THE CITADEL 52, ELON 49 (OT)
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Battling knee injuries since kicking-off the conference schedule in December, senior forward J’Mel Everhart had a break-out performance on Monday night against Elon, leading the Bulldogs while recording a double-double performance in the 52-49 overtime victory at McAlister Field House.
“It was great to have him (Everhart) back,” head coach Ed Conroy said. “He was exhausted and we had to call timeouts just to give him a rest, but what a great athlete.”
The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, allowing two quick Elon baskets without putting their first points on the board until a Donny McLendon free throw at 16:45. Picking up the pace with back- to-back McLendon 3-pointers at 16:22, the senior guard recorded the first seven points for the Bulldogs and led a 13-0 run for The Citadel. Everhart followed McLendon’s seven points with two baskets of his own, including a dunk off a missed layup by Vytautas Valiulis at 13:46.
Since going up 5-0 at the 17:53 mark, the Phoenix did not score again until the 8:44 when they went on a run of their own, eventually tying the game at 17 with a Brian Waters jumper at 4:47 left in the first half. Trading baskets for the remainder of the half, the teams left the court at halftime tied at 26. Everhart led The Citadel with eight points, going 4-for-4 from the field, and leading the Bulldogs with six boards as they out rebounded the Phoenix, 18-10.
Elon guard Jon Ogolo also recorded eight first half points. Coming out in the second half, both teams continued to trade baskets until the 13:50 mark when The Citadel jumped out to a 36-28 lead after senior guard Kevin Hammack drove to the basket for two consecutive plays, putting The Citadel up by eight points and forcing Elon into a 30- second time-out. The Bulldogs held on to the lead until 10:53 in the second when Waters tied the game at 36, followed by another Waters layup up at 9:26, giving the Phoenix their first lead since the 4:04 mark in the first half, 38-36. With 1:10 left in the game and The Citadel down 47-43, a foul by
Waters sent Everhart to the line for two, connecting on both free throws and bringing the Bulldogs back within two at 47-45 in the Phoenix’s favor. With less than 15 seconds left in the game, Elon’s Ola Atoyebi missed an uncontested layup and Everhart grabbed a huge rebound, recording his second double-double of the season and giving the Bulldogs the ball with 13.8 seconds left. Hammack got the ball with seven seconds left in the game when he was fouled on the way up to the basket by Phoenix leading scorer Chris Chalko, sending him to the line for two. Hitting both free throws, Hammack led the Bulldogs into overtime tied at 47.
In overtime, The Citadel maintained a lead that was extended to three points when Everhart connected on two free throws with 15 seconds remaining. Elon had one last dramatic attempt to extend the game as guard Waters put up a jumper before the buzzer from the top of the arc that bounced off the back of the rim, came back down and rolled around the rim and off to snap a five-game losing streak for the Bulldogs.
“As tired as he (Everhart) was he went to three free throw line, stepped up and made those baskets,” Conroy said. “We didn’t panic,” Conroy said about being down 47-43 before the end of regulation. “The senior leadership, they are starting to believe in what we’re doing. They didn’t panic and led the team to a victory.”
Everhart finished the game with a season-high 17 points and 12 boards, while Hammack added 13 points and six rebounds. Chalko led the Phoenix with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. The Bulldogs out rebounded Elon 41-26 and shot 40 percent from the field compared to 37 percent by the Phoenix.
WOFFORD 80, UNC GREENSBORO 75 (OT)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Wofford overcame a 5-point overtime deficit and outscored UNC Greensboro 13-3 over the final four minutes to claim an 80-75 overtime win Monday night at the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Tied at 67 following regulation, UNC Greensboro (12-11, 9-4) quickly took a 72-67 lead as Kyle Hines scored inside and Mikko Koivisto hit a three-pointer. But Wofford’s defense would force two critical turnovers and the Spartans would miss five of their last six shots as Wofford won its second straight game for the first time since November.
Down five in the extra period, Tyler Whatley scored on a layup and converted the 3-point play with a free throw to pull the Terriers within two at 72-70. Drew Gibson tied the game with a pair of free throws with 2:06 to play. Ricky Hickman gave UNCG a 73-72 advantage with 1:39 remaining when he connected on one of two free throws.
Gibson then staked Wofford to a 75-73 lead when he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:26 left. On UNCG’s next possession, an entry pass to Hines slipped through his hands and out of bounds. Wofford was fouled and Shane Nichols hit one of two free tosses for a 76-73 lead.
Koivisto missed a potential game-tying three with 39 seconds left and Whatley converted a pair of free throws to give Wofford a five-point lead at 78-73. UNCG’s Ben Stywall converted a layup and Gibson and Junior Salters added free throws to account for the 80-75 final.
Nichols led the Terriers with 20 points, 18 of those coming in the first half on the strength of five 3-point field goals. Whatley posted his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Gibson also added a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists.
Hines, the Southern Conference’s leading scorer and rebounder coming into the game, scored a game-high 30 points on 14 of 19 field goal shooting. He collected just six rebounds, 3.5 below his average.
Wofford is now 2-0 in February games after having defeated Elon 71-64 on Saturday.
Wofford will travel to Appalachian State for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 17 while UNCG will host Western Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 76, WESTERN CAROLINA 64
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Jermaine Johnson scored 18 points while David Lawrence added 15 as the College of Charleston downed Western Carolina, 76-64, in Southern Conference basketball action before 3,242 at John Kresse Arena on Monday.
With the win, Charleston 13th in its last 15 games, the Cougars improved to 16-8 overall and 9-3 in league play. Western Carolina, who got a career-high 39 points from freshman Nick Aldridge, is 9-14 and 6-6.
The Cougars grabbed an early 8-0 advantage just 3:10 into the contest en route to a 44-29 lead at intermission. Lawrence, who equaled his career-high with four 3-pointers, had 12 points in the first half.
Lawrence capped a 10-2 run by Charleston to start the second half with a 3-pointer to give the Cougars their largest lead at 54-31 with 17:04 remaining.
Western Carolina fought back and cut the margin to 62-53 with 6:13 remaining on a layup by Aldridge. The Cougars answered back with a layup by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Dontaye Draper to take a 67-53 lead with just 3:37 left.
Charleston’s Philip McCandies enjoyed his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Draper added 11 points while freshman Tony White, Jr. added 10 points off the bench.
Aldridge hit 14-of-28 shots from the field including 1-of-2 from behind the arc. He also connected on 10-of-12 free throw attempts. Arnold Gore added eight points, but no other Catamount had more than five.
For the game, the Cougars shot 55.1 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from the 3-point line hitting on 10-of-22 attempts. WCU hit 40.4 percent for the game and just 1-of-13 from behind the arc.
The Cougars play at UNC Greensboro on Saturday at 4:30. The Catamounts play host to Georgia Southern at 4:00 on Saturday.
APPALACHIAN STATE 77, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 55
STATESBORO, GA. - D.J. Thompson continued his mastery over Georgia Southern with 24 points in a 77-55 rout of the Eagles in Hanner Fieldhouse Monday evening. Thompson was one of four Mountaineers in double-figures with Jeremy Clayton recording his ninth double-double of the season as well.
The Apps took the lead four minutes into the contest and never trailed again to improve to 18-6 overall and 10-3 in the Southern Conference. With Wofford’s win over UNC Greensboro, the Apps assumed control of first place in the North Division. GSU fell to 10-13 and 3-9 in league play with its fourth-consecutive loss to ASU.
Appalachian converted at a 45-percent clip from the field and its staunch press forced 21 Georgia Southern turnovers which it turned into 23 points. ASU only committed 12 turnovers and shot 71 percent from the free-throw line.
Clayton had 13 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks while Demetrius Scott had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Nate Cranford scored 10 points, nine of them from three-point range and the other on the back end of a four-point play.
Donte Gennie had 14 points in the loss while Louis Graham recorded his 11th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards. The Eagles, who came into the game shooting 45 percent, were limited to 37 percent shooting by the Mountaineer defense.
ASU built up an early six-point, 14-8, lead with 13:47 left in the first half and then held the Eagles without a field goal for the next 7:15 to take an 11-point, 27-16 lead. The Apps extended that lead with four three-pointers in the final five minutes of the half, including one by Thompson to run the lead up to 18, 41-23, with a minute remaining for the largest lead of the half. The Eagles got a jumper from Anthony Marshall in the final minute to cut the deficit to 16, 41-25, going into the break.
Thompson scored 15 of his points in the opening half as the Mountaineers forced 11 turnovers and converted those into 10 points. ASU only committed two miscues in the half and made good on 47 percent of its shots from the floor.
The Apps continued to add to their lead in the second half and ran it out to 23 points on a Kellen Brand fast-break layup with 10 minutes remaining to make the score 58-37. GSU got no closer than 20 points the rest of the way as the Mountaineers maintained their intensity for the full 40 minutes.
ASU will have the bulk of the week off to prepare for another inter-divisional contest with Wofford on Saturday at 1 p.m.