APPALACHIAN STATE 72, WOFFORD 52
BOONE, NC ? Appalachian State erased a three-point halftime deficit and outscored Wofford 40-17 in the second half on Saturday afternoon en route to a 72-52 win over the Terriers at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers (19-8, 11-3) were dominant inside, scoring 56 of their 72 points in the paint.
Wofford (8-16, 3-10) was hot from outside early, hitting seven of 14 3-point attempts in the first half as the Terriers built a 35-32 halftime lead. Drew Gibson capped the first half with a 3-pointer to break a 32-32 tie and give the Terriers the halftime lead.
But that was the last 3-pointer the Terriers would make on the day, going 0-for-11 in the second half.
The two teams traded jump shots to start the second half and Wofford held a 37-34 lead less than a minute into the half. The game remained tight for the first seven minutes and when Tyler Whatley tipped in an offensive rebound with 13:14 to play, the Terriers were down by one at 46-45.
Appalachian State then ran off 11 straight points to take a 57-45 lead with 8:55 to play. Donte Minter hit three free throws and a short jumper to spark the rally. Demetrius Scott then scored eight straight points for the Mountaineers, all on layups, as ASU took a 61-48 lead with 6:45 to play.
“We were in great shape at halftime,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “We missed some shots that we normally make. We didn’t make a 3-pointer in the second half. Appalachian State was tougher than we were and we didn’t respond. It’s the first time in a long time that happened.”
Six different players hit 3-pointers for the Terriers in the first half as Wofford broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season. The 2002-03 Terrier squad made 240 triples. This year’s total stands at 245.
Drew Gibson and Shane Nichols shared team scoring honors with 15 points. Tyler Whatley led the Terriers with eight rebounds.
Appalachian State had five players score in double figures led by Minter and Jeremy Clayton with 13 points each. Scott finished with 12 points while D.J.
Thompson tallied 11 and Davis Bowne added 10. Bowne grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Terriers will travel to The Citadel on Monday night for a 7:05 tip with the Bulldogs.
FURMAN 69, ELON 64
Elon, N.C. -- Robby Bostain knocked down a game-high 19 points, 11 in the final 2:50, as Furman staved off Elon 69-64 in Southern Conference men?s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
Bostain canned five of his eight field goal attempts and sank eight of his 10 shots from the free throw line as the Paladins (13-11 overall, 7-6 SoCon) improved to 2-2 all-time versus the Phoenix (5-18, 3-10), winning at Alumni Gym for the first time in three visits. The win, Furman’s third consecutive victory, marked the Paladins’ seventh triumph in their last nine outings.
In the early going, the contest was tied at 2-2, 4-4 and 6-6 before Furman reeled off 10 unanswered points to trade a 6-4 deficit in for a 14-6 advantage on a jumper by Jadee Jones with 10:49 remaining in the opening stanza.
Trailing 20-12 after a three-pointer by the Paladins? Alex Opacic with 7:01 to play, Elon used a pair of charity shots by LeVonn Jordan and a trey by Chris Chalko to pull within 20-17 with 5:51 left before the break.
Late in the first period, the Phoenix remained within striking distance.
After Jordan?s dunk at the 3:10 mark, Elon trailed just 26-23. The Paladins, who led 30-25 at halftime, went on a 17-6 run to claim its largest lead of the day at 43-29 on a three-point field goal by George Brozos with 13:27 left in the contest.
Trailing 60-49 after Bostain cashed in on his lone attempt from three-point land with 2:53 to play, the Phoenix made one final run. Elon used a 15-7 spurt to draw within 67-64 on a lay-up by John Charlesworth with four seconds to go, but could inch no closer. Bostain netted a pair of freebies with two ticks left to decide the final margin.
Bostain received plenty of help from teammates Moussa Diagne and Tony Anderson, who added 10 points apiece. Suffering its fifth consecutive setback, Elon was paced by Chalko (17 points) and Jordan (15 points, game-high 10 rebounds).
Furman fired 52.2 percent (24 of 46) from the field - 50.0 percent (8 of
16) from three-point land - while the Phoenix shot 44.0 percent (22 of 50) from the floor - 42.9 percent (6 of 14) from behind the arc.
Elon won the rebounding (32-27) and turnover (14-15) wars, but was outscored 30-22 in the paint. The Phoenix outscored the Paladins 11-7 off turnovers, 11-5 off second chances and 31-28 off the bench.
This coming Monday, Furman hosts Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. while Elon visits UNC Greensboro at 7:30 p.m.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 81, UNC GREENSBORO 59
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Dontaye Draper scored 28 points, including eight three-pointers, as College of Charleston pulled away with a big second half to beat UNC Greensboro, 81-59, in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening at Fleming Gym.
Draper’s eight three-pointers tied a school-record and were one shy of an arena record set last year by UNCG’s Kevin Oleksiak. He was a perfect 6-for-6 behind the arc in the second half to account for 18 of his 20 points in the second half. As a team, the Cougars shot 66.7 percent from the field (20-for-30) in the second half.
College of Charleston (17-8, 10-3 SoCon) also got 13 points from David Lawrence, 11 points from Tony White, Jr. and 10 points from Josh Jackson. Lawrence added nine rebounds and six assists.
It seemed like Draper couldn’t do anything wrong in the second half. At one point, he had a three-pointer hit off the back of the rim, sit like a wounded duck and trickle into the basket.
Ricky Hickman led the Spartans (12-12, 9-5 SoCon) with 19 points. Kyle Hines chipped in 11 points, his 45th consecutive game in double figures.
But the Cougars did a relatively good job of neutralizing Hines on the afternoon, as the junior from Sicklerville, NJ was 5-for-11 from the field on the afternoon. It was Hines’ lowest point during his current 45-game streak of 10 or more points and just the fourth time during the streak he has been held to 15 or fewer. The streak dates back to December 16, 2005.
The 22-point loss was UNCG’s worst at Fleming Gym since February 17, 2004.
The Spartans, after grabbing 15 offensive rebounds and 21 total boards in the first half, had just eight total rebounds in the second half. On the day, the Cougars held a 38-29 advantage on the glass, 21-8 in the second half.
“Draper’s a great player and he showed that in the second half today,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “He hit some tough shots and he hit some open shots when we left him unguarded. We didn’t play well defensively. They did a good job on Hines and other guys didn’t make some open shots. It is a bad formula, but it happens with young basketball players. When you miss open shots, you sometimes let down on the defensive end. That was what we did.
We missed shots, then stopped playing defense.”
Both teams struggled to get on track early on. In the game’s first nine minutes, UNCG missed 14 of its first 18 from the field, while the Cougars turned the ball over six times. UNCG had just one field goal in a more than six-minute span as College of Charleston opened up a four-point advantage, 15-11. UNCG ran off seven straight, including a dominant sequence on the offensive glass with five shots ? the first three by Hines, a fourth by Kendall Toney and then a fifth and final tip-in by Hines ? to give the Spartans an 18-15 lead with 7:20 to play in the half.
The Cougars went on a 9-2 run to get the lead back, 24-20, with 4:45 left in the half. However, David Lawrence’s tip-in that capped the run would be the Cougars’ last field goal of the first hald as the teams settled back into their sluggishness from there. It wasn’t until Dwayne Johnson knocked down a 24-footer from the right wing with 1.5 seconds left in the half that UNCG regained the lead, taking a 28-25 lead to the half.
As sloppy as the first half was, the Cougars were rolling in the second half. College of Charleston made eight of its first nine from behind the three-point arc as a squad, with Draper leading the way. The Cougars put up 56 points in the second half ? the most UNCG has given up this season by a wide margin. UNCG’s worst half this season had been the first half at Duke back on November 16 when it allowed 45.
UNCG suffered a big blow at the 17:31 mark when Hines was called for his third foul on a charge. That was in the midst of a 12-2 run by the Cougars to open the second half to take their largest lead of the afternoon to that point at seven. The Cougars hit their first four three-pointers of the second half, three of them by Draper, as the lead grew to 43-34 with 15:45 to play.
UNCG cut the lead to four a couple of times, but College of Charleston had an answer each time. The lead hit 10, 62-52, on a Draper drive down the lane with a little less than seven minutes to play. That began a 14-4 run that put the game out of reach for UNCG and sent them to their third straight loss.
With the loss, UNCG fell two games behind Appalachian State in the SoCon's North Division. The Mountaineers rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Wofford, 72-52, Saturday afternoon. UNCG, which beat Appalachian State at home and still plays the Mountaineers in Boone on February 22, no longer controls its own destiny as far as the North Division title is concerned.
UNCG continues its four-game homestand and will try to snap its losing skid on Monday when it hosts backyard-rival Elon at 7:30 pm.
CHATTANOOGA 73, THE CITADEL 43
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Citadel Basketball lost a tough one to Chattanooga on Saturday night, falling to the Mocs, 73-43, in Southern Conference action at McKenzie Arena.
The Bulldogs started off action in the first half as senior guard Kevin Hammack opened the game with a 3-point basket at the 18:20 mark, followed by a free throw after a Khalil Hartwell foul at 17:13. However, Hartwell answered with a layup at 17:13 to kick-off a 25-4 run for the Mocs that ended at 5:38 when senior forward J’Mel Everhart earned his first points of the game, making the score, 25-9. A Donny McLendon 3-point basket at 3:46 was the only other field goal for the Bulldogs before entering the locker room at the half down, 34-12.
“We lost a lot of confidence early,” said head coach Ed Conroy. “For some reason we just could not get in sync tonight.”
The Citadel shot 16.7 percent in the first half, going 4-of-24 overall and 3-of-17 from long range for 17.6 percent. Keddrick Mays led the game with 12 first half points, hitting 3-of-3 from behind the arc, leading the Mocs with 71.4 percent shooting from 3-point range. The second half did not get much better as the Bulldogs continued to struggle from the field.
Chattanooga, who went up by as much as 38 points in the half, started the second period on a 20- 3 run that ended when McLendon hit the Bulldogs’ first field goal of the second half at 10:10 for three points, bringing the score to 54-19. The Citadel began to pick up the pace as Everhart hit only his fourth long range shot of the season at 7:54, followed by another Everhart basketball and free throw at 7:20.
However, the Bulldogs could not put a stop to a Chattanooga offense that continued to put points on the board. In the last 1:54, The Citadel was able to shave eight points off the board with an Everhart dunk and two 3-pointers by Hammack in the last minute of action, ending the game, 73-43.
Everhart recorded his second consecutive double-double performance and his third of the season with 10 points and 10 boards for the Bulldogs. Hammack led the team with 19 points, while Mays also finished with 19 points for the Mocs. The Citadel shot 28 percent from the field, hitting 14-of-50 baskets, 25 percent from long range and 50 percent from the charity stripe. Chattanooga shot 50 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from behind the arc, while connecting on 13-of-20 free throws for 65 percent.
The Bulldogs, who drop to 7-17 overall and 4-9 in SoCon action, will return home for a two- game stretch, hosting Wofford on Monday, Feb. 12 and Furman on Saturday, Feb. 17.
WESTERN CAROLINA 69, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 57
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - After trailing the majority of the first half and the opening five minutes of the second, Western Carolina used a 12-to-2 second half burst to transform its three-point edge into a double-digit lead it would not relinquish as the Catamounts clipped the Georgia Southern Eagles, 69-57, Saturday evening in the Ramsey Center.
WCU snapped a seven-game drought against the Eagles with the win and earned its first home victory over GSU since the 2001 season. Also, the 4,217 fans in attendance were the most this year - and the most since Jan. 14 of last season (4,343 vs. UTC).
Junior Arnold Gore led the way for Western, which captured its 10th win of the season and moved above .500 in league play at 7-6. The junior transfer tallied 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including a thunderous dunk, adding five rebounds. WCU leading scorer - and SoCon Freshman of the Year candidate - Nick Aldridge finished with 16 points, scoring 12 after halftime to run his double-digit scoring streak to 13 games - and 20 of his 23 career games.
Drawing double-teams nearly every time he touched the ball, the South Webster, Ohio native added a career-best six assists and a team-high seven rebounds in the win.
Rounding out WCU's double-digit scorers were junior Antonio Russell with 15, including a pair of treys and five free throws, with freshman Jake Robinson chipping in 10 points with six boards. His rookie counterpart, Brandon Giles, just missed double-figures with nine points and a pair of steals.
Despite leading briefly, 2-0, Western trailed 32-26 at the half as the Eagles led 17:35 of the opening 20 minutes. However, the Catamounts came out of the locker room poised, embarking on an 11-2 run during the first four and a half of the second half to take its second lead of the game at 37-34.
After trading buckets over the next four and a half minutes, Western went on the aforementioned 12-to-2 run to pull ahead by 13, 60-47, with 6:42 showing on the game clock. The Catamounts would build the lead to as many as 15 inside the final two minutes and secured the double-digit win with a Giles dunk off a feed from freshman Brigham Waginger.
All told, Western shot a blistering 56-percent from the field during the second period and finished 44.4-percent from the floor for the game, including 6-of-20 (30.0%) from long range. Georgia Southern shot 41.7-percent for the game but were just 3-of-18 (16.7%) from behind the 3-point line.
Georgia Southern put two in double figures, led by Donte Gennie who scored 24 points on 10-of-16 from the field, including three 3-pointers. Jimmy Tobias came of the bench and had a double-double for the Eagles, scoring 14 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.
Western next hosts Chattanooga in the night cap of a Catamount hoops double-header on Monday (Feb. 12) night in the Ramsey Center. The women host Georgia Southern at 5:00 pm, with the men's game slated to begin 30 minutes after. Both games will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network and carried on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Western North Carolina and online at www.WWCUFM.com.