SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for January 30, 2008
DAVIDSON 78, WOFFORD 65
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Sophomore Stephen Curry recorded 34 points, five boards and five assists to lead Davidson to a 78-65 SoCon men's basketball victory over visiting Wofford Wednesday night at John M. Belk Arena.
It was the 10th straight win for Davidson, which improved to 14-6 overall and 12-0 in the conference. Wofford saw its four-game win streak come to an end and moves to 12-9 overall and 5-6 in the league.
A 6-3 shooting guard from Charlotte, N.C., Curry was 11-for-20 from the field and 6-for-12 from long distance. It was the ninth time this season the reigning SoCon Player of the Week has canned at least five treys in a contest.
Senior Thomas Sander posted 11 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Boris Meno tallied 11 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench. Junior Andrew Lovedale posted nine points and five rebounds, while senior Jason Richards tallied nine points and eight assists.
Drew Gibson and Junior Salters led Wofford with 14 points each. Tyler Whatley scored 11 points, and Matt Estep finished with nine.
The Wildcats' offense proved to be too much for the Terriers over the span of the game. Davidson shot 53.6 percent for the contest and 55.2 percent in the second frame. The 'Cats also went 8-for-23 from three-point range, while Wofford was 2-for-17.
Trailing 15-10 following a Salters' jumper, Davidson used a 14-3 run, capped off by a Lovedale layup, to grab a 24-18 advantage, but the Terriers closed the opening half with a lengthy spurt of their own to head into the break up, 35-34. The opening 20 minutes featured eight ties and five lead changes.
Despite being held scoreless the first nine minutes of the contest, Curry led all scorers at intermission with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
Behind at halftime in SoCon play for just the second time this season, Davidson wasted little time retaking the lead and grabbing control of the contest. With the game deadlocked at 37-37, the Wildcats stretched the margin to double digits, 57-44, with 11:03 left thanks to a 20-7 streak, highlighted by 10 points from Curry, including a pair from downtown.
Eight straight points from Curry would eventually push the Wildcats' lead to as many as 17 (78-61) with 1:23 remaining.
Davidson returns to action in a 7 p.m. tip at Chattanooga Saturday. The Terriers will entertain cross-county rival Furman Feb. 3 at 3 p.m.
FURMAN 53, THE CITADEL 51
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Alex Opacic tallied a career-high 21 points and Furman survived a late Bulldog rally to down The Citadel 53-51 in Southern Conference men's basketball action Wednesday evening at Timmons Arena.
With the Bulldogs trailing by two in the final seconds, The Citadel cleared out the lane for Cameron Wells to penetrate, but his 15-foot jumper fell short and Darryl Evans dribbled out the final three seconds to secure Furman's third SoCon victory of the season.
Furman led 47-36 with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, but the Bulldogs held the Paladins to 1-for-3 shooting from the field and 0-for-4 from the line over the next four minutes. Three Bulldogs drained three-pointers and Wells buried a jumper with 4:59 left to cap an 11-2 run as The Citadel pulled within two points.
Furman (4-17, 3-9) pushed the lead back to four points twice, but McDowell answered with a layup in the final two minutes to bring the margin to 53-51. The Paladins ran the shot clock down and grabbed an offensive rebound off of a Jordan Miller miss to eat up more clock. Connor Nolte's three from the corner with less than 30 seconds remaining came up short giving Wells a last chance to tie or win the game.
The Citadel (5-15, 0-11) opened the game on a 9-0 run as Zach Urbanus fed his teammates for three consecutive treys. Furman outscored the Bulldogs 28-14 over the remainder of the period on the strength of 14 bench points to carry a 28-24 lead into the locker room.
The Paladins shot 48.8% from the floor, including 5-of-15 from beyond the arc on the night. For the second straight outing, Furman struggled at the charity stripe converting just 8-of-17 free throws. Opacic connected on 9-of-13 field goal attempts for his career-high 21 points. Senior George Brozos added nine points, three rebounds and three steals in 18 minutes of action.
Wells led three Bulldogs in double figures with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. Dahn scored 14 points and McDowell added 12. The Citadel made good on 11-of-22 three-point attempts, but shot only 43.5% from the floor and missed their only two free throw attempts.
Furman committed just 12 turnovers while forcing 14 Bulldogs turnovers and collecting 10 steals. Each team recorded 26 rebounds. The Paladins outscored The Citadel 24-12 in the paint.
Furman returns to the road on Saturday when it travels to Wofford for a 3 p.m. contest against the Terriers. The game can be seen live on SportSouth, Charter Cable channel 61 in the Upstate. The Citadel visits cross-town rival College of Charleston at 7 p.m. on Monday.