SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for January 19, 2008
APPALACHIAN STATE 88, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 81
BOONE, N.C. -- Propelled by 20 points from Kellen Brand and Donte Minter’s third double-double of the month, Appalachian State University men’s basketball extended its winning streak to six with an 88-81 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
Appalachian (11-6, 6-2 SoCon) ran out to a 10-0 lead and never trailed by more than two points en route to avenging an 85-72 loss at GSU in December. Georgia Southern (12-6, 5-3 SoCon) rallied to cut the ASU lead to just one point at halftime, but the Mountaineers opened the second half with a 21-10 run and held the advantage the rest of the way. Minter sparked the decisive 21-10 run with five points, three steals and two assists during the 6:17 spurt.
Brand made 7-of-10 free throws, including 7-of-8 in the second half, on his way to the team-high 20 points, while Minter’s third double-double in six games came via 16 points and 13 rebounds, matching a career-high for boards. Donald Sims, followed up Thursday’s 28-point performance with 19 points and Jeremy Clayton chipped in with 15 to round out four Apps in double-figures. Clayton also contributed with five blocks and four assists, while Davis Bowne led all players with six assists.
GSU’s Louis Graham also registered a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort. Willie Powers added 16 points and a team-high five assists.
The Mountaineers continued their strong shooting, converting on 51 percent of their field goals and 52 percent from behind the three-point arc. Appalachian held a 13-5 advantage from three-point range with the Eagles making just 33 percent of their long-range attempts.
ASU opened the game with the 10-0 run courtesy of back-to-back three-pointers from Brand and four points from Minter. However, the Eagles would chip away at that lead and eventually tie the game at 26-26 with 7:30 left in the half on a Graham free throw. GSU would go on to claim the lead three times in the remainder of the half, but were never able to hold it for more than 23 seconds and a Brand layup helped ASU take a 39-38 lead into the locker room.
With just over three minutes elapsed in the second-half, the Apps began to make their run as a thunderous dunk from Clayton and a three-pointer from Sims keyed a 10-0 run that gave ASU a 56-44 lead with 14:55 left in the game. Again, the Eagles would chip away at the lead and would get as close as three, 70-67, with 6:53 on the clock on a Powers jumper. ASU wasted little time in reasserting control with a 13-4 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Sims to stretch ASU’s lead back out to 12, 83-71 with 2:17 left to play. The Eagles would get no closer than seven points for the remainder of the contest with a GSU layup with eight seconds left accounting for the final 88-81 tally.
Coupled with Chattanooga’s 85-58 loss at Davidson on Saturday, Appalachian moved within a half-game of UTC for the Southern Conference North Division lead.
FURMAN 74, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 66
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Alex Opacic equaled a career-high with 20 points to lead three Paladins in double figures as Furman downed the College of Charleston 74-66 in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday evening at Timmons Arena.
Furman improved to 3-15 overall and 2-7 in SoCon play while Charleston dipped to 9-9 overall and 4-4 inside the league. The victory snapped Furman's six-game skid against the Cougars.
The Paladins shot 50.0% from the field in the first half to build a 15-point cushion before settling for a 37-26 halftime advantage. Noah States netted the first five points of the second half and Justin Dehm buried a three-pointer to up the lead to 45-31 with 18:24 left.
Trailing 47-37 with under 16 minutes remaining, Marcus Hammond scored eight points to key a 14-4 Cougar run to trim the Furman lead to 54-51 with 11:21 left. After the teams traded baskets, Opacic converted a layup and Connor Nolte drained a trey from the top of the key to push the lead back to eight.
Charleston cut the Paladins advantage back to six on three occasions, but Justin Dehm converted four free throw attempts and notched his second three-pointer of the game in the final 4:06 to help Furman hold on for the eight-point triumph.
Opacic connected on 7-of-15 field goal attempts for his career-high 20 points while adding nine rebounds. Dehm tallied 12 points, all in the second half, and Noah State added 11 points and six rebounds. Darryl Evans contributed a career-best nine points off of the bench. Tony Anderson chipped in with seven points and seven assists without committing a turnover in 31 minutes of play.
The Paladins, who were charged with a season-low six turnovers, shot 46.7% (28-60) from the floor and 38.9% from beyond the arc. Furman converted 11-of-13 chances at the charity stripe.
Tony White Jr. led the Cougars with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 beyond the arc. Hammond and Dustin Scott each added 11 points while Jermaine Johnson grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Charleston shot 44.3% from the floor, but connected on just 8-of-27 treys. The Cougars, who shot 63% from the floor in the second half, attempted only five foul shots on the night. Each team grabbed 34 rebounds and recorded three blocked shots.
Furman took advantage of 11 Cougar turnovers to score 13 points off of miscues. The Paladins also held a 40-30 edge in scoring in the paint.
DAVIDSON 85, CHATTANOOGA 58
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Stephen Curry scored 27 of his game-high 37 points in the first half, and Davidson placed four in double figures as the Wildcats cruised by Chattanooga 85-58 in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at John M. Belk Arena in front of a season-high 5,361 fans.
The victory was the sixth straight and 18th consecutive regular season league win for the 'Cats as they improve to 10-6 overall and 8-0 in the conference. UTC has dropped back-to-back games, falling to 12-7 and 7-2.
Senior Jason Richards recorded 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds for the Wildcats, and classmate Boris Meno added 12 points and five boards off the bench. Junior Andrew Lovedale netted 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.
On the day of its 100th Anniversary Men's Basketball Reunion, Davidson came out strong and ran away from the Mocs by using a solid defensive performance for the third straight game. The Wildcats held Chattanooga to 36.7 percent shooting from the floor and turned 23 Mocs' turnovers into 29 points. The 'Cats are now giving up an average of 55 points in the last three games.
A junior from Charlotte, N.C., Curry capped off three lenghthy Davidson first-half runs including a 15-4 spurt to give the Wildcats a 17-point advantage with 1:36 left in the period. Davidson never trailed in the game and went into the break leading, 41-26.
The Preseason Conference Player of the Year just missed breaking Fred Hetzel's school-record of 28 points in a period as his three-pointer rimmed out with two ticks remaining. In the opening 20 minutes of action, Curry connected on 10-of-15 from the floor and drilled all six of the Wildcats' buckets from downtown to better his previous points total in a half by one, which he set at Appalachian State earlier this season en route to a career-high 38 points.
The Mocs would never get closer than the halftime margin in the second frame, and the margin ballooned to 30 twice late in the contest.
Davidson plays its first of three straight on the road in a 7 p.m. tip at Western Carolina Monday. Chattanooga will enjoy a week break before hosting Appalachian State Jan. 26.
UNC GREENSBORO 61, ELON 57
ELON, N.C. ? Kyle Hines poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed a contest-best 11 rebounds as UNC Greensboro overcame Elon for a 61-57 Southern Conference men’s basketball triumph Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (7-11 overall, 5-5 SoCon) exploded to a 22-9 lead on a three-pointer by Montell Watson with 8:14 left before the break. Elon maintained a double-digit edge at 33-21 following a free throw by Brett James with 29 seconds to play in the period, but a trey by Mikko Koivisto with six seconds to go pulled the Spartans (10-6, 4-3) to within 33-24 at halftime.
The three-pointer by Koivisto ignited a 32-11 run to give UNCG a 53-44 advantage with 4:57 remaining in the game. The Phoenix responded with a 13-5 spurt to draw within 58-57 on a trey by Watson with 18 ticks left on the clock, but a pair of charity shots by Ben Stywall with 16 seconds to go and a free throw by Hines with four ticks left ended the run.
“We really didn’t convert inside,” Elon coach Ernie Nestor said. “They made some plays without question, but basically we made enough bad plays to allow them good plays the next trip. That is what really hurt us. We showed a lot of heart and fought hard, but couldn’t convert around the basket.”
Hines connected on nine of his 15 field goal attempts and also came up with three steals and a game-high two blocked shots. Stywall (16 points, eight rebounds) knocked down six of his seven shots from the floor while Dwayne Johnson came away with eight boards and three steals and Kevin Oleksiak dished out a contest-best six assists for the Spartans.
For the Phoenix, James canned seven of his 14 tries from the field on his way to putting up 18 points and Watson sank four of his eight attempts from three-point range en route to posting 14 points. Watson swiped a game-high five steals while James and Ola Atoyebi each pulled down seven caroms.
UNCG outscored Elon 34-22 in the paint and 20-19 off turnovers. The Phoenix out-rebounded the Spartans 37-35 while outscoring them 15-6 off second chances and 14-10 off the bench. Elon committed 15 turnovers to 16 by UNCG.
The Spartans shot 47.7 percent (21 of 44) from the field ? 52.0 percent (13 of 25) in the second stanza ? and 57.1 percent (16 of 28) from the line. The Phoenix hit 37.1 percent (23 of 62) of its field goal attempts and 36.4 percent (4 of 11) of its charity shots. Elon ended up at 36.8 percent (7 of 19) from three-point land and UNCG finished at 18.8 percent (3 of 16).
WOFFORD 80, THE CITADEL 76
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Visiting Wofford’s strong play held off a tough Bulldogs squaf as the Terriers topped The Citadel, 80-76, at McAlister Field House.
Freshman forward Austin Dahn led The Citadel with 16 points in what appeared to be one of their strongest performances of conference play this season. Five Bulldogs scored in double-figures, shooting 48.9 percent overall and an impressive 61.9 percent from long range.
The Citadel took their first lead 5-4 early in the game at 17:43. However, a three-point play by Shane Nicholas for Wofford put the Terriers up by two and gave them a lead that they would extend by as much as 14 with 8:49 left in the first half. The Bulldogs brought it back within eight points after a couple of Dahn free throws, but the Terriers extended the lead to 14 again with 2:51 on the clock. A late first half rally by the Bulldogs brought them back within single-digits going into the half down by eight, 39-31.
The momentum carried over into the next period for the Bulldogs as they jumped out to a 13-2 run in the opening minutes of the second half, tying Wofford 41-41 at 17:40 and taking the lead with a Dahn 3-pointer at 17:11 to put them up, 44-41. The two teams traded baskets and the lead for the next several minutes, while tying the game on seven more occasions.
With 2:12 left to play in the game, The Citadel found themselves up by four, 72-68. A three-point play by Wofford’s Drew Gibson put the Terriers back within one point, but clutch free throws by Dahn at 1:41 gave the Bulldogs the three-point lead. However, another Wofford three-point play tied the game for the eighth time in the second half at 74-74 with 1:33 left to play. Back-to-back layups by Tyler Whatley and Cory Godzinkski gave Wofford the four-point lead with only 16 seconds on the clock. Wofford held on for the last few seconds to claim their second Southern Conference win of the season, 80-76.
“I am really proud of the way we played in the second half,” said Bulldog Head Coach Ed Conroy. “I thought they played with a lot of courage and they came together as a team. We clicked and had great chemistry.”
The Bulldogs improved to 53.6 percent shooting in the second half after connecting on 8-of-19 baskets for 42.1 percent in the first. They also shot 66.7 percent from long range in the second, hitting 8-of-12 3-pointers. They finished the game with 13 baskets from long range and 17-of-20 from the free throw line. Wofford shot 50 percent from the field and 20 percent from long range, hitting only 3-of-15 3-pointers.
In addition to Dahn’s 16 points, freshmen Zach Urbanus and Cameron Wells contributed 13 each, while Tyrell McDowell and junior Jonathan Brick added 12. Freshman Daniel Eykyn earned his first collegiate start and contributed four points of the bench. Freshmen Matt Clack and Phillip Pandak each had a 3-pointer. Forward Terry Martin led Wofford with 17 points.
“The guys can take some clarity from this game. They are finally starting to realize how we want them to play,” Conroy added. “Everyone stepped up to contribute. Although we are disappointed that we lost, we will regroup and now focus on Davidson.”