COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 80, FURMAN 77 (Overtime)
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? A career-high 34 points by Moussa Diagne on senior night was not enough as the Furman men’s basketball team dropped an 80-77 double-overtime contest to the College of Charleston at the Bi-Lo Center in Southern Conference action on Monday night. Furman dropped to 14-13 overall, 8-8 in the SoCon, while CofC improved to 19-9, 12-4.
With the score knotted at 73 in the second overtime, Josh Jackson dumped in two of his 11 points to give the visiting Cougars a two-point advantage with 2:52 remaining. Despite three offensive rebounds on the next possession, Furman was unable to capitalize and a Jackson free throw pushed the CofC advantage to three.
The Paladins managed to get back within a point twice before the end of the game, but two free throws by Dontaye Draper gave Charleston a three-point lead, 80-77, with 14 ticks on the clock. Long-range attempts by Gerad Punch and Tony Anderson went awry as the Cougars came away with the victory.
Diagne’s 34 points were the most since Mel Daniel racked up 35 for the Paladins in 1981. The senior from Senegal drained 14-of-24 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Senior Gerad Punch grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds and Alex Opacic added 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Charleston had five players in double figures, led by Draper’s 18 tallies. Jermaine Johnson posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. David Lawrence added 12 points and Tony White and Jackson added 11.
Furman held a slim 44-43 advantage on the glass, but Charleston took advantage of its 16 offensive rebounds. The Cougars scored 24 second-chance points compared to only nine by the Paladins.
CofC led by as many as seven points in the opening half, before a Diagne jumper keyed a 12-2 Furman run to close out the half and give the Paladins a 27-24 lead heading into the locker room.
Furman stretched its advantage to as many as nine points in the second half, but the Cougars hung around and tied the game at 59 all with a pair of Lawrence free throws. White drained a three on the next CofC possession to give the visitors their first lead of the half, 62-59. Diagne answered with a trey of his own and two free throws by each team had the game tied at 64 at the end of regulation.
The Paladins go on the road for the final two regular-season contests, beginning with a trip to Davidson on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Charleston hosts The Citadel on the Thursday at the same time.
DAVIDSON 80, WOFFORD 73
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- For the eighth consecutive outing Stephen Curry reached the 20-point barrier with 28 points as the Davidson Wildcats held off Wofford 80-73 in men's basketball action Monday evening at Belk Arena. Now winners of eight straight and 20 of its last 21, Davidson set a new school record for regular season wins improving to 24-4 on the campaign and 15-1 in conference affairs, while Wofford drops to 9-18 overall and 4-14.
Curry went 10-of-20 from the floor with four treys and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line to finish in double figures for 27th time in his brief Wildcat career. With his performance this evening, Curry upped his average to 20.7 points per outing to take over the SoCon's individual lead for scoring average. Until tonight, UNC Greensboro's Kyle Hines had controlled the top spot in the league from game one of the 2006-07 season.
A Lovedale layup with 15:07 left was part of an 11-3 Wildcat run to begin the second half as Davidson grabbed the lead for good. Wofford closed to within 48-47 at the 13:26 mark, but the 'Cats slowly stretched the margin to as many as 11 (72-61) following Curry's final triple of the evening.
Trailing 74-64 with 3:04 left, Wofford's Shane Nichols made back-to-back long range jumpers to make it 74-70, but couldn't inch closer as the Wildcats hit all six of their attempts from the charity stripe in the closing minute.
The opening 20 minutes of action featured nine lead changes and five ties before Wofford's Junior Salters connected on treys in consecutive trips to close the half and send the Terriers into the break leading, 41-37.
Curry, who spent most of his time at the point in the first half due to Richards' foul trouble led the Wildcats with 14 points, while Nichols added the same for Wofford.
After the Wildcats held a 21-19 edge on the boards in the first half, Davidson dominated the glass in the final stanza to outrebound the Terriers, 49-28.
Nichols was impressive for Wofford pouring in 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting and five triples, while reserve guard Matt Estep was the only other visitor in double digits with 10.
Davidson shot 42.0 percent (29-69) overall and hit just 6-of-18 (33.3
percent) from long range, but made up for it at the stripe missing just four of its 20 tries for an 80 percent total. Wofford connected on eight second half treys to finish the contest 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) and 43.1 percent (25-58) from the floor.
The Wildcats will return to action Feb. 22 when they entertain Furman in their home finale. Davidson seniors' John Falconi and Lamar Hull will be recognized before the 7 p.m. tip-off. Wofford begins a two-game homestand to conclude the regular season with Georgia Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m.
APPALACHIAN STATE 76, WESTERN CAROLINA 65
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Appalachian State University basketball jumped out to a 15-point halftime lead and rebuffed a second-half Western Carolina surge to defeat the Catamounts 76-65.
The Mountaineers (22-6, 13-3 SoCon) led by as many at 17 in their sixth-consecutive win over rival WCU and shot 54 percent from the field and 43 percent from three-point range. WCU (10-18, 7-10 SoCon) shot 40 percent in the loss with freshman Nick Aldridge leading all scorers with 29 points and 14 rebounds.
The Apps had three players in double-figures with Nate Cranford’s (Harrisburg, N.C.) 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Demetrius Scott (Orlando, Fla.) had 13 points, nine of them coming from the charity stripe while D.J. Thompson (Raleigh, N.C.) added 10 points.
Western Carolina waited four minutes into the second half until it began to chip away at the Mountaineers lead with a 19-8 run that cut ASU’s lead to five, 53-48, with 8:32 left in the second half. The Apps’ Ryann Abraham (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) responded with a three-pointer to key an 11-4 run that reasserted ASU’s control of the game at 64-52 with 5:45 left to play. ASU’s lead never dipped into single digits for the rest of the evening to give the team its fifth-consecutive win.
The Mountaineers opened the game with a moderate lead until they held the Catamounts scoreless for more than four minutes and went on a 9-0 run to open up a 16-point, 33-17, lead with four minutes left in the opening stanza. The Mountaineers torched the twine with 68 percent shooting in the first half and 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range to crack open the big halftime lead.
Nine of the 10 Mountaineers that saw action scored points with the bench contributing 25 points. Doug McLaughlin-Williams and Abraham led the team off the bench with nine and eight points, respectively.
The win was ASU’s 22nd of the season, one shy of the school record for win in a season. The Apps sustained success continued to be recognized Monday as the team earned eight votes in the most recent ESPN/Coaches Poll and moved up five spots in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Poll, checking in at No. 6.
ASU will play its final home game of the season and send off five seniors on Thursday versus UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. In addition, the Mountaineers can earn sole possession of the Southern Conference North Division title with a victory over the Spartans in the Holmes Center.
CHATTANOOGA 62, ELON 59
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- Chattanooga overcame a tough night at the free throw line and scored the final five points of the game to claim a 62-59 win over Elon at McKenzie Arena Monday night.
The Mocs (14-16, 6-11 SoCon) tied the game with 1:06 remaining on a Casey Long jumper in the lane. After a Ricky Hood steal gave the Ball back to the Mocs, Long found an open Khalil Hartwell as the shot clock was winding down. Hartwell was fouled attempting a dunk and went to the line for two crucial free throws with the score tied and 28 seconds remaining. Hartwell, a career 41 percent from the line, calmly swished the first attempt to put the Mocs in front. After the second missed, Nicchaeus Doaks kept the rebound alive long enough for an Elon player to come up with the basketball while standing out-of-bounds, giving possession back to Chattanooga.
Casey Long was fouled immediately and converted both free throw attempts to put the Mocs up three, 62-59. A well defended final attempt by Elon’s Devan Carter was off the mark giving Chattanooga its fourth win in its last five games, and the first season sweep of Elon in the school’s history.
Elon shot 52.4 percent from the floor, and even better from three-point range at 53.3 percent. The Phoenix turned the ball over 17 times to only seven for the Mocs. Chattanooga went to the free throw line 32 times, but only managed to convert 17 of those opportunities for 53.1 percent.
Long paced UTC’s balanced scoring attack with 12 points. Keddric Mays struggled from the field, making only three of 12 attempts to finish with 10. Nicchaeus Doaks, Khalil Hartwell and Matt Gwynne each added nine points. Doaks led all players with eight rebounds.
Chris Chalko led Elon (6-21, 4-12 SoCon) with 17 points and was 3-of-5 from three-point range. Devan Carter was 3-of-4 from downtown and scored 11 points.
The game featured seven ties and 18 lead changes. Elon led by as many as eight in the first half, and the Mocs largest lead of the night was three points.
Each team had a player reach a significant career milestone in the game. UTC’s Casey Long’s three-pointer with 11:02 to play in the first half was the 1,000th point of his college career. Long became the 15th player in UTC’s Division I history to reach the plateau.
Elon’s Chris Chalko reached the same milestone about four minutes later. Chalko’s three with 6:50 to play in the half made him the third player in Elon’s Division I era to reach the 1,000 point mark.
The Mocs will close out the regular season Saturday night against UNC Greensboro before heading to the Southern Conference Tournament next week.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 81, THE CITADEL 62
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Citadel basketball could not put a stop to the Georgia Southern offense as the Eagles came out in the second half on fire, leading them to an 81-62 victory at Tanner Fieldhouse on Monday night in Southern Conference action.
Despite the high energy and solid offense by the Bulldog squad that traded baskets with the Eagles in the first half and went into the locker room down by only five, 32-27, The Citadel defense collapsed and fail to put a halt to a 21-9 run in the first nine minutes of the second period. Georgia Southern, who returned to the court after halftime shooting three back-to-back 3- pointers, all by the 18:05 mark, hit six second half shots from long range.
Among the shooters was Donte Gennie, who went 6-of-6 from behind the arc on the night. “Georgia Southern played very well. They shot the ball about as well as they have all year,” said head coach Ed Conroy. “I’m very disappointed in us. You can’t add to their run and we did that early in the second half.” The Eagles, who were ahead the entire the game, extended their second half lead by as much as 21 points, hitting 17-of-27 from the field in the second period for 63 percent, including 6-of-8 from long range for 69.2 percent. Gennie led Georgia Southern for the night with 30 points, shooting 11-of-13 from the field, while adding three assists and a block. Eagle forward Louis Graham contributed 14 points and six boards, while guard Dwayne Foreman tallied 12 points and eight assists.
Three Bulldogs scored in double-digits for The Citadel, including the leading scorer senior guard Kevin Hammack who finished the night with 18 points, five assists, four boards and two steals. Senior guard Donny McLendon tallied 16 points, while freshman forward Bryan Streeter recorded a career-high 12 points.
“Streeter played 32 minutes and he will continue to get those kind of minutes as long he continues to play as well as he has,” Conroy said. “I’m very proud of him. I’m very proud of his development and I’m looking forward to watching him continue to improve in the years ahead.”
Senior forward J’Mel Everhart earned his 1,000th career point on a layup at the 5:33 mark in the first half. Only needing four points entering the game to reach the milestone, Everhart finished the night with five boards and six points for a career total of 1,002 points. The Citadel shot 44 percent on the night, while improving their free throw percentage to70 percent, hitting 14-of-20 from the charity stripe. They totaled 10 offensive and 10 defensive rebounds for a total of 20 boards, however Georgia Southern totaled 20 offensive rebounds for 32 total and 11 second chance points.
The Bulldogs return to Charleston to take on crosstown rival College of Charleston on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. before hosting Davidson for their last regular season game at McAlister Field House on Senior Day, Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1:05 p.m.