No. 22/24 Davidson 72, NC State 67
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Stephen Curry tied his career-high with 44 points as Davidson defeated NC State, 72-67 Saturday afternoon at Time Warner Arena. With 1:21 to play, Curry hit a 30-foot shot with the shot clock winding down, which gave the Wildcats a 70-66 advantage .
After being held scoreless for the first time his career 11 days ago thanks to a bizarre double-team strategy by Loyola (Md.) coach Jimmy Patsos, Curry scored Davidson's final 10 points in his fourth game of 40 or more points in his career.
Andrew Lovedale added 12 points and nine rebounds as Davidson (6-1) beat its Atlantic Coast Conference neighbor for only the second time in the past 38 meetings.
Brandon Costner had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Ben McCauley added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack (4-1). Courtney Fells, who injured his shoulder, was held to four points, and the Wolfpack couldn't overcome the dynamic Curry despite a big advantage in the paint.
NC State’s Trevor Ferguson drove in for a layup during the first half when Max Paulhus Gosselin came in from behind and swiped his arm against Ferguson's neck. Ferguson crashed to the floor back-first, and his head slammed against the court.
Referee Jamie Luckie immediately ejected Paulhus Gosselin, leaving Davidson without a veteran starter. Ferguson left the game, but returned 2 minutes later. His 3-pointer with 4:11 left tied the game at 62.
Curry then took over, outscoring N.C. State himself 10-5 the rest of the way as James -- and N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe -- looked on in amazement.
"He's not just a shooter. He's a basketball player," Lowe said. "That makes it tough when you have someone who can shoot the ball the way he does. But at the same time, if you try to take things away from him, he's clever enough and smart enough to go to something else."
Unlike Loyola's strategy of constantly double-teaming Curry and leaving Davidson with a 4-on-3 advantage on the rest of the court, Lowe tried a variety of defenders.
Hardly anything worked. Save for a stretch where Curry missed seven of eight shots midway through the game, the skinny guard overcame suspect shooting from 3-point range (4-for-14) by hitting a variety of mid-range jumpers and running bank shots. Curry finished 15-of-33 from the field and 10-of-13 at the line.
College of Charleston 77, UNC Greensboro 62
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? College of Charleston shot 55 percent from the floor and had four players in double-figures to off-set a game-high 17 points by Mikko Koivisto and defeat UNC Greensboro, 77-62, in Southern Conference men’s basketball action at Fleming Gym on Saturday afternoon.
College of Charleston held UNCG to just two field goals in a nearly 10-minute span in the second half to erase a four-point deficit and get control, 66-51, with 8:02 to play. The Spartans committed nine turnovers during the drought after turning it over just four times in the first half.
Jermaine Johnson and Antwaine Wiggins each had 12 points to lead the Cougars (7-1, 2-0 SoCon). Andrew Goudelock chipped in with 11 points and Jeremy Simmons added 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting
College of Charleston outscored UNCG 41-22 in the second half to erase a four-point UNCG lead at the break. The Spartans made just 6-of-22 from the floor in the final 17 minutes of the contest. UNCG was shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor to that point.
Ben Stywall had his second double-double of the season and the fifth of his career with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans (1-5, 0-2), who lost their fourth straight.
“We played really hard in the first half,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “I think maybe the pace was a little too quick for us, though. We lost our concentration I think. We said one of those coaches’ clich?s at the half that it’s a 40-minute game. I thought our point guards played well in the first half. Then they threw the 1-2-2 at us, we panicked on that a little bit. We’d seen a number of times in games and I am not sure why we did that. A couple of flurries and then we were down.”
The game was uptempo right from the outset, with a low number of turnovers to begin with. Nearly 12 minutes into the game, each team had just two turnovers and the score was knotted at 22-22. For the half, the teams only combined for seven as UNCG took a 40-36 lead to the locker room. The Cougars hurt their cause with 2-for-13 shooting from behind the three-point arc and 0-for-7 from the charity stripe.
Neither team had a lead of more than six in the opening half, but a 10-2 run by the Spartans late in the half gave them the lead at the break.
A 10-0 run by the Cougars, holding the Spartans scoreless for 4:30, gave the Cougars a six-point advantage with 13 minutes to play, 51-45. Koivisto ended the drought with his fifth trey of the day.
The Spartans committed nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Cougars opened up the first double-digit lead of the day at 62-51.
The Cougars wound up 0-for-11 from the free throw line and 5-of-22 from three-point range. But the Cougars were 31-for-43 from 2-point range to earn their sixth-straight victory.
UNCG takes the week off to begin exams. The Spartans return to action next Saturday when they visit East Carolina for a 7 pm tip. That game will be shown on tape delay by MASN beginning at 9 pm.
Elon 56, The Citadel 54
ELON, N.C. ? Ola Atoyebi poured in a season-high and contest-best 20 points ? 15 in the first half ? to pace Elon to a 56-54 Southern Conference men’s basketball win over The Citadel Saturday night at Alumni Gym. Atoyebi knocked down eight of his nine shots from the field en route to posting the fourth 20-point performance of his career.
The first half featured all 10 of the game’s lead changes and all five of its ties ? the last one at 24-24 following Chris Long’s free throw for the Phoenix (2-4 overall, 1-1 SoCon) with 1:42 remaining before the intermission. Atoyebi hit a bucket in the paint to ignite an old-fashioned three-point play and push Elon ahead at 27-24 ? the eventual halftime margin ? with 59 ticks to go before the break.
The Phoenix opened the second stanza with a 13-8 spurt to extend the edge to 40-32 on another old-fashioned three-point play by Atoyebi with 14:35 left in the contest. On the strength of an 11-6 surge, the Bulldogs (5-4, 1-1) clawed their way to within 46-43 on a jumper by Austin Dahn with 6:26 to play. Devan Carter knocked down a pair of jump shots ? the first one from three-point range ? as Elon fattened its lead to 51-43 with 4:51 remaining.
The Citadel answered by reeling off seven consecutive points, drawing to within 51-50 on a three-point bucket by Dahn at the 3:03 mark. A free throw by Carter and a layup by Long enabled the Phoenix to fashion a 54-50 advantage with 1:41 left. Cameron Wells scored in the paint to bring the Bulldogs to within 54-52 with 1:26 to go, but Monty Sanders drained a pair of free throws to stretch the Elon edge to 56-52 with 16 ticks to play. Wells’ inside bucket with nine seconds left decided the final score.
Carter hauled in a team-best and career-high eight rebounds to go with his season-high eight points while Long added nine points and issued a contest-best eight assists for the third time this season. Long has collected five or more assists in each of the Phoenix’s six games this year. Elon also received a game-high three steals from Brett James.
Demetrius Nelson put forth a double-double performance for The Citadel, amassing 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Dahn chipped in 14 points and Wells notched 13 points as the Bulldogs won the battle of the boards 30-24 and outscored the Phoenix 28-22 in the paint, 16-8 off turnovers and 8-4 off second chances. The Citadel surrendered 12 turnovers to 13 by Elon.
“We needed this win like a drowning man needs air,” Elon coach Ernie Nestor said. “It was a hard-fought game. Either team could’ve won. The effort was significant on both sides. Our quality of effort was high, but I don’t know that our quality of play was always high. You win games with defense. You always win games of this nature with good defense. The kind of team we are, that’s how we’re going to have win games because we’re just not a real overpowering team. We needed this win because this revalidates what we’ve been doing.”
The Phoenix fired 51.2 percent (21 of 41) from the field ? 36.4 percent (4 of 11) from behind the arc ? and 71.4 percent (10 of 14) from the free throw line while the Bulldogs shot 42.3 percent (22 of 52) from the floor ? 23.8 percent (5 of 21) from three-point land ? and 62.5 percent (5 of 8) from the charity stripe.
Appalachian State 82, Wofford 77
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 82-77 by Appalachian State on Saturday night in Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers were down 18 early in the second half, but battled back for a six point lead with five minutes to go. However, the Mountaineers were 7-of-8 from the line in the final 34 seconds to secure the win.
Wofford is 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference, while Appalachian State is 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 22 points and nine rebounds and Junior Salters with 19 points. Appalachian State was led by Donald Sims with 18 points and Eduardo Bermudez with 17 points as five Mountaineers scored in double-figures.
The Mountaineers got off to a hot start and found themselves up 17-3 seven minutes into the game. Wofford started to chip away at the lead and after five straight points from Brad Loesing were down 26-22 at 6:53 in the first half. Appalachian State pushed the lead back to 41-29 at the break.
To open the second half, Ryann Abraham hit two three-pointers for the Mountaineers to extend the lead to 18 with 18:46 on the clock. A three-pointer by Junior Salters at 15:24 cut the lead to 51-38. After the teams traded lay-ups, the Terriers went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to 53-52 at 11:18.
A three-pointer by Donald Sims ended the run and gave the Mountaineers a 56-52 lead. A lay-up by Noah Dahlman and two free throws by Corey Godzinski tied the game at 60-60 with 7:42 on the clock. Wofford was able to take a five point lead after a shot by Corey Godzinski, then had a six point advantage after a lay-up by Noah Dahlman at 5:16 for a 71-65 score.
Appalachian State regained the advantage after a three-pointer by Donald Sims for a 72-71 lead with 2:04 on the clock. With a four-point lead with just 42 seconds left, Junior Salters hit a three to cut the lead to one point. Following a turnover under the Wofford basket, Junior Salters scored in the paint to give Wofford a one-point lead at 76-75.
The Mountaineers made three-of-four foul shots to take a 78-76 lead with 14 seconds left on the clock. Jason Dawson then hit one of two shots for Wofford with ten on the clock. Appalachian State then was able to seal the game with four-of-four from the stripe to close out the 82-77 final.
The Terriers will take the next eleven days off for exams before hosting Union (Ky.) on Wednesday, December 17 at Benjamin Johnson Arena at 7:00 pm. A trip to Georgia on December 20 will complete the non-conference slate.
Georgia Southern 66, Samford 59
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team outscored Samford 38-25 in the second half to earn its first Southern Conference win of the season, a 66-59 decision Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles even their record overall at 3-3 and stand at 1-0 in the league. The Bulldogs drop to 3-3 and 0-1.
Samford broke open a 40-40 game with an 8-0 run but Georgia Southern answered with 11 unanswered points, beginning with a jumper from junior Antonio Hanson at the 11:16 mark. The Eagles’ rally extended to an 18-2 spurt, capped off by a steal-and-dunk combo from sophomore Antoine Johnson with just over 3:30 to play.
Two 3-pointers from Hanson on back-to-back possessions broke a 48-48 deadlock and gave GSU the lead for the last time. He scored all eight of his points in the second half.
The Bulldogs went 0-for-8 from the charity stripe in the second half.
All eight attempts came in the final 4:38 of the contest.
Senior Julian Allen posted a team-high 12 points. The final two came on a thunderous dunk with seven seconds left. Johnson had 10 points and sophomore Willie Powers contributed nine and a game-high five assists.
Samford’s Bryan Friday and Trey Montgomery shared game-high honors with 16 points each.
The Eagles return to action Friday when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa to take part in the Hy-Vee Classic, hosted by Drake. GSU faces the host Bulldogs at 8:30 p.m. EST.
Western Carolina 89, Kent State 84 (OT)
KENT, Ohio -- Brigham Waginger scored 20 points, including five in overtime, to lead Western Carolina to an 89-84 victory over Kent State on Saturday night.
Kent State's Al Fisher hit a foul shot with 7 seconds left to tie the game at 77-77 and force the overtime.
In the extra period, Waginger hit a layup to put Western Carolina (4-2) ahead 84-81 only to have Chris Singletary, who led Kent State (3-5) with 29 points, hit a 3-pointer to tie it.
But Harouna Mutombo, who had 16 points, hit two foul shots with 1:17 remaining before Waginger hit two clinching free throws with 14 seconds left and then added another with a second remaining.
Jake Robinson had 18 points and Brandon Giles added 16 for the Catamounts.
Brandon Parks scored 22 points and Fisher had 12 for Kent State.