College of Charleston 77, Winthrop 76
Rock Hill, S.C. -- Antwaine Wiggins' short jumper in the lane with 24 seconds left lifted the College of Charleston to a thrilling 77-76 win over Winthrop in men's college basketball action before 2,262 at Winthrop Coliseum on Monday.
Charleston, which improved to 10-1 on the season, is off to its best start since the 2001-02 season. Winthrop fell to 1-9. The game was tied five times and there were 19 lead changes.
Wiggins' putback followed a miss by Andrew Goudelock with 28 seconds left. Winthrop's Mantoris Robinson's 3-pointer from the left baseline with two seconds left was off the mark giving Charleston its ninth straight win.
Goudelock finished with 21 points, while Wiggins had 16. Charles Corbin led the Eagles with a career-high 22 points.
The Cougars play host to Southern Conference foe Davidson in a 9:00 p.m. start on Monday, Dec. 29. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Alabama 82, Chattanooga 63
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --- In the final game of its four-game road swing, the Chattanooga men’s basketball team fell to Alabama 82-63 Monday night. The loss drops UTC to 2-8 on the season while Alabama improves to 7-3.
Stephen McDowell led the Mocs in the contest with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting. The senior also tied a career-high in assists with four and a season-high in steals with two.
Nicchaeus Doaks also scored in double-digits for the Mocs with 13. Doaks has now scored in double figures eight times this season. Chris Early, in the best game of his short career, had a season-best 13 points while going 5-of-12 from the field.
For Alabama, Alonzo Gee led all scorers with 20 points as the Crimson Tide had five players score in double figures.
The story of the game came down the Tide’s hot shooting as Alabama shot 50.7 percent from the field in the to only 38.7 percent for UTC. A majority of the Mocs’ struggles came from behind the three-point line as Chattanooga went only 8-for-30 from three for only 26.7 percent. From the charity stripe the Mocs were held to a season-low 10 attempts as the team went 7-of-10 from behind the free throw line.
In addition to stifling the Mocs shooting, the Crimson Tide defense forced 15 Mocs’ turnovers and had seven steals.
In the opening half the Mocs’ shooting troubles were the story as UTC was only 9-of-28 from the field (32.1 percent), while Alabama shot 48.6 percent, as the Tide went into the half up 38-23. Chattanooga struggles from behind the three-point line aided in the Alabama lead, going only 5-of-19 from beyond the arc for 26.3 percent.
In the second half, the Crimson Tide picked up right where it left off, jumping out on a 7-0 run to extend the Alabama lead to 45-24. Justin Knox and Brandon Hollinger each had 10 points in the half as the two went a combined 9-of-14 from the field.
The Mocs will now get a few days of rest before the team returns to court on Monday, Dec. 29 to play Tennessee Wesleyan in the first day of the Dr. Pepper Classic. Tip off is schedule for 8 p.m. from McKenzie Arena.
Florida 88, Georgia Southern 81
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida’s Nick Calathes scored a game-high 21 points and hit key shots at the end of each half to lead the Gators to a narrow 88-81 win over Georgia Southern Monday night at the O’Connell Center.
UF goes to 9-2 on the season while GSU drops to 3-6. The Eagles won’t play again until Jan. 3 when they open Southern Conference play at home against Chattanooga.
Georgia Southern rallied from a 19-point deficit early in the second half and closed to within three with 39 seconds left but Calathes drained a ?3’ with six ticks remaining, effectively putting the game out of reach.
The Eagles had five players in double-figures, led by junior Antonio Hanson’s 16. Senior Julian Allen had 14 and a team-best seven rebounds and sophomore Willie Powers, playing in his hometown, added 12.
Florida never trailed in the first half and took advantage of a GSU scoring drought of over 4 ? minutes to take a 16-point lead. Calathes beat the halftime buzzer with a triple to put the Gators up 48-33.
UF shot 60 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and scored 11 second-chance points.
A three-point play by Perry with 39 seconds remaining narrowed the deficit to three, 83-80, the closest margin since the 16:06 mark of the first half. But Calathes’ 21st and final point came with just seconds left on the shot clock, a 3-pointer to the right of the top of the key to give Florida an insurmountable lead.
Elon 79, Lipscomb 76 (OT)
ELON, N.C. ? Brett James poured in a career-high and contest-best 28 points to propel Elon to a 79-76 overtime triumph over Lipscomb in a nonconference men’s basketball game ? and the first-ever meeting between the two teams ? Monday night at Alumni Gym. Along the way, James notched his 1,039th career point to pass five players and seize the 27th position among the Phoenix’s all-time leading scorers.
In a game that featured four ties and nine lead changes, Elon (4-4) built an early 16-9 lead on a Josh Bonney free throw with 11:41 left to play in the opening period. The Phoenix maintained a five-to-seven-point advantage over the next 5:27, leading to a 24-17 edge following a dunk by James with 6:14 remaining before the intermission.
The Bison (4-6) reeled off eight consecutive points to pull ahead 25-24 on a three-point field goal by Josh Slater with 4:07 left in the first stanza. Elon answered with a 15-6 run to close the period with a 37-31 halftime lead ? following a trey by James as time expired ? and then go up 39-31 on a pair of charity shots by James just 12 seconds into the second frame.
Lipscomb scored five of the contest’s next seven points to inch to within 41-36 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Michael Teller with 18:29 remaining in regulation. The Phoenix responded with a 7-1 spurt to stretch the difference to 48-37 on a layup by Devan Carter at the 16:16 mark of the second stanza.
The Bison rallied back, using a 20-8 surge to claim a 57-56 advantage on a three-pointer by Michael Lusk with 7:27 to go. Elon replied with an 11-5 run to fashion a 67-62 lead on a pair of freebies by Carter with 4:01 left. Lipscomb then scored the game’s next five points ? on a pair of charity shots by Lusk and an old-fashioned three-point play by Adnan Hodzic ? to even the score at 67-67 with 3:15 to play.
A pair of free throws by James gave the Phoenix a 69-67 edge with 2:59 remaining, but Brandon Brown knocked down a shot in the paint for the Bison to tie the game again at 69-69 with 1:18 left. Hodzic converted another old-fashioned three-point play to give Lipscomb a 72-69 edge with 40 ticks to go, but Elon’s Chris Long drained a three-point bucket with 19 seconds left to send the contest into overtime.
T.J. Douglas awarded the Phoenix the lead for good with a pair of free throws ? on his first visit to the charity stripe all season despite playing in all eight of Elon’s games ? at 74-72 with 1:25 to play in the extra frame. Carter stretched the Phoenix lead to 75-72 on a free throw with 1:06 remaining, but Hodzic scored down low as the Bison drew to within 75-74 with 47 seconds to go.
James canned a three-point bomb ? his fourth of the night and 100th of his career ? to extend the Elon edge to 78-74 with 20 seconds remaining. James became the Phoenix’s seventh all-time leader in career three-point field goals made with his performance against Lipscomb. Teller sank a pair of freebies to bring the Bison to within 78-76 with 11 seconds left, but Lipscomb would inch no closer the rest of the way. Long’s free throw less than a second later would go on to determine the final margin.
Ola Atoyebi (15 points), Carter (season-high 13 points), James (eight rebounds, game-high two blocked shots) and Long (game-high and career-best 10 assists) all turned in key performances for the Phoenix while Hodzic (25 points, eight rebounds), Lusk (14 points, five assists), Brown (13 points, six rebounds) and Teller (11 points, game-high three steals) led the Bison.
Elon earned edges in the rebounding department (34-31), assists (18-14), steals (9-7), turnovers (13-15), points off turnovers (19-16), second chance points (10-9) and bench points (14-7). The Phoenix fired 49.2 percent (29 of 59) from the field ? 43.8 percent (7 of 16) from three-point range ? and 70.0 percent (14 of 20) from the line. Lipscomb hit 46.6 percent (27 of 58) of its shots from the floor ? 31.8 percent (7 of 22) from long distance ? and 88.2 percent (15 of 17) from the stripe.
Vanderbilt 68, Furman 49
Greenville, S.C. -- A.J. Ogilvy tallied a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds as Vanderbilt pulled away from Furman in the second half to claim a 68-49 victory over the Paladins on Monday evening at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn.
The win improved the Commodores to 9-3 on the season. Furman, with its eighth straight defeat dropped to 1-8.
Leading 44-35 with under 11 minutes remaining in the game, the Commodores exploded for a decisive 17-3 run on the strength of six points from Ogilvy to open up a 61-38 lead with six minutes left on its way to a 19-point victory.
After Vanderbilt buried two free throws before the opening tip-off due to a technical foul against Furman, the Paladins held the Commodores scoreless for over four minutes while taking a 4-2 lead. Vanderbilt answered by holding Furman scoreless for over six minutes while putting
together a 12-0 run to take a 15-4 lead it would not relinquish.
Ogilvy, a former teammate of Furman’s Alex Opacic at the Australian Institute of Sport, connected on 6-of-8 field goal attempts and 10-of-13 trips to the line to notch his fourth 20-plus point effort of the season. Beal made good on 5-of-6 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, as Vanderbilt shot 46 percent as a team. The Commodores, who committed a season-low six turnovers, also converted on 19-of-27 chances at the charity stripe.
Sophomore Jordan Miller led the Paladins with 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Furman shot only 35 percent (18-51) from the field, including 6-of-19 from beyond the arc. Freshman Chris Toler, making his first career start, grabbed a career-best six rebounds to lead Furman on the glass. The Paladins were guilty of just eight turnovers in the loss.
Furman will take a short break before hosting NAIA member Berry College at Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena on December 29.