Appalachian State 74, Arkansas 67
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A career day from freshman Donald Sims (Gaffney, S.C./Fork Union) and a 20-point performance from Donte Minter (Salisbury, N.C./West Rowan) led the Appalachian State University men’s basketball team to a thrilling 74-67 victory over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.
The victory, just ASU’s second-ever against a Southeastern Conference opponents, saw the Mountaineers shoot 66.7 percent from the field and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line to silence a crowd of 10,835 maroon-clad Razorback fans at Alltel Arena. The Apps only missed three shots in the second half and only took 42 total shots in the win.
Minter finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting with a career-high six assists. Sims dropped in a career-high 24 points, 12 of them coming from behind the three-point arc, including a dagger with 1:19 left in the game. Arkansas’ Charles Thomas led UA with 15 points in the losing effort. Arkansas came into the game outrebounding the opponents by nearly 10 per game, however, the Apps held an 11-rebound advantage when the buzzer sounded.
ASU scored first on a three-pointer from Kellen Brand (High Point, N.C./Andrews), but the Razorbacks scored the next eight points and ASU found itself down, 15-7, six minutes into the game. The Mountaineers erased that margin in the next nine minutes to take the lead on a pair of Eduardo Bermudez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) free throws to make the score 27-26 with 6:18 left in the half.
Arkansas briefly reclaimed the lead, but Sims responded by scoring ASU’s next 10 points to key a 14-7 run to close the half and give the Mountaineers a 41-33 halftime advantage. Sims only missed one of his seven attempts from the floor in the opening half.
Appalachian maintained the momentum to open the second stanza as Arkansas missed its first six shots from the field to allow ASU to open with a 4-0 run over the first three minutes.. From there, the Arkansas faithful got behind their squad and created a raucous environment that along with the Arkansas press, began to disrupt the Mountaineers and allowed the Razorbacks within five points three times over the next seven minutes.
Minter, though, began to make his impact felt as the Mountaineers continued to drive the ball into the big man to milk the shot clock and control the tempo of the game. Minter scored eight of his 20 points in the final 10 minutes of the game. Freshman Ike Butts (Milledgeville, Ga./Georgia Military Prep) was also a force inside with eight points and six boards in 15 minutes of action.
With 1:44 left to play, the Razorback pared the lead down two, 67-65, on a pair of free throws from Darian Townes. On the ensuing possession, the Mountaineers dumped the ball inside to Minter who found Sims of the perimeter for a clutch three-pointer with 1:19 on the clock to stretch ASU’s lead back out to five.
Arkansas got a layup on the next trip down the floor to pull within three, however the squad was forced to foul in the final minute and Jeremy Clayton (Greensboro, N.C./Ben L. Smith) Sims calmly sank four free throws to send the quieted crowd heading towards the exit.
The Mountaineers will take the next eight days off to celebrate the Christmas holiday and the big win before returning to action on December 30 for a 3 p.m. contest against former SoCon rival East Tennessee in Johnson City.
UNC Greensboro 58, Fordham 54
BRONX, N.Y. ? A 14-1 run in the middle of the game and Kyle Hines’ 36th career double-double lifted UNC Greensboro to a 58-54 win over Fordham at historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on Saturday.
The game featured a match-up of two of the top senior class big men in the country in UNCG’s All-America candidate Hines and Fordham’s Bryant Dunston. Both have more than 1500 points, 700 rebounds, 200 blocks and 25 double-doubles on their career ledgers. Both players had to fight through foul trouble, however, on Saturday.
Despite shooting just 2-for-8 from the charity stripe, Hines finished with a game-high 18 points, his 59th straight game in double figures which extended the nation’s longest streak. It was the 91st time in 98 career games that he has scored 10 or more points. He also added 10 rebounds to complete his fifth double-double on the season.
Dunston finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for Fordham (5-5). The Rams were led by Brenton Butler’s 15 points, but he shot just 5-of-17 from the floor.
Kevin Oleksiak added 11 points for UNCG (5-4), including a key drive down the lane with just under two minutes to play and a free throw with eight seconds left to ice it.
“Everyone played well and we needed them all in this one,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement, who picked up career win No. 293. “I thought Oleksiak made some great plays down the stretch, including that rebound right there at the end. We got a big lift from Pete Brown defensively, too, with Kyle in foul trouble.”
UNCG opened up a five-point lead, 15-10, midway through the first half with an 8-0 run, capped off by a Kendall Toney three-pointer from the top of the arc. In fact, the Spartans wound up holding Fordham without a field goal for a span of more than nine minutes, with the Rams missing nine in row from the floor during that slump.
UNCG held that lead until Butler’s NBA-range three-pointer with four minutes left in the half gave the Rams a 23-22 advantage. The trey gave Butler 10 points in the half and the Rams their first lead since four minutes into the contest. The Rams turned up their defense, holding the Spartans to just two field goals over a four-minute span late in the half.
With 13 first-half turnovers by the Spartans, it looked like that lead might hold up into the intermission. However, Davor Galic scored on a backdoor cut with 12.8 seconds left before halftime and turned it into a conventional three-point play to give UNCG a 30-28 lead at the break. That began a 14-1 burst for the Spartans that forged the first double-digit lead of the game for either team and would be a lead that UNCG would keep the rest of the afternoon.
The Spartans opened up the second half with the first five buckets to open up their largest lead to that point, 41-29, with 16:30 to play. The Spartans then suffered a nearly five-minute scoring drought and the Rams whittled the lead back down to five and Hines picked up his fourth foul with 10:48 to play.
The Spartans held strong for a while, however, as Fordham couldn’t get closer than five until the 4:41 mark. With Hines doing situational substitutions, the Rams had several chances to get the lead under five. Finally, Sebastian Greene’s drive down the left side cut the margin to 52-49.
Dunston made a one of two free throws with 2:23 to play to cut it to 54-52. But Oleksiak countered with a drive to the basket for a conventional three-point play to put the Spartans back up by five with 1:57 left.
Fordham cut the deficit back to three with a pair of free throws by Greene with 1:01 to play. With the shot clock running down, Oleksiak missed a jumper with 27 seconds left and the Rams grabbed the rebound. Fordham called its last timeout with 16.3 seconds left. But Butler missed a three-pointer with eight seconds left and Oleksiak grabbed the rebound and was fouled. A career 77 percent free throw shooter, the senior from Abington, PA missed the first but made the second to put the game away.
After struggling from the three-point arc as of late, the Spartans did a better job on the perimeter on Saturday. UNCG, which came in shooting 18 percent from three in its last seven halves of basketball, went 5-for-12 from behind the arc against Fordham. UNCG also had a 39-25 advantage on the glass, including 14 offensive rebounds.
The Spartans return to action after the Christmas holiday on December 29 when they visit UNC Wilmington for a 7 pm tip.
Wofford 63, Texas Southern 56
LAS VEGAS, Nevada ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team defeated Texas Southern 63-56 on Saturday afternoon at the Orleans Arena. The Terriers had a 9-4 run to end the game and secured the win with four free throws by Drew Gibson in the last 16 seconds.
The Terriers are 6-4 overall and 1-1 in SoCon play. Texas Southern is now 1-10 on the season. The game was the third for both teams in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic. Terry Martin and Matt Estep both led the Terriers with 12 points. Noah Dahlman and Terry Martin each had six rebounds.
“We did not play well today, but what matters is the fact that this goes in the column as a win,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “Texas Southern has good pieces and really good players and they played a style that we were not used to seeing. We are elated with the win and now have a chance to win the tournament tomorrow afternoon. I think the travel might be catching up to us, but we will play like I know we are capable of on Sunday.”
The Terriers scored first, but back-to-back three’s by Sollie Norwood gave Texas Southern a lead. After the first six minutes, the Tigers led 15-8 with nine points from behind the arc. Wofford then went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 15-15. A three-pointer by Norm Nixon gave the Terriers an 18-17 lead.
Texas Southern moved ahead by three at 24-21, but Corey Godzinski tied the game with a three-pointer with eight minutes remaining in the first half. Wofford led 31-27 after a three-pointer by Junior Salters. With 20 seconds left, Texas Southern’s Johnathan Frazier hit a three to tie the game at 34-34 at the break.
In the second half, David Burrell scored seven points for Texas Southern in the first six minutes. Matt Estep ended a run by the Tigers with a three at 13:42 to cut the lead to 42-40. The Terriers were able to take a 47-46 lead with eight minutes to go in the game when Terry Martin hit a jump shot and made a free throw for the three-point play.
With 3:10 left in the second half, Norm Nixon hit a three from behind the NBA line as time expired on the shot clock for a 57-52 lead. After turnovers on two straight possessions, Wofford’s Noah Dahlman scored with 35 seconds left on a back-door play for a 59-54 lead. Drew Gibson hit four free throws in the last 16 seconds to give Wofford the 63-56 win.
Wofford was tied at the half for the second straight game. The Terriers shot 42.0% from the floor, while holding Texas Southern to 42.9%. Wofford was 40.0% from three point land for the game and 64.7% from the free throw line. The Terriers were without Tyler Whatley, who missed the game due to a rib injury. Drew Gibson played in jersey #34 for the game.
The game was the fourth of five straight on the road for the Terriers. On Sunday, December 23, the Terriers will face either UT-Pan American or Bethune-Cookman in the final game of the road trip at 5:30 pm ET. The next home game will be Tuesday, January 3 against Chattanooga.
South Carolina 85, College of Charleston 82
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Devan Downey's three-point play with two seconds left in the game capped a rally from 15 points down as South Carolina defeated the College of Charleston 85-82 in men's college basketball action at the Colonial Center on Saturday.
Zam Fredrick II hit five 3-pointers - he was 0-for-2 before then from beyond the arc - to spark a 21-6 run by the Gamecocks (6-5), who went up 82-77 on Fredrick's final trey with 2:27 left.
But the Cougars (4-6) tied it when Tony White Jr. canned a 3-pointer and was fouled. White missed the free throw, but moments later hit a layup to knot it at 82-82 with 44.5 seconds left.
With time running out, Downey drove the left side of the lane and hit a short jumper and was fouled. Downey made the free throw as the Gamecocks ran their record to 27-1 over the Cougars, who couldn't get a final shot off before the buzzer.
Fredrick led the Gamecocks with 21 points while Downey added 18. The Cougars were led by Dustin Scott, who had a career-high 20 points. White added 17 points while Jermaine Johnson had his second straight double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Cougars scored 14 straight points as part of a 17-6 run in the final 5:18 to grab a 43-33 halftime lead. The Gamecocks led 27-23 with 6:58 left then went cold, hitting just three of their last nine shots and committing three turnovers.
The College of Charleston, meanwhile, was sizzling, hitting seven of its last eight shots - including 3-pointers by Johnson, Scott and Andrew Goudelock, whose trey gave the Cougars a 43-29 lead - their biggest lead of the half.
Down 49-34 early in the second half, the Gamecocks rallied to 51-44 on Dominique Archie's dunk with 16 minutes left. But after a time out, the Cougars answered, outscoring South Carolina 10-2, capped by two straight lay-ups by White to go up 61-46 with 13:32 left.
Virginia 91, Elon 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ? Sean Singletary scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Virginia Cavaliers past the visiting Elon Phoenix by a 91-61 margin from John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va. On Saturday afternoon. Despite a 15-point performance from Monty Sanders, which equaled a career-high, the Phoenix dropped to 5-7 and lost its third consecutive game. UVA won its third straight to improve to 9-2 on the year.
Elon claimed an early 7-2 lead, reeling off seven straight points after falling behind 2-0, using an Ola Atoyebi layup and a three and a jumper from Brett James. Virginia responded by scoring the next 10 points of the game to claim a 12-7 advantage on a Mamadi Diane free throw with 14:17 left in the first half.
The Phoenix kept it close for the first 10 minutes of the half before the Cavaliers grabbed its first double digit lead of the contest at 24-14 on a Jeff Jones shot from the charity stripe. Virginia built an 18-point lead with 5:10 to go in the stanza when Jerome Meyinsse threw down a dunk. Elon did not go quietly, however, twice trimming its deficit to 12 before settling for a 13-point halftime difference at 47-34. The 47 points scored by UVA was the most points allowed by Elon in a half all season long.
Back-to-back buckets by Atoyebi and James pulled Elon within 10 at 49-39 early in the second half before the Cavaliers went on a 10-0 run to push their advantage to 59-39 with 15:01 to play. The Phoenix was never able to close within less than 16 points the rest of the afternoon.
The 30-point deficit was the largest of the season for Elon while the 91 points were the most allowed by the Phoenix this year.
Virginia converted 20 Elon turnovers into 27 points while shooting an even 50 percent from the field. The Phoenix shot 40.7 percent for the game.
Three other Elon players finished the game with double figure scoring outputs ? Atoyebi and James with 13 apiece and Chris Long with 12 markers. Atoyebi paced the Phoenix with seven rebounds while Montell Watson tallied four assists.
Virginia’s Adrian Joseph finished with 16 points while teammates Meyinsse and Jeff Jones scored 12 and 10 points respectively. Mike Scott led all players with nine rebounds.
Elon will break for the Christmas holiday before finishing its five-game road swing with SoCon games at The Citadel (1-3) and College of Charleston (1-5).