APPALACHIAN STATE 80, UNC GREENSBORO 66
BOONE, N.C. - In his final home game, D.J. Thompson fell just one point shy of a career high with 32 to lead Appalachian State University men’s basketball to an 80-66 triumph over UNC Greensboro at the Holmes Center on Thursday evening. With the win, Appalachian clinched its first outright Southern Conference North Division championship since 1999-2000 and the No. 2 seed in next week’s SoCon Tournament.
On senior night, Thompson scored 19 of his 32 points in the second half to help ASU (23-6, 14-3 SoCon) turn a slight 34-32 halftime advantage into a lead as large as 21 in the second period.
The Mountaineers opened the second half on a 22-8 run to extend the lead to 16 six-and-a-half minutes in. UNCG (15-13, 11-6 SoCon) cut the deficit to eight with under 10 minutes to go, but the Apps responded by outscoring the Spartans, 15-2, over the next 3:32 to take an insurmountable 75-54 advantage with just over six minutes left to play.
Thompson’s 32 points were a season high and marked the second-highest scoring output of his career behind only a 33-point performance against Georgia Southern on Jan. 23, 2006. Thompson also etched his name in the record book again, with a school-record nine steals. In fact, Thompson ended the evening with as many steals as the entire UNCG roster.
The Mountaineers matched a school record with their 23rd win of the season, tying the 1999-2000 and 1978-79 teams. ASU also set a school record for SoCon wins in a season with 14.
Kyle Hines led UNCG with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Mikko Koivisto added 16 points and four three-pointers in the losing effort. The Mountaineers’ stingy defense forced 26 UNCG turnovers and converted those miscues into a season-high 38 points off turnovers.
A season-best crowd of 5,011, the fourth-largest in Holmes Center history, witnessed the High Country swansong for Thompson and fellow seniors Demetrius Scott, Nate Cranford, P.L. Henderson and Jeremy Harper. All five seniors started and set the squad off to a good start with a quick 6-0 lead that energized the bench and the crowd. Scott finished his final home game 10 points and four steals.
Appalachian will go for a school-record 24th win on Saturday when it visits Elon at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym. The Mountaineers will be trying to avenge an earlier loss to the Phoenix and maintain their momentum heading into next week’s SoCon Tournament.
DAVIDSON 75, FURMAN 57
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Davidson shot 58.8 percent in the second half and freshman Stephen Curry scored at least 20 for the 15th time this season with 24 points as the Wildcats captured the Southern Conference’s top seed in a 75-57 victory over Furman Thursday evening at Belk Arena. The win was the ninth straight for Davidson and 21st of its last 22, improving to 25-4 overall and 16-1 in the league. The Paladins fell to .500 on the year at 14-14 and 8-9 in the league.
As the regular-season champion, the Wildcats have at the very least earned a bid to the NIT.
The recipient of the SoCon’s Player of the Week honor the last two weeks, Curry finished 10-of-17 from the floor and scored 17 of his game-high performance after the intermission. Along with reaching double figures for the 28th time this season, the 6-1 shooting guard has registered at least 23 points per game during the Wildcats’ nine-game streak.
Others in double digits for Davidson included forwards Thomas Sander and Boris Meno, who recorded 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Thanks to their hot-shooting final stanza, the Wildcats finished the contest 47.8 percent from the floor and held Furman to just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) in the second. Both clubs concluded with six treys each.
Davidson outscored its visitor 25-8 over the first eight minutes of the second frame to grab a 55-41 lead and never looked back. During the run, Curry scored 11 of the Wildcats’ points, including his 100th trey of the campaign. He finished the game with 101 on the season, nine shy of breaking the NCAA record for threes by a freshman in a season.
With 2:29 remaining in the first half, Curry connected on his first trifecta of the contest to put the Wildcats up by two, 30-28, but Furman scored the final five points to take a 33-30 lead into the locker room.
The Paladins shot an impressive 53.6 percent (15-for-28) in the first 20 minutes, led by Moussa Diagne and Gerad Punch with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Diagne was held to just two points in the last period to finish with a team-best 14, while Punch failed to score after his first-half total.
John Falconi and Lamar Hull made their first career starts tonight as the Wildcat seniors said farewell to the home crowd.
Davidson will conclude its regular season Saturday in a 1:05 p.m. tip-off at The Citadel in
ELON 74, WESTERN CAROLINA 65
ELON, N.C. Brett James put up a game-high 16 points and a career-high seven assists as Elon overcame Western Carolina 74-65 in a Southern Conference men?s basketball confrontation Thursday night at Alumni Gym. The Phoenix sported five double-digit scorers for the first time this year and equaled a season high by dishing out 19 assists.
Playing in their regular-season finale, the Catamounts (10-19 overall, 7-11 SoCon) sprinted to a 19-11 lead on a lay-up by Negus McKenna with 10:16 to play in the opening period. The Phoenix (7-21, 5-12) erupted for 12 consecutive points to forge a 23-19 edge on a old fashion three-point play by Ola Atoyebi with 6:25 to go before the intermission.
Elon?s advantage eventually swelled to 30-24 on a dunk by James with 3:32 left before the break, but Western Carolina went on a 11-6 spurt to draw within 36-35 at halftime on a put-back by Eric Wilson with 43 ticks remaining in the frame.
Western Carolina claimed the lead at 37-36 when Wilson scored the first basket of the second half to fatten the Catamounts? run to 13-6. A jumper by Chris Chalko restored the Phoenix advantage at 38-37 with 17:02 left to play. Western Carolina secured its final lead at 39-38 on a pair of free throws by Arnold Gore with 15:46 remaining.
Altogether, the contest featured four ties and eight lead changes. Elon earned the lead for good at 40-39 on an inside move by Scott Grable with 15:33 to go, igniting a string of seven unanswered points for the Phoenix. Elon went ahead 45-39 on a bucket by Atoyebi at the 14:32 mark.
The Catamounts responded by reeling off the next five points, pulling within 45-44 on a jumper by Wilson with 13:37 remaining. The Phoenix exploded for a 12-2 run to build a 57-46 lead on a three-point bomb by James with 9:14 left.
Western Carolina soon made one final run, using a 9-2 spurt to cut a 59-48 deficit to 61-57 on a three-point field goal by McKenna with 4:03 left to play. LeVonn Jordan sank a three-pointer 30 seconds later to end the run and begin a 12-4 surge to extend the Elon edge to 73-61 on a pair of charity shots by Devan Carter with 26 seconds to go.
The Phoenix?s 40-31 rebounding advantage compensated for its 15 turnovers to the Catamounts? eight. Elon outscored Western Carolina off turnovers by a 14-11 margin. The Catamounts outscored the Phoenix 26-24 in the paint, 17-3 off second chances and 19-18 off the bench.
Elon fired 49.0 percent (24 of 49) from the field 37.5 percent (6 of 16) from three-point land and 71.4 percent (20 of 28) from the free throw line while Western Carolina shot 38.5 percent (25 of 65) from the floor 24.0 percent (6 of 25) from behind the arc and 69.2 percent (9 of 13) from the stripe.
Jordan (13 points, five rebounds, three assists), Atoyebi (11 points, eight rebounds), Grable (11 points), Chalko (10 points, seven rebounds) and Carter (five assists) all turned in key performances for the Phoenix. Nick Aldridge (15 points, game-high 11 rebounds), McKenna (14 points) and Wilson (10 points) paced the Catamounts.
This coming Saturday, Elon hosts Appalachian State at 7 p.m. at Alumni Gym in the regular-season finale for both teams.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 68, WOFFORD 46
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- Georgia Southern junior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored 24 points to guide the Eagles to a 68-46 victory over Wofford Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
GSU wins its second straight and improves to 13-15 overall and 6-11 in the Southern Conference. The Terriers drop to 9-19 and 4-13.
I thought we did an excellent job at both ends of the floor, said GSU head coach Jeff Price. Our defense changed the game, theres no doubt about that, and I thought we were really efficient offensively. We did a good job sharing the ball and played with a lot of confidence.
Graham notches his first 20-point performance since scoring 26 against Davidson on Jan. 23 and records his SoCon leading 13th double-double with 12 rebounds. Joining him in double-figures is senior Donte Gennie (Tallahassee, Fla.) with 11 and junior Anthony Marshall (Lake Worth, Fla.) with 10. Junior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) dished out eight assists and grabbed a career-best nine rebounds.
Louis was outstanding. He did a nice job of getting position down low where we need him and he was just really aggressive inside. We knew coming in that thats where our advantage would be and our guys did a nice job getting him the ball.
Woffords Junior Salters led the Terriers with 16 points. GSU held Shane Nichols, who scored 21 in the first meeting, to just three points on 1-for-12 shooting.
The Eagles shot 51.9 percent from the floor, including 57.1 percent in the second half. The Terriers hit just 36.0 percent of their field goal attempts.
Georgia Southern used a 12-4 run to end the second half to break open a two-point game. A jumper by Woffords Matt OConnor cut the GSU lead to 22-20, but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run and held the Terriers without a point for almost five minutes.
In the second half, Wofford cut the margin to seven at the 16:40 mark, but Georgia Southern responded with an 8-2 run and the lead got in single-digits just once the rest of the contest.
Georgia Southern returns to action Saturday when it hosts College of Charleston at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and all GSU fans are encouraged to Wear Blue for ESPN2.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 50, THE CITADEL 40
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Citadel defense held the Cougars without a field goal in the last 9:45, but it was not enough to return from a 24-point deficit as the College of Charleston claimed the 50-40 victory in Southern Conference action on Thursday night at John Kresse Arena.
Hanging tight in the first eight minutes of the game, the crosstown rivals were tied 6-6 at the 12:13 mark in the first half. However, The Citadel would not connect on another basket until junior forward Demetrius Nelson hit the third of only four first half field goals for the Bulldogs at the 2:45 mark, while the College of Charleston went on a 14-4 run to end the half, 22-10. Neither team shot well in the first period, the Bulldog shot 5-of-22 for 22.7 percent, while the Cougars shot 10-of-25 for 40 percent. The teams ended the half with a combined 10 personal fouls, however no one went to the line. Cougar forward David Lawrence led the game with 10 points, four assists, one block and one steal, while Nelson led the Bulldogs with six points.
The College of Charleston extended their halftime lead to as much as 20 points as The Citadel could not get a shot to fall in their favor in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Lawrence continued to rack up the points for the Cougars as he connected on a 3-pointer at 10:44 to put Charleston up, 39 -16. The Cougars took their largest lead of the game when Josh Jackson hit what became their last field goal of the game at 9:45 to put Charleston up by 24 points, 41-17.
However, the Bulldogs were not out of it yet. Nelson responded to the deficit with two back-to- back jumpers at 9:27 and 9:12 on the clock, starting a 14-0 run for The Citadel, bringing the score within 10 points at 4:37. The Bulldogs narrowed the margin to seven with another Nelson basket at 1:35, but with both teams in the double-bonus, The Citadel was forced to foul and send the Cougars to the line. Hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the last minute of the game, Charleston came up with the win, 50-40.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys and how they fought. I think they are really starting to believe in the vision we have for this team,” head coach Ed Conroy said. Both teams scored 22 points in the paint, while also totaling 30 boards each. The Cougars had 18 turnovers to the Bulldogs 17 and the College of Charleston connected on 18 field goals to The Citadel’s 17. Neither team shot well from long range, however, the Cougars hit 4-of-16, while the Bulldogs only hit 1-of-14. For the second consecutive game against the Cougars, Nelson led The Citadel in scoring, this time with 19 points, connecting on 9-of-13 from the field.
“I thought Demetrius did great. He played extremely hard and with a lot of conference,” Conroy added. Charleston leading scorer, senior guard Dontaye Draper fouled out the game with eight points, four assists and three boards, while Lawrence led the Cougars with 21 points, five boards and five assists.
The Citadel basketball (7-21 overall; 4-13) will recognize their seniors on Saturday, Feb. 24 as they host Davidson for their last regular season competition. Tip-off is set for 1:05 p.m. For more information on Bulldog Basketball or The Citadel Athletics, go to www.CitadelSports.com.