Elon 83, Southern Virginia 55
ELON, N.C. ? Brett James posted a pair of game highs with 20 points and eight rebounds, pushing Elon to an 83-55 victory over Southern Virginia in the Phoenix’s home opener Tuesday night at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (1-1) erupted to an early 12-3 lead on a put-back by Adam Constantine with 15:50 left to play in the first half. The Knights (2-2) battled back with a 12-6 spurt to draw to within 18-15 on a layup by Dele Opeifa with 10:13 to go in the opening stanza.
Elon extended its advantage to 33-21 via a 15-6 surge capped by a jumper by Ola Atoyebi with 2:43 left before the break. Southern Virginia closed the first frame on an 8-2 run, closing to within 35-29 at halftime on a three-point field goal by Ade Swann with two ticks remaining.
The Phoenix reeled off 27 of the second half’s first 41 points to fatten its edge to 62-43 on a trey by Drew Spradlin with 10:25 left in the contest. The Knights scored four of the game’s next six points on buckets by Shawn Brady and Bryce Pendleton to inch within 64-47 at the 8:32 mark before Elon made its next run.
The Phoenix went on a 14-2 surge to build a 78-49 cushion following Constantine’s dunk with 3:40 to play. The Elon lead eventually peaked at 83-53 on a fast-break layup by Josh Bonney with 40 seconds remaining. Southern Virginia’s Brandon Romito sank a jumper with four ticks left to determine the final margin.
In addition to James’ seventh career performance of scoring at least 20 points, the Phoenix received 13 points and seven rebounds from Atoyebi, 13 markers and six boards from Spradlin (his first career points and rebounds), 10 points and five caroms from Constantine and a career-high and game-high eight assists and a game-high four steals from Chris Long.
Pendleton (15 points), Swann (13 points) and J.J. Holt (10 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals) led the Knights, who were held to 36.4-percent shooting (20 of 55) from the field ? 24.0 percent (6 of 25) from three-point land ? but fired 90.0 percent (9 of 10) from the free throw line.
Elon connected on 53.0 percent (35 of 66) of its attempts from the floor ?44.4 percent (8 of 18) from beyond the arc ? but just 41.7 percent (5 of 12) from the charity stripe. The Phoenix forged convincing advantages in rebounding (46-26), assists (24-10), turnovers (17-20), blocked shots (3-1) and steals (13-8).
The Phoenix outscored Southern Virginia 44-20 in the paint, 29-6 off turnovers, 27-8 off second-chance opportunities, 14-4 off fast breaks and 36-9 off the bench. Elon returns to action with an 8 p.m. visit to Tennessee-Martin Saturday.
UTEP 96, Georgia Southern 79
EL PASO, Texas --- UTEP exploded for 57 second-half points, and was keyed by a 13-2 run to overcome a halftime deficit and win 96-71 over Georgia Southern Tuesday night at the Don Haskins Center.
The Miners stay perfect at 2-0 while the Eagles even their mark at 2-2.
“I think we need to understand how important it is to be mentally tough on the road and we’re not there yet,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We’ve got a lot of tough road games to go. We hung in there for quite awhile but they went on a spurt and I thought we caved in. We just can’t cave in in those situations. We couldn’t get back in the game.”
UTEP was actually more accurate shooting the ball in the first half, hitting 56.0% in the opening 20 minutes and 51.4% in the final period, but converted nine GSU turnovers into 16 points in the second half and hit 18 free throws.
A Randy Culpepper three-pointer at the 17:12 mark of the second half started a 13-2 run that turned a 47-45 deficit into a commanding 58-49 lead.
The Miners trailed by no fewer than six points the rest of the way.
“We made a couple of careless turnovers,” said Price. “They shot the ball well in the second half and got us out of our zone and we had to go man-to-man and they attacked the basket really well.”
Culpepper sparked the UTEP offense in the first half with 24 points while Stefon Jackson scored 24 of his 26 after halftime. Culpepper finished with a game-high 35.
For Georgia Southern, junior Antonio Hanson finished with 17 points on 5-of-12 3-point shooting and dished out four assists. Senior Julian Allen and junior Sandy Perry added 15 each and freshman Ben Drayton III added 11 off the bench.
Sophomore Willie Powers contributed 10 points and had a team-high five assists.
The Eagles shot 55 percent from the field in the opening period to take a 41-39 lead at halftime.
Georgia Southern does not return to the court until Saturday, Nov. 29 when they host Austin Peay State at 2 p.m.
No. 14 Oklahoma 82, No. 21 Davidson 78
NORMAN, Okla. (AP)-- Blake Griffin and Oklahoma learned to never count out Stephen Curry.
Griffin had 25 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, freshman Willie Warren added 20 points and the Sooners (No. 14 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) overcame the highest scoring game of Curry's career to beat No. 21 Davidson 82-78 on Tuesday night.
The early season showcase was played out with first-round draft picks Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder watching from the front row, but there was plenty of star power on the court -- with Griffin and Curry proving their preseason All-America status, and Warren showing why he was a McDonald's All-America in high school last season.
Curry scored 44 points on 12-for-29 shooting and went 6-for-15 from 3-point range, and nearly willed his team back from a 21-point deficit.
But Griffin came up with a crucial offensive rebound in the final minute to keep Davidson (2-1) from getting the ball back with a chance to tie. Cade Davis hit three free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win for the Sooners (3-0), who advanced to the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off next week in New York where they will face UAB, which beat Arizona 72-71.
Griffin then added eight straight points, including three dunks to get the fans even more pumped. After Davis set up the third dunk with a steal, the two bumped chests and slapped five at midcourt at the start of another timeout. Davis then hit a 3-pointer from the right corner that made it 61-40.
But Curry wouldn't go down without a fight. He scored nine points during Davidson's 14-0 response that cut the lead to 61-54 and then got it even closer in the closing moments.
The comeback started when Curry was fouled on a 3-point attempt from the left wing, and made all three free throws. Capel thought his players got too emotional questioning the call, and that was a big enough opening for Davidson to exploit.
"When you have a team that shoots the basketball like they do, that's what can happen. And when you have a player as special as Stephen Curry, that's what can happen," Capel said.
"Even when we were up by that large amount, I kept telling our guys, 'It's not over. We have to finish this game.'"
Curry set up Brendan McKillop for a 3-pointer from the right side to get the Wildcats within 79-73 with 1:41 to play, and then nailed a 3 from the left corner to cut the deficit in half. Tony Crocker missed a 3-pointer at the other end for the Sooners, but Griffin leaped to get the carom on the opposite side and got the ball to Davis -- who was a perfect 23-for-23 from the foul line last season.
Griffin also turned heads with his foul shooting. After making only 59 percent last season and going 9-for-22 in his first two games this season, Griffin was 11-for-12 against Davidson -- all in the second half. Nine of the free throws came in a stretch immediately after Curry got Davidson within seven, helping the Sooners go back up 75-60.
Andrew Lovedale had 10 points and was the only other player in double figures for Davidson, which stuck around by only committing five turnovers against the deeper and taller Sooners. Oklahoma had a 43-31 advantage on the boards but turned it over 17 times.
"It's a disappointing game," Curry said. "We came out and played to win. We didn't get it tonight. ... We played hard all the way to the finish. We were down big and we made it a game, so I am proud of how we played."
Curry compared the game to a four-point loss at top-ranked North Carolina in the Wildcats' second game last season. After that, of course, Davidson became the Cinderella of the NCAA tournament by knocking off top 10 teams Georgetown and Wisconsin before giving eventual national champion Kansas a scare in the round of eight -- launching Curry into celebrity status in the process.
"He's special. You're looking at a guy that's one of the best guys out there," Capel said. "That's certainly one of the best performances I've ever seen. Our kid had a pretty doggone good performance, too."