Memphis 83, Chattanooga 71
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --- Taking on last season’s national runner-up is never an easy task, but the Chattanooga men’s basketball team (0-3) gave Memphis (3-0) all it could handle Thursday in an 83-71 loss during the first round of the 2008 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip Off.
Seniors Stephen McDowell and Nicchaeus Doaks were key cogs in the Mocs offense on the night as the two combined for 42 of Chattanooga’s points.
McDowell finished with a career and game-high 27 points off 10-for-18 (55%) shooting from the field, including 7-for-13 (54%) from three-point range.
Doaks finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds for his second straight double-double of the season. Doaks’s 16 boards set a new tournament record which was previously set at 15 by Miami’s Anthony King.
Junior Ty Patterson continued his scoring onslaught with 10 points, for his third straight double-digit scoring performance.
In the first half the Mocs were able to stay close to Memphis largely in part to McDowell’s 14 points. The senior drained four from beyond the arc as UTC shot 39 percent from the field in the half as the Tigers went into the locker rooms with a 47-35 lead.
Coming out of the break Memphis’s high-scoring offense would pick up steam as the Tigers quickly jumped out to a 19-point lead, its largest of the night.
The Mocs would continue to fight however as McDowell and Doaks continued to pour in points for the UTC offense. In the second half McDowell continued his assault from three-point range as the Indianapolis, Ind. native hit three and had 13 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
Late in the second half the Mocs would eventually chisel the Tiger lead down to 11 thanks to a Ty Patterson three-pointer. That is as close as Chattanooga would get however as Memphis was able to hold off UTC for the 83-71 win.
Iowa 70, The Citadel 48
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Anthony Tucker made seven 3-pointers to lead Iowa past The Citadel 75-48 on Thursday night.
Tucker scored a game-high 21 points, including 7 of 11 from behind the arc to pace a strong 3-point shooting night by the Hawkeyes. Iowa (3-0) shot 52 percent from 3-point range (13 of 25), which accounted for more than half of its points. The Hawkeyes scored 39 points via the 3-pointer compared to 31 from field goals and free throws. Matt Gatens added 13 points and Jeff Peterson scored 12 for Iowa.
The Bulldogs (1-2) were led by Cameron Wells who scored 21 points, along with Demetrius Nelson with 11 points.
Iowa's defense limited the Bulldogs from moving the ball throughout the game, as The Citadel tallied just five assists.
College of Charleston 93, Charleston Southern 83
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Andrew Goudelock scored a team-high 20 points to lead the College of Charleston's men's basketball squad to a 93-83 victory over cross-town rival Charleston Southern on Thursday night. The game was played at the North Charleston Coliseum.
In the first half, both teams traded buckets back and forth up the floor through the first five minutes, as Dustin Scott's layup at the 15:10 mark gave the Cougars an early 11-9 lead. For the next five minutes, both teams would keep the offensive pace up, as the game stood at 26-20 in favor of the Cougars at the 10:08 mark.
It was from there that the Cougars would begin to control the rest of the half, as the team went on a 19-12 run. The run was capped by a Donovan Monroe basket with 1:30 left on the clock off a Goudelock steal that made the score 42-31, which was in turn led to a Matt Sundberg three-pointer that gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the night at 45-31.
Charleston Southern ended the period scoring the final three points, as the Cougars held a 45-34 lead going into the locker room. Wiggins was CofC's leading scorer at the break, as he tallied 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.
In the second half, the Cougars continued to control the game, as they eventually opened up a 71-55 lead with nine minutes remaining after a Monroe lay-in. The closest the Buccaneers came to the Cougar lead the rest of the night was 10 points, as the Cougars controlled the game for its remainder.
The Cougars ended the night five players registering double-digit scoring games. Antwaine Wiggins matched a career-high with 17 points and Scott tallied 16 points. Scott also set a career-high with six free-throws made on the night.
Other double digit point scorers on the night for the Cougars included Tony White Jr. who registered 12 points, while Monroe added 10.
Also, the 90 point performance by the Cougars marks the first time since Nov. 19, 1997 in which the team cracked the 90 point barrier against Charleston Southern.
The Cougars, now 3-1 on the year, return to action on Monday, Nov. 24th when they hit the road to face South Carolina State. The game tips-off at 7:30 p.m.
Samford 73, Campbellsville 54
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- For the third-consecutive game, the Samford University basketball team shot at least 50 percent from the field Thursday as the Bulldogs streaked to a 73-54 victory against the Campbellsville Tigers at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford turned in a season-high 56.3 shooting percentage in the win.
Samford (2-1) is shooting 52.7 percent from the field this year, including a staggering 53.6 percent when playing at home in the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs are also shooting at a 47.1 percent (24-of-51) mark from beyond the arc at home.
With Thursday’s win, Samford extended its winning streak to two games. On Monday, the Bulldogs breezed to a 72-52 victory against Spring Hill College.
Samford knocked down 10-of-19 three-point attempts for a season-record 52.6 percent versus Campbellsville (1-2) on Monday. The loss was Campbellsville’s worst of the 2008-09 regular season.
Samford finished Thursday’s game with four players scoring in double figures. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore center Andy King’s 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-8 native of Omaha, Neb., also knocked down three 3-point baskets and handed out two assists.
Guards Trey Montgomery and Josh Davis both finished with 13 points apiece, while sophomore sharpshooter Josh Bedwell tallied 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the floor.
Montgomery, Samford’s 6-foot-4 point guard from Destrehan, La., finished one rebound shy of a double-double Monday as he finished the game with 13 points, nine boards, four assists and a steal. He also shot 5-of-7 from the field and knocked down his only 3-point attempt of the night.
Davis paced the Bulldogs with 11 of his 13 points in the first half. Samford’s 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Lubbock, Texas, was a near-perfect 5-of-6 from the field and an unblemished 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
Davis has been the Bulldogs’ top shooter this season with an 80-percent (12-of-15) mark from the floor and a 77.8-percent (7-of-9) tally from beyond the arc.
Early in the first half of play, Samford’s Bedwell scored four-straight points to give the Bulldogs a 20-10 lead with 11:49 remaining in the period. Samford then went on to take its largest advantage of the opening half into the intermission at 39-22.
Davis led the Bulldogs with 11 first-half points, while Campbellsville was paced by nine points from guard Aaron Wyatt.
Midway through the second half, Samford took its largest lead of the game following a pair of free throws from Bedwell. With 11:19 in the non-conference matchup, the Bulldogs earned a decisive 59-33 advantage and never led by any fewer than 17 points (64-47) until finishing with the 73-54 victory.
Campbellsville’s Wyatt registered a team-high 11 points, but was limited to two in the second half of play. The Tigers’ leading scorer Zach Allender was also held to 12 points below his season average.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs conclude their early-season, three-game homestand against the Lipscomb Bisons in a non-conference matchup to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
Western Carolina 120, Toccoa Falls 62
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina put seven players in double figures, led by a 21-point performance by junior G Brandon Giles as the Catamounts cruised in the second half to a 120-62 victory over Toccoa Falls Thursday night in the home opener at the Ramsey Center.
The Catamounts remained perfect in the fifth all-time meeting with the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) member, eclipsing the century mark for the fourth-time in its 58-point victory.
Giles, who tallied 14 of his game-high 21 points after intermission, finished with more points than minutes played (20), scoring his 19th point of the night on a thundering fast-break dunk just moments before being called to the sideline with his night being through. The Auburndale, Fla., native has scored in double-digits in 20-straight games dating back to last season, reaching 20-points for the 10th time in his WCU career.
Red-shirt freshman Harouna Mutombo scored a career-high 14 points in the win on 6-of-9 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, while junior Adrian Gailliard was 6-of-8 from the field, muscling his way to a career-best 14 points. Classmate Jake Robinson chipped in a dozen points to stretch his current double-digit streak to six, and was just one board shy of a career-high, pulling down a team-high tying eight rebounds. Sophomore Blake Gallagher also finished with eight rebounds and seven points off the bench.
Rounding out WCU's double-digit scorers were junior Brigham Waginger and freshman Greg Avery each with 11, with sophomore Richie Gordon finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds in his first start of the season. Waginger also dished out six assists while Avery handed out five helpers with five steals in the win.
Western (1-1) trailed by two points on three separate occasions in the opening three minutes of the game, but managed to pull out to a double-digit lead on a Waginger lay-up at midway mark of the first half before building a 20-point, 50-30, halftime advantage.
After trading buckets out of the halftime locker room, Western Carolina outscored Toccoa Falls 28-to-13, including an 11-3 spurt, over a seven-minute span to push the lead to 35 points, 81-46, on the Giles slam. The cushion ballooned over 40 points with a Robinson triple with 7:44 to play in regulation, with the Catamounts spilling over the 100-point plateau on an Avery free throw with five and a half to play.
WCU scored over 60-percent of its points in the paint on the new court in the Ramsey Center as the Catamounts held a commanding 76-to-20 edge in inside scoring. The Catamounts also capitalized on 26 Eagle turnovers, translating it into 29 points and 22 on the fast-break.
For the game, WCU shot 54-percent from the floor, including 64.6 in the second half while limiting Toccoa Falls to 34.5 for the evening with only nine made field goals after halftime. The taller Catamounts also held a 62-to-32 edge in rebounds including 24 offensive boards in the win.
Western Carolina returns to action next Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 27-29, at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska. The Catamounts face San Diego State (1-1), who faces Fresno State on Saturday before embarking on the Alaskan trek.
WCU's first game at the Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 27) will be aired by WLOS-TV 13 in Asheville LIVE at 11:30 pm ET.