Saint Louis 70, Samford 49
ST. LOUIS, Mo. --- The Samford University basketball team fell to 0-4 on the road this season Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped a 70-49 non-conference matchup against the Saint Louis Billikens at Chaifetz Arena. In the defeat, Samford was limited to a 1-for-14 performance from 3-point range.
Samford (3-4) completed its three-game road swing Saturday and will return home to the Pete Hanna Center on Thursday for a 7 p.m., matchup against Louisiana Tech. The game will be the Bulldogs’ first at home since Nov. 24.
So far this season, Samford owns a perfect 3-0 record when playing in Birmingham, Ala.
The Bulldogs continued their struggles from beyond the arc Saturday as they finished the game with a season-low 7.1 shooting percentage from three-point range. Samford’s 1-for-14 performance from downtown marked the first time since Feb. 8, 1992 that the Bulldogs were held to only one 3-point field goal, breaking a streak of 476-straight games with at least two 3-pointers.
Conversely, Saint Louis (4-4) turned in its best shooting performance of the season Saturday. The Billikens shot 55.3 percent from the field and knocked down nine 3-point baskets, six of which came in the first half.
Saint Louis finished with three players scoring in double figures and was paced offensively by Tommie Liddell III’s 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The Billikens’ senior guard from East St. Louis, Mo., also knocked down 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc.
With the win, Saint Louis continued its stellar play at home and improved to 4-1 in the inaugural season of the $81-million Chaifetz Arena.
Samford’s Bryan Friday led the team with 17 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs’ junior also grabbed three rebounds and knocked down a career-high nine free throws. Friday finished 9-of-11 from the charity stripe as Samford turned in a season-high 85.7 shooting percentage from the line.
The Bulldogs’ performance Saturday was a stark contrast from their season-low 11.1 percentage mark from the charity stripe in their previous game against Georgia Southern on Dec. 6.
Samford’s Trey Montgomery added 11 points and a team-high four rebounds. The Bulldogs’ 6-foot-4 high-flyer from Destrehan, La., is the team’s leading rebounder and has paced Samford in rebounds in each of the previous five games.
Montgomery was 5-for-8 from the floor and scored on a number of driving layups down the lane.
Despite trailing by as many as 16 points (21-5) in the first half, Samford rallied late in the opening period to trim Saint Louis’ advantage to 32-23 at the intermission.
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Friday’s 10 first-half points. Samford’s 6-foot-6 forward was only 2-for-7 from the field in the opening half, but knocked down 6-of-7 attempts from the free-throw line. Montgomery added five points in the first half for the Bulldogs and grabbed a team-high four rebounds.
Saint Louis was buoyed in the first half by six 3-points baskets. The Billikens shot 44 percent from the field in the opening period and six of their opening eight field goals came from beyond the arc. Saint Louis was led in scoring by 14 first-half points from Liddell III who was 5-for-8 from the floor in the period.
In the second half of play, Saint Louis scored the first two buckets of the half and jumped out to a quick 45-25 lead with 15:46 left to play. The Billikens opened the period with a 14-2 run and used that momentum to hold off the Bulldogs’ late charge.
Saint Louis led by as many as 22 points early in the second period, but Samford rallied to trim the lead to 57-43 at the 7:44 point in the game. Then, after a missed 3-pointer from Montgomery, the Billikens’ Willie Reed scored four-straight points to extend the lead back to 18 points and Saint Louis scored 13 of the final 19 points of the contest.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs play host to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in a non-conference matchup to be held in the Pete Hanna Center.
North Dakota State 98, Georgia Southern 77
DES MOINES, Iowa --- North Dakota State’s Ben Woodside scored a game-high 31 points to lead the Bison to a 98-77 victory over Georgia Southern Saturday night in the consolation game of the Hy-Vee Classic at the Drake Knapp Center.
The Bison improve to 5-3 while the Eagles fall to 3-5.
NDSU never trailed in the contest and took control with a 10-0 run midway through the first half, expanding a five-point lead into a 15-point cushion. GSU managed to cut the deficit to single-digits at 38-29 but eight unanswered extended the advantage back up to 17 and the Bison took a 55-39 lead into the break.
The 55 points in the first half are the most Georgia Southern has allowed in the opening 20 minutes all season.
The Eagles attempted to get back in the game with a 7-1 burst to get to within 11 at the 10:54 mark, but the Bison answered with an 11-0 spurt to put the game beyond doubt.
North Dakota State dominated the glass, outrebounding Georgia Southern 42-26 overall, and narrowly losing the battle 16-14 on NDSU’s offensive end.
Woodside, who made national headlines Friday night with a 60-point effort against Stephen F. Austin, notched a double-double with 10 assists. He converted 11 of 12 at the free throw line and went 4-for-6 from behind the arc.
GSU sophomore Willie Powers tied his career high with 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting and was named to the all-tournament team. Senior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) added a season-best 19 points and nine rebounds.
GSU returns to action Monday, Dec. 22 at Florida.
East Carolina 97, UNC Greensboro 53
GREENVILLE, N.C. ? East Carolina made 14 of its first 16 field goal attempts in the second half to blow the game open on its way to a 97-53 win over UNC Greensboro in men’s basketball action at Mingles Coliseum on Saturday night.
The Pirates outscored the Spartans 33-7 over a 10-minute span of the second half to turn a nine-point halftime lead into a comfortable margin.
Montel Smith, returning to his hometown of Greenville, had 11 points to lead UNCG (1-6). He was the only Spartan in double figures. Mikko Koivisto and Pete Brown each added nine points. Ben Stywall had 10 rebounds for the third consecutive game.
Koivisto now has a three-pointer in 31 straight games, the third-longest active streak in the nation. He is tied with American’s Garrison Carr and Chris Harris of Navy at 31 straight. Ryan Toolson of Utah Valley State had the longest streak with 54 straight entering his game late Saturday night.
Koivsito’s streak is also the second longest in school history behind Scott Hartzell’s 42 straight in the early 1990s.
East Carolina, which won its fifth straight game for the first time since 2003, had all five starters score in double figures. Sam Hinnant led the way with 18 points, while Brock Young had 12 points and 12 assists. Young entered the game second in the nation in assists at 8.2 per game. He tied his career-high set 10 days earlier against UNC Wilmington.
In all, seven Pirates scored in double figures as they moved to 8-1 on the season, just the third 8-1 start for the program in the last 20 seasons.
If the Spartans had any hangover from the start of the final exam period, it didn’t show coming out of the gate. UNCG took it right at the Pirates at the outset, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. After a great look by Daniel Oliver to find Ben Stywall in transition, UNCG had a 10-6 lead 3:46 into the game and Pirate coach Mack McCarthy was calling an early timeout.
But the Pirates scored 12 straight to gain control midway through the half, 22-15. A trey in transition by Jontae Sherrod gave the Pirates their first double-digit lead of the night, 29-17, with 8:46 to play. East Carolina missed four of its first five field goal attempts of the game, but then hit
eight of its next 13 to recover and open up a comfortable margin.
UNCG chipped away at the deficit, though. A nice feed from Kendall Toney to Pete Brown down low cut it to 33-27 with four minutes left before the break. The Pirates managed to take a nine-point lead to the locker room, however, 41-32.
The Pirates came out of the locker room red hot, however. East Carolina made nine of their first 11 from the floor in the second half to extend the lead to 23, and then made five in a row. Things continued to snowball for UNCG as the Spartans went nine minutes without a field goal before Elhanan Bone’s dunk with just under six minutes to play.
East Carolina finished the game with 15 three-pointers, nine of them coming in the second half when they outscored the Spartans, 56-21.
The Spartans return to action at the conclusion of exams, hitting the road to face Kent State on Thursday night. Game time is set for 7 pm.
East Tennessee State 89, Appalachian State 70
BOONE, N.C. - Despite 13 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots by Isaac Butts, Appalachian State University men's basketball dropped a 89-70 decision to local rival East Tennessee State on Saturday evening at the Holmes Center.
Appalachian (4-3) held a 37-35 halftime advantage, but ETSU (6-3) opened the second period with a 15-5 run and led the rest of the way for its second-straight win over the Mountaineers.
Butts' double-double was his fourth in a row and sixth of the season. ETSU's Kevin Tiggs led all scorers with a career-high 31 points, 10 of them coming at the free-throw line. Tiggs combined with Courtney Pigram (29) and Mike Smith (18) to score 78 of the Bucs' 89 points
Ryann Abraham led ASU in scoring with 15 points, a season-high for the junior while Eduardo Bermudez had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Turnovers ultimately doomed the Apps as 21 miscues, 12 in the second half, became 29 points for ETSU as the Bucs connected on 44.6 percent of their shots from the floor and 88.5 percent of their 26 free throws.
ASU trailed early, falling behind by seven, 19-12, in the first eight minutes of action before an 9-0 Mountaineer run keyed by back-to-back three-pointers from Jeremi Booth gave ASU a three-point, 23-20, lead with with 7:27 left in the half. The Apps extended their lead to as many as six, twice, before settling for the 37-35 halftime lead.
The Bucs wasted little time after the break, needing just 1:30 to pull off a seven-point swing to lead 42-37 as the Apps coughed up the ball on two of their first three possessions of the half. Less than a minute later, ASU tied the game at 42-42 on an Abraham three-pointer, but eight-straight points from ETSU stretched the lead back out and ASU only pulled within one possession once in the final 16 minutes as the Bucs cruised to the 19-point victory.
ASU will have a week to recover from the loss before traveling to the Bluegrass State next Saturday to face Kentucky at noon. The game, staged in Louisville's Freedom Hall will be broadcast across the Southeast on FSN South.
No. 22/23 Davidson 100, Chattanooga 95
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Behind 41 points from Stephen Curry, Davidson held off a late comeback attempt by the Chattanooga Mocs to open their Southern Conference schedule with a 100-95 win Saturday night at John M. Belk Arena.
Davidson took its largest lead of the game, 92-78, with 2:21 remaining, before Chattanooga went on a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to five with 30 seconds left.
A pair of back-to-back 3-pointers by the Mocs brought the score to within two at 97-95 with 27 seconds left in the game. Curry then hit one-of-two free throws at the other end to push the Davidson lead back to three with 19 seconds on the clock.
After a Davidson time out, Chattanooga brought the ball down looking for the tie, but was unable to connect on a long 3-point attempt by Stephen McDowell. Steve Rossiter gathered the rebound, and Curry knocked down a pair of free throws on the other end to seal the win.
Curry led all players in scoring, topping the 40-point mark for the second time in his last three games, connecting on five 3-pointers and hitting 14-of-18 free throws. Will Archambault had a season-high 20 points off the bench for the Wildcats, hitting 8-of-10 from the field. Andrew Lovedale recorded a career high by pulling down 18 rebounds, including 14 in the first half.
Chattanooga opened the game with an 18-8 lead over the first eight minutes of action, which was fueled by the Mocs shooting 45 percent from the floor, compared to Davidson's 15 percent.
Davidson took its first lead at the 6:56 mark of the first half, when Max Paulhus Gosselin brought down an offensive rebound, then kicked it out to a wide open Curry, who connected on a 3-pointer to put Davidson up, 26-25.
Trailing 44-40 at the break, Davidson scored eight unanswered points over the first three minutes of the second half to take back the lead, 48-44, punctuated by a Curry three pointer following an offensive rebound by Rossiter.
Both teams went back-and-forth throughout the second half, with each side finding an answer to any attempt at a scoring run by the opposition. Neither team opened up a lead larger than eight until Curry knocked down a step-back three with 3:45 remaining to give Davidson their first double-digit lead, 88-76, and complete a 13-5 run by the Wildcats.
McDowell, finished with a team-high 31 points, including six three pointers to lead all players from behind the arc. The Mocs had four players with double-digit scoring efforts, with Kevin Goffney adding 15, Keyron Sheard 13 and Ty Patterson with 11.