College of Charleston 100, UNC Wilmington 80
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Sophomore guard Andrew Goudelock scored a game-high 24 points to lead the College of Charleston men’s basketball squad to a dominating 100-80 win over UNC Wilmington before 2,732 at the Carolina First Arena on Friday.
With the win, Charleston improved to 9-1 on the season to equal their best start since the 2003-04 season. The Cougars also scored at or over 100 points in a game since Feb. 15th, 2003 when the team knocked off Appalachian State 108-96 (a span of 173 games)
In the first half, Charleston opened up a 12-8 lead in the first four minutes of play after Tony White Jr. nailed a three. The Cougars eventually opened their lead up to 22-14 at the 11 minute mark after Antwaine Wiggins made a three-pointer and Jermaine Johnson knocked down a jumper in consecutive trips down the floor.
UNC Wilmington then went on a run of their own and eventually knotted the score up at 29 a piece at the seven-minute mark.
It was from there that Charleston went on a 16-3 run to end the half, making the score 45-32 in favor of the Cougars going into the intermission. Dustin Scott led all Charleston scorers in the half with nine points.
In the second half, the Cougars took control from the start, as the team came out of the half and went on a 6-0 run to increase their lead to 58-41. The closest UNC Wilmington came the rest of the night to the Charleston lead was 11, as the Cougars controlled the tempo for the rest of the contest.
At the end of the night, Goudelock registered the 24-point performance on 9-15 shooting from the field, 6-10 from three-point range. Other top scorers on the night for the Cougars included Johnson, who registered his fourth double-double in the last five games with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson also pulled down a career-high 10 offenseive rebounds in the win.
White added 14 points, while Scott finished with 13. Jeremy Simmons rounded out the Charleston double-digit scorers on the night with 11. Jerel Stephenson was the top scorer for UNC Wilmington with 22 points.
The Cougars return to action on Monday, Dec. 22nd when they hit the road to take on in-state rival Winthrop. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Elon 81, Lees-McRae 52
ELON, N.C. ? Ola Atoyebi recorded a double-double performance with a game-high and season-high 21 points and a contest-best and season-best 10 rebounds and Brett James earned his 1,000th career point as Elon dispatched Lees-McRae for an 81-52 nonconference men’s basketball victory Friday night at Alumni Gym.
Atoyebi connected on seven of his 10 shots from the field and seven of his nine attempts from the free throw line as the Phoenix (3-4) emerged victorious for the second consecutive contest. James became the 32nd Elon men’s basketball player to join the 1,000-point club on a free throw that gave the Phoenix a 17-15 edge with 12:55 to go. He entered the contest needing just five points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Also tallying a career-high and contest-best four blocked shots, Atoyebi notched his fifth career performance of 20 or more points ? second in a row ? and sixth career outing of 10 or more rebounds. His double-double marked his first of the season and the fourth of his career.
James ended up with 16 points while Devan Carter scored a career-high 12 points and Chris Long added 11 markers for the Phoenix. T.J. Douglas swiped a career-high five steals and Carter grabbed a career-best four steals as Elon amassed 17 steals, its first performance of 15 or more steals since tallying 15 at Buffalo on Dec. 7, 2004. James and Long snatched three steals each and Josh Bonney dished out a game-high five assists for the Phoenix.
Kyle Boardman came away with 11 points and six rebounds to lead the Bobcats (0-11). Aaron Woodacre put up 10 points, ReShon Benjamin pulled down six boards and Nick DeSchepper registered three steals for Lee-McRae.
Atoyebi sank a pair of free throws to give Elon the lead for good at 10-9 with 16:35 to play in the first half. The Phoenix scored six of the game’s next 10 points to go up 16-13 on a layup by Long with 13:29 to go in the opening stanza. Boardman’s put-back pulled the Bobcats to within 16-15, but James canned a charity shot for his 1,000th point and ignite a 13-3 surge as Elon extended its edge to 29-18 on a freebie by Atoyebi with 7:02 left in the first period.
Lees-McRae responded by going on a 12-8 spurt to inch to within 37-30 on a three-point field goal by DeSchepper with 1:53 remaining before the break. The Phoenix answered with a 21-4 run to fattened the difference to 58-34 on Terrance Birdette’s basket with 14:40 left in the contest.
The Bobcats made one final run with a 16-8 spurt to draw to within 66-50 on an old-fashioned three-point-play by Woodacre at the 9:23 mark. Elon went on to close the game out with a 15-2 surge, capped by Monty Sanders’ jumper with 1:43 left.
The Phoenix outscored Lees-McRae 46-24 in the paint, 26-7 off turnovers, 17-14 off second chances and 24-2 off fast breaks. The Bobcats’ bench outscored the Elon bench 20-18 and won the battle of the boards 42-41. The Phoenix forced 24 turnovers while committing 13.
Elon shot 52.3 percent (34 of 65) from the field ? 16.7 percent (2 of 12) from three-point range ? and 50 percent (11 of 22) from the charity stripe. Lees-McRae fired 28.6 percent (18 of 63) from the floor ? 31.3 percent (5 of 16) from downtown ? and 78.6 percent (11 of 14) from the free throw line.
No. 23 Marquette 94, Western Carolina 77
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) -- If Lazar Hayward keeps this up, Marquette's reputation as a guard-oriented team might suddenly be up for debate.
Hayward scored a career-high 27 points and the 24th-ranked Golden Eagles (9-2) beat Western Carolina 94-77 Friday night. The junior forward is Marquette's leading rebounder, but often has taken a back seat to the Golden Eagles' guards in terms of scoring -- until recently.
McNeal scored 19 and Matthews added 18 for Marquette, which made a strong recovery from its loss at Tennessee on Tuesday night.
But Friday's victory, which came in front of a sparse crowd after a winter storm dumped 10-plus inches of snow on the Milwaukee area, might not be enough to keep the Golden Eagles from falling out of the Top 25.
Brandon Giles scored 17 to lead Western Carolina, which has lost two straight.
After a basket by Western Carolina's Harouna Mutombo, Hayward hit another 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up by 20 points with 6:45 left in the first half. Then Hayward provided the assist as Patrick Hazel scored on Marquette's next possession.
Hayward is coming off big games in Marquette's recent victories over in-state rival Wisconsin and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne. He also had 14 points and seven rebounds in the loss at Tennessee.
Another plus: Marquette, a team that shoots a lot of free throws but doesn't always make them, shot 78.1 percent from the line Friday.
But it wasn't all smiles afterward for Williams, who said he wasn't happy with his team's letup in the second half and offered harsh assessments of freshman center Chris Otule and sophomore forward Joseph Fulce.