit five of six free throws to cut the lead to 74-71. Down the stretch, the Crimson Tide hit more free throws and eventually won 80-73.

 

Wofford out-rebounded the Crimson Tide 38-29. The Crimson Tide shot 54.5 percent from the floor, the first opponent this season to shoot better than 50 percent. Wofford had 15 turnovers, while Alabama had ten.

 

The game was the second of five straight on the road for the Terriers. Wofford will be at Purdue on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm ET. The game will be televised live on ESPNU. The next home game will be Tuesday, January 3 against Chattanooga.

 

 

 

APPALACHIAN STATE 82, VIRGINIA-WISE 77

BOONE, N.C. - Kellen Brand led five Appalachian State University men’s basketball players in double-figures with a team-high 17 points and Jeremy Clayton matched a career-high with 14 rebounds to help lead Appalachian to a hard-fought 82-77 victory over visiting UVA-Wise at the Holmes Center on Monday evening.

 

Appalachian (4-5) shot 50 percent from the field, knocked down 29-of-34 free throws (85.3 percent) and held a 45-25 advantage on the boards, but never led by more than 10 against the scrappy club from UVA-Wise (6-8).

 

UVA-Wise’s Pance Kecev led all scorers with 20 points, all but two of them coming via three-pointers as he finished 6-of-12 from long range. Adam Hood knocked down 16 points, 13 of them coming in the first half.

 

As a team, the Cavs shot 41 perecent from the field, but took 25 more shots that the Apps and only got to the free-throw line six times.

 

There were 10 ties and the lead changed hands nine times in the first 16 minutes of the contest before the Mountaineers closed the first half with a 9-2 run to take a 42-35 halftime advantage.

 

The Cavaliers made five of their first six shots to open the second half and trim the margin to two points, 50-48, with 15:59 remaining on a Kecev three-pointer. That was as close as the Cavs would come, despite ASU allowing them withing three points twice in the final 20 seconds to snap a three-game losing streak.

 

In addition to Brand’s 17, Eduardo Bermudez scored 12, Donald Sims added 11 and Ryann Abraham and Isaac Butts chipped in with 10 points apiece to lead Appalachian’s 82-point effort, its second-highest offensive output of the year. Clayton fell just one point shy of collecting his 20th-career double-double with nine points to go along with the 14 boards.

 

The Mountaineers will take to the road next as they travel to Little Rock, Ark. to face the University of Arkansas on Saturday for a 2:05 CST tipoff in the Razorback State.

 

 

ILLINOIS 58, WESTERN CAROLINA 35

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. - Western Carolina shot a season-low 27-percent from the floor and was held to its lowest point output of the season Monday night in a 58-35 road loss at Big Ten Conference foe, Illinois, to wrap-up its two-game road swing through the Midwest.

 

WCU's 35 points marked its lowest single-game output since tallying 30 in an eight-point win at Guilford back in the 1963-64 season. Conversely, the Catamounts also held Illinois to an opponent season-low point total (58).

 

"I was pleased with the way we bounced back after Saturday night (at Indiana). We have a really young team, and we battled physically and played really hard," said Western Carolina head coach Larry Hunter during the post-game press conference. "(Illinois) really got after us defensively and made things difficult. They are a very strong defensive team."

 

Sophomore guard Brandon Giles was the only Catamount to reach double-digit scoring on the night finishing with 13 points and six rebounds, while classmate Jake Robinson finished with six on a pair of 3-pointers. Freshman Michael Porrini, who was constantly hounded by larger defenders including U of I's 6-8 forward Brian Randle, had his eight-straight double-figure scoring performances snapped as the rookie from Massillon, Ohio, finished with five points and a game-high nine boards.

 

Defense reigned supreme through the opening 20 minutes as both teams put the proverbial clamps on the other's offense. WCU (3-7) was held to 17 points on 26-percent shooting, but also limited the Illini to 26 points to trail by just nine at the break. Western was able to manage one lead during the opening 20 minutes, surging ahead by three on a trey from sophomore Brigham Waginger for the 5-2 advantage at 17:45.

 

Out of the halftime locker room, Illinois was able to run its advantage to 13 before Robinson's back-to-back 3-pointers again pulled the Catamounts to within nine, 32-23. However, that was as close as Western would get the remainder of the game as Illinois outscored the Catamounts 23-to-8 over the next 13 minutes - including limiting WCU to one field goal over a six minute span - to stretch its lead to a game-high 24 points before winning by 23, 58-35.

 

Illinois (6-3) put two in double figures led by 13 points off the bench for the 7-foot center Mike Tisdale and 11 from starting center Shaun Pruitt who added a team-best eight rebounds. Randle, who battled foul trouble, finished with nine points while Calvin Brock finished with eight.

 

For the game, Illinois held a 10-rebound edge on the boards, 41-to-31, and made more free throws (7-of-14) than WCU attempted (5-of-7). The Catamounts did, however, block six Illini shots, one off their seasonal best.

 

Western will take time off to celebrate the Christmas holiday before returning to the hardwood on Thursday, Dec. 27 at 7:00 pm against Presbyterian. Like previous opponent, North Carolina Central, the Blue Hose are amidst a reclassification process this season moving from NCAA Division II to the Division I level.