SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for January 25, 2008
APPALACHIAN STATE 84, FURMAN 66
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Senior Jeremy Clayton notched a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds while converting 8-of-8 field goal attempts as Appalachian State won its seventh straight Southern Conference game with an 84-66 victory over Furman on Thursday evening at Timmons Arena.
The Mountaineers (12-6, 7-2) outscored Furman 40-18 in the paint and turned 13 Paladin turnovers into 21 points to score their first victory at Timmons Arena since the 1999-2000 campaign.
Appalachian State raced out to an 8-0 lead before Furman answered with a 12-2 run to grab a two-point lead with 12:43 to play in the first half. Trailing 22-19 with under 8:30 to go in the first period, the Mountaineers regained control of the game as Donte Minter scored 10 points in a 22-5 run to give ASU a 41-27 lead at the 1:58 mark.
Clayton, who added six assists, two blocked shots and two steals to go with his game-high in points and rebounds, opened the second half with a three-point play to push the ASU lead to 49-32. The Paladins were unable to get closer than 12 points the rest of the way as the Mountaineers shot 60.9% from the floor over the final 20 minutes.
Minter connected on 8-of-10 field goal attempts to tally 19 points while freshman Donald Sims added 14 points and a game-high eight assists. Appalachian State shot 56.9% (29-51) from the field and 19-of-25 from the foul line. ASU registered nine steals and took a 33-30 edge on the boards.
Connor Nolte came off of the bench to lead Furman with a career-high 15 points and eight rebounds. Fellow freshmen Justin Dehm and Jordan Miller joined Nolte in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Furman shot just 39.7% from the floor despite connecting on 12-of-32 three-point attempts.
Appalachian State travels to Chattanooga for a key SoCon North Division battle on Saturday at 3 p.m. Furman, which concludes its four-game homestand with a 1-3 mark, travels to Georgia Southern on Saturday. Tip-off at Hanner Fieldhouse is slated for 7:30 p.m.
UNC GREENSBORO 88, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 71
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Kyle Hines scored 32 points and pulled down nine rebounds while Kevin Oleksiak added 16 points leading UNC Greensboro to an 88-71 Southern Conference win over the College of Charleston before 3,314 at John Kresse Arena on Thursday.
With the win, UNCG improved to 11-6 overall and 5-3 in league play. It was the Spartans first win in Kresse Arena in 10 tries. Charleston is 9-10 and 4-5. It was the worst loss for Charleston in Kresse Arena since dropping a 68-42 decision to North Georgia on November 23, 1985.
Hines 12 first half points helped the Spartans to a 45-35 lead at halftime. Hines, a senior, hit 14-of-16 field goal attempts and all four of his free throws on the night. Oleksiak hit 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point land.
Ben Stywall scored 15 points and Mikko Koivisto added 13 points for the Spartans who shot 66.7 percent from the field for the game hitting on 36-of-54 opportunities. The Spartans were 18-of-27 from the field in each half.
The Cougars got a team-high 17 points from freshman Andrew Goudelock and 14 points from Tony White, Jr. The Cougars shot 48.3 percent from the floor and 55.0 percent from behind the arc connecting on 11-of-20 attempts.
Charleston got eight points and a team-high seven rebounds from freshman Antwaine Wiggins.
Both teams play league games on Saturday. Charleston plays host to Davidson at 5:00. UNCG is at The Citadel at 2:00.
DAVIDSON 87, THE CITADEL 70
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Stephen Curry led the Wildcat charge scoring 28 points as Davidson kept their distance from the Bulldogs winning, 87-70, in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 12-6 (10-0 SoCon) while the Bulldogs slip to 5-13 (0-9 SoCon).
The Bulldogs hung tough with the top team in the Southern Conference, being down by only eight points at the half, but the Wildcats pulled away and finished off the Bulldogs down the stretch.
Austin Dahn paced the Bulldogs offensively leading the team with 19 points followed by Cameron Wells and Jon Brick who had 13 points each, tying a career-high for Brick. Davidson shot 59.6 percent on the night, topping the Bulldogs’ 50 percent shooting effort. The Bulldogs were also out-rebounded by the Wildcats 31-22.
The Bulldogs came out after halftime and answered first closing in on the Wildcats only six points down. However it would be the closest the Bulldogs would get all night as the Wildcats began to pull away. Davidson enjoyed their largest lead of the night when Bryant Barr connected from beyond the arc to put the Wildcats up by 25 with 3:37 left in the game.
Davidson collected their 20th straight Southern Conference win continuing their streak from last season, and their eighth consecutive win this season.
Stephen Curry’s 28 points marks his 45th straight double-digit scoring game and the 32nd time in his one-and-a half-year career that he scored 20 points or more, 13th time this season.
“Davidson is an outstanding basketball team that works well together and is well coached,” said Citadel Coach Ed Conroy. “We missed some open shots that really hurt us tonight. We were out-sized but there are some things that we can control and do better on our end. I thought our guys did a nice job being patient which helped them set up some nice opportunities for each other.”
WOFFORD 96, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 79
STATESBORO, GA. --- Down nine points at halftime, Wofford stormed back and shot 72.4 percent from the field in the second half to defeat Georgia Southern 86-79 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Terriers win their second straight and move to 10-8 overall and 3-5 in the league. The Eagles drop to 12-7, 5-4.
“Obviously we didn’t do what we had to do," said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “I continue to say, everybody harps how we’ve been playing on the road, but that means when you come home, you just show up and win games, and you have to do more than just show up in the conference. I thought that was kind of our mentality throughout the game. And I thought we played a really poor first half even though we were up by nine (and) I didn’t think we played well. I thought when they made the run in the second half and came back and tied the game, that we just put our heads down and didn’t fight back
Wofford ends a six-game losing streak at Hanner Fieldhouse dating back to 2001. Georgia Southern loses its first game this season at home (5-1).
“I don’t think it would have mattered who we played," said Price. “I think it was the fact that we felt we were on our home floor and we’ve been successful here and we could just walk out of here with a win. In this conference that doesn’t happen. I knew Wofford was a really dangerous team that shoots the ball really well.”
A 14-1 Georgia Southern run in the first half helped the Eagles to a 36-27 lead at the break. Wofford shot just 31.3 percent, compared to 41.2 percent for GSU.
But the start of the second half was a different story. Wofford made their first seven shots and tied the score at 45-45 with 15:29 to go in the game. The Terriers began the period by converting 13 of their first 16 from the floor.
Wofford finally retook the lead on a 3-pointer by Corey Godzinski and never looked back after a 14-4 run, eventually stretching their advantage to 13 (75-62) late in the contest.
The Terriers more than doubled their first-half output and outscored the Eagles 59-43 in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought our effort and our intensity and our passion and our leadership was not good,” said Price. “When things started going bad, I thought our body language wasn’t good and I think for a senior heavy team, I was really disappointed with the way we fought back.”
GSU senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led all scorers with a career-high tying 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He was joined in double-figures by senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) and sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) who had 11 each.
Junior Salters paced the Terrier offense with 18 points and Noah Dahlman came off the bench to add a career-best 17. Drew Gibson added 14 and 12 assists.
The Eagles return to action Saturday when they host Furman at 7:30 p.m.
Everyone who attends is encouraged to “Pack the House in Pink” to support the fight against breast cancer.
WESTERN CAROLINA 72, ELON 60
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina senior Negus McKenna connected on a career-high eight 3-pointers for a career-best tying 24 points to pace three Catamounts in double figures in a 72-60 Southern Conference victory over the Elon Phoenix Thursday night at the Ramsey Center.
All eight of McKenna’s made baskets came from beyond the 3-point arc as the fourth-year guard posted 12 in each half. The Montreal, Quebec, native scored 24 for the third-time in his WCU career to tie his personal benchmark.
“I was so happy for our players tonight,” said Western Carolina head coach Larry Hunter during a post-game interview on the Catamount Sports Network. “You can name just about every player who contributed for us tonight. Negus (McKenna), Brandon (Giles) and Jake (Robinson); you could go down the line with those eight guys and say something about how hard they played. I also thought it was one of Brigham Waginger’s better games in his career at Western Carolina. Brigham’s defense tonight was terrific, getting his hands on a lot of balls and making things happen.”
He added, “Our pre-game talk was about putting two halves together. We have been inconsistent with that, but I thought we were much better with executing that in this game. I thought Negus carried us in the first half. Also, another key in the game was the play from our posts. I thought we really neutralized Elon from playing the physical game they like.”
Sophomore Brandon Giles ran his consecutive double-digit scoring outings to nine with 20 points, while classmate Jake Robinson added 15 points ? including two exclamation point dunks inside the final minute ? for the short-handed Catamounts as Western (6-12, 2-6 SoCon) defeated Elon at home for the seventh time in the last eight meetings.
Senior Arnold Gore added seven points for Western, while freshman Blake Gallagher led the Catamounts with seven rebounds, all coming on the defensive end. Waginger, who entered the game second in the SoCon in steals per game, tied a Ramsey Center record by making seven swipes in the win while also dishing out seven assists ? both of which tied the best of his career.
Western was playing without the services of freshmen Michael Porrini, who ranks second on the team in scoring average, and Camden Miller, a key bench reserve, both of which missed the game due to personal reasons. The void left WCU with only eight total players, each of which saw at least 11 minutes of action in the game.
The Phoenix (7-12, 5-6 SoCon) took control of the contest in the first half after a short-lived, one-point Catamount lead inside the opening minute. Elon pulled ahead by as many as eight in the first stanza. But Western finished the half with eight-unanswered points, capped by a fast break lay-up and subsequent “and-1” free throw by Waginger to knot the game at 31 at intermission.
The Catamounts then used a 22-to-4 second half run over a six and a half minute span to erase a four-point deficit and grab their largest lead of the game with a 13-point, 56-43 edge with 9:21 to play. Elon was able to whittle away at Western’s advantage, trimming the margin to one-possession at three with 1:49 to play. However, Robinson drained his third triple of the night right in front of the WCU bench to push the lead back to six, 66-60.
With the Phoenix pushing late to try and tie the game, Robinson would add two slam dunks on passes from Gore and Waginger to push the margin back into double figures as Western celebrated its second home conference victory of the season.
During what proved to be the Catamounts’ decisive run, Western made five 3-pointers ? four from McKenna alone including three-straight ? and capitalized on seven missed Phoenix shots.
Elon, which dropped its third straight and lost for the eighth time in its last 10 games, was led by junior Ola Atoyebi with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Senior Montell Watson added 13 points with three 3-pointers, while junior Brett James finished with 11, six coming in the opening 20 minutes.
Western dominated play on the glass, out rebounding the Phoenix 37-to-20, including a 20-to-9 mark in the opening stanza. Also, for the second-straight game, the Catamounts attempted more free throws (10-of-18) than did their opponent (6-of-6).