SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for January 28, 2008
WOFFORD 67, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 66
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team defeated College of Charleston 67-66 on Monday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena, extending the Terriers’ winning streak to four games. Wofford was down one with eleven seconds left, but after a missed free throw by the Cougars, Drew Gibson found Corey Godzinski alone under the basket for a dunk with 1.9 seconds left to win the game.
Wofford is 12-8 overall and 5-5 in SoCon play. The College of Charleston is 9-12 on the season and 4-7 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Corey Godzinski with a career-high 15 points and Drew Gibson added ten points. Tim Johnson had ten rebounds for Wofford. College of Charleston was led by Dustin Scott with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Andrew Goudelock and Tony White Jr. each added 13 points.
“It was an adverse situation being down five with under two minutes to play,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “We have been in that situation before this season and we have found ways to win. Our team had to get a break to have a chance. The missed free throw and being able to get the rebound was the break, and then Drew Gibson made the play. We had four guards on the floor and Gibson was able to find a streaking Corey Godzinski for the game winner. The kids did a great job and this is a good time of the season to be playing well.”
The Terriers scored first and built a 6-0 lead. At the 15:00 mark, Wofford had a 10-7 lead, but a few minutes later consecutive shots by Andrew Goudelock cut the Terriers lead to one point at 11:48. Seven-straight points by the Terriers, including a three-pointer by Junior Salters, increased the lead to 19-11 at 9:11 in the first half.
Additional three-pointers by Junior Salters and Corey Godzinski gave the Terriers a 12 point lead at 29-17 with 5:25 left in the first half. The Cougars then went on a 13-0 run, which was highlighted by three three-pointers, to take the lead at 30-29 with a minute to go in the half. Tyler Whatley ended the run with a jumper to give Wofford a 31-30 lead at the break.
To start the second half, the Cougars scored the opening four points to take a 34-31 lead less than a minute into play. At 17:22, the Terriers were able to regain the lead. For the next thirteen minutes, there were ten lead changes as neither team was able to build a lead of more than three points.
With the game tied at 61 with 4:19 to play, the College of Charleston scored the next five points on a basket by Dustin Scott and a three by Tony White, Jr. The Cougars had a 66-61 lead with 2:26 left in the game, but Tyler Whatley scored a lay-up with 1:14 remaining to reduce the lead to 66-63. Corey Godzinski then hit two free throws to make it a one point lead for the Cougars with 14 seconds left. Tony White, Jr. went to the line for a one-and-one with eleven seconds left, but missed the front end and Corey Godzinski came up with the rebound. Drew Gibson brought the ball up the court for the Terriers, and found Corey Godzinski alone under the basket for a dunk with 1.9 seconds left. The College of Charleston had a last second three-point attempt by Andrew Goudelock that came up short, sealing the victory for the Terriers.
Wofford shot 49.0% from the floor and 41.7% from three. The Terriers were 63.2% from the line. The Cougars were 46.3% from the floor and 35.0% from behind the arc and 69.2% from the free throw line. Wofford had a 38-26 edge on the boards.
The game was the third in a stretch of five conference games in ten days. Shane Nichols returned to action after missing two games, however Marcus Jackson (shoulder) and Noah Dahlman (ankle) did not dress for the contest. Wofford has now won four straight conference games, the longest conference winning streak for the Terriers since the 2004-05 season. In the four wins, Wofford has limited opponents to below 50% from the floor and have had the edge on rebounds.
APPALACHIAN STATE 56, ELON 52
BOONE, N.C. - Jeremy Clayton registered a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 17 rebounds and tied the school record for blocked shots in a career to lead Appalachian State University men’s basketball to a 56-52 victory over visiting Elon on Monday evening at the Holmes Center.
Nine of Clayton’s 12 points came in the second half, as Appalachian (13-7, 8-3 SoCon) overcame a 23-21 halftime deficit, marking the first time all season that ASU came back to win after trailing at the half.
Clayton’s 17 rebounds surpassed his previous career high of 14 set in wins over UVA-Wise earlier this season and Georgia Southern in the 2006 Southern Conference Tournament, while his six blocks tied Ricky Nedd (1990-93) for the ASU career record at 193.
The Mountaineers needed every bit of Clayton’s performance to overcome pesky Elon (7-13, 5-7 SoCon). The Apps shot just 31.8 percent from the field and committed 12 turnovers in the first half as the team fell behind by as many as seven points.
Appalachian still trailed by four points three minutes into the second half before it went on a 16-5 run, highlighted by six points from Clayton, to take a 39-32 advantage with 11:23 to play. Jeremi Booth had five of his 12 points, including a dunk off a steal, during that spurt as well.
From there, the Phoenix never got closer than three points the rest of the way, the last time coming with just 16 seconds remaining when a Brett James’ three-pointer gave the Phoenix comeback aspirations. However, Elon was forced to foul to stop the clock and couldn’t get a last-second three-pointer to fall to secure the Mountaineers’ 13th win of the season.
In addition to Clayton’s double-double, Kellen Brand poured in a game-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, half of them off the offensive glass to help lead ASU to a 40-34 advantage on the glass.
Elon’s Brett James also notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Phoenix while Ola Atoyebi posted 12 points. Appalachian’s defense limited the Phoenix to just 34.5 percent shooting and 25 percent from behind the arc. The Apps didn’t fare much better from the field, shooting a season-low 37.2 percent in the win.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 69, WESTERN CAROLINA 58
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? A 14-1 run to begin the second half helped the Georgia Southern men’s basketball team overcome a sluggish first-half start and defeat Western Carolina 69-58 Monday night at the Ramsey Center. Connecting on nine of its first 17 field goal attempts, Western Carolina raced to a double-digit first half lead.
The Eagles scored the game's final 12 points as WCU was held without a field goal over the final six and a half minutes. GSU has now claimed eight of the last nine meetings in the overall series.
Western Carolina (6-14, 2-8 SoCon) put three players in double figures led by 17 points from sophomore Brandon Giles, who finished 8-of-11 from the free throw line and extended his double-digit scoring streak to 11 games. Sophomore Jake Robinson hit four 3-pointers for 12 points, while senior Negus McKenna posted his third-consecutive double-figure scoring night, hitting two 3-pointers for a 10-point performance.
McKenna cooled just a bit from his red-hot shooting pace over the past two games - from 87-percent (13-of-15) to 75-percent, but has connected on 15 of his last 20 3-point field goal attempts.
Freshmen Blake Gallagher and Richie Gordon combined for 11 rebounds and seven points with Gallagher leading the way with six boards.
The Catamounts pounced on GSU early, grabbing a game-high, 15-point lead midway through the half, 22-7. WCU hit four if its eight 3-point attempts during the opening run. But the Eagles rallied, outscoring Western by the same count - 22-to-7 - over the next nine minutes to erase the deficit and tie the game at 29 at the one minute mark.
Giles connected on two of three free throw attempts in the closing seconds to push Western ahead by four, 35-31, at intermission.
Georgia Southern (14-7, 7-4 SoCon) opened the second half with a 15-to-1 run - holding the Catamounts without a field goal until the 14:29 mark of the stanza - to erase WCU's four-point halftime advantage and build a 10-point edge of its own, 46-36. All told, between the two halves, GSU put together a 37-to-8 run to grab the lead.
But the resilient Catamounts did not falter, rattling off a 10-0 run of its own to knot the game at 46 at the 12 minute mark. The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth over the next four minutes with WCU taking the largest advantage during the swap at three points.
Tied at 56 at the seven minute mark, Western was outscored 13-to-2 the remainder of the game with the Catamounts' final points coming on a McKenna slam dunk after gathering in a save by Gordon in the lane at 6:43 that gave WCU a one-point lead, 58-57.
During the final stretch, Western committed five of its game-high 18 turnovers and missed five shots including the front end of a one-and-one.
Senior forward Louis Graham led two Eagles in double figures with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting and nine made free throws. His classmate, Matthew Fields, posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as both players recorded three steals apiece. Freshman Willie Powers just missed double figures with nine points including two 3-pointers.