SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for February 10, 2008
APPALACHIAN STATE 75, THE CITADEL 71 (OT)
BOONE, N.C. -- In a game of runs, Appalachian State University men’s basketball outscored The Citadel 20-11 over the final 8:57 of play to claim a thrilling 75-71 overtime victory on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
Donte Minter led Appalachian’s late charge, as he scored 12 of the team’s 20 points over the decisive late-game run. The senior finished with 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 efficiency from the free-throw line.
His 25 points were a season high and fell just two points shy of his career best, set in a win over Vanderbilt in the championship game of the 2006 San Juan Shootout, which was, coincidentally, ASU’s last overtime triumph.
Appalachian (15-8, 10-4 SoCon) trailed 60-55 with 3:57 to go in the second period, but scored six of the final seven points in regulation to send the game to overtime. ASU used a 6-0 run to take a 61-60 lead with 3.6 seconds to go, but Ryann Abraham fouled The Citadel’s Cameron Wells and the freshman knocked down the first of two charity shots to knot the contest at 61-61. Abraham’s three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out and the contest went to extra minutes.
In the extra period, the Apps struck first, going up three on a three-point play from Jeremy Clayton 45 seconds into overtime. A Minter three-point play with 2:07 on the clock would put ASU up six, 69-63. The Mountaineers converted on five of their six three-point play opportunities. From there, the squad salted away the win with free throws, making all eight of its attempts in the extra period.
The first half was punctuated by two huge runs. After the Mountaineers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, the Bulldogs responded by scoring the next 19 points to take a 19-5 lead with 6:32 remaining in the opening half. The Apps answered by closing the half on a 24-4 run to take a 29-23 advantage into the locker room.
The Citadel (5-17, 0-13 SoCon) opened the second half on another spurt, out-scoring ASU 18-7 over the first seven minutes of the period to take a 41-36 lead. From there it was largely a back-and-forth affair, as the lead changed hands eight times before The Citadel took the five-point lead with under four minutes remaining in regulation.
In addition to Minter’s season-best performance, ASU’s offense was led by Jeremy Clayton, who notched his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Donald Sims added 13 points and Abraham chipped in 11 to lead four Apps in double-figures.
The Citadel also had four scorers in double-figures, led by Wells’ 17.
ELON 70, WOFFORD 67 (OT)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team lost 70-67 in overtime to Elon in a Southern Conference match-up on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Phoenix hit a three-pointer as time expired to send the game to overtime, then hit another three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left for the win.
Wofford is 14-10 overall and 7-7 in SoCon play. Elon is 8-15 overall and 6-9 in conference play. Shane Nichols and Junior Salters led Wofford with 14 points, while Noah Dahlman had nine rebounds. Drew Gibson was a perfect 2-2 from the floor with one three-pointer and 7-of-7 from the line. He had 12 points and ten assists for his second double-double this season.
Elon was led by Brett James with a season-high 25 points, including 5-of-5 from behind the arc. Adam Constantine had eleven points and led the team with seven rebounds. The win ended a six-game losing streak for the Phoenix.
The Terriers scored first, but a three by T.J. Douglas gave the Phoenix an early 3-2 lead. Back-to-back three pointer by Shane Nichols and Corey Godzinski gave Wofford an 11-8 lead at 13:43. The Terriers were able to retain a slim lead until the 2:17 mark when Ola Atoyebi hit two free throws to tie it at 19-19. A three-pointer by Shane Nichols and two free throws by Corey Godzinski gave Wofford a 24-21 lead at the half.
Junior Salters scored the first seven points of the second half for the Terriers with a couple of three-pointers and a free throw to go up 31-26 at 16:49. After a bucket and free throw by Tyler Whatley and a three by Shane Nichols, the Terriers had their largest lead of the night at 37-28 at 14:35.
The Phoenix then went on an 8-0 run, ending with a three-pointer by Brett James, to cut the Wofford lead to 37-36 at 11:07. Using three baskets by Noah Dahlman, the Terriers pushed the lead to five at 46-41 with 6:25 left in the game. A three-pointer by Junior Salters gave Wofford a 49-43 lead with 5:40 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers by Brett James in less than a minute tied the game at 49-49 with 4:12 on the clock.
With two minutes on the clock, the Terriers had a four point lead at 55-51. After two free throws by Brett James, Terry Martin hit a jumper from the lane with 22 seconds left to give Wofford a 57-53 lead. Adam Constantine hit a basket with eight seconds left, then Shane Nichols went to the line. He made his first, but missed the second for a 58-55 lead for Wofford. With no time left on the clock, Brian Waters hit a shot from the near the arc. After the referees conferred for several minutes, it was ruled a three-pointer and the game went to overtime.
In the overtime period, Terry Martin hit two free throws and a put-back lay-up to give Wofford a 62-59 lead at 3:40. After a basket by Brian Waters to cut the lead to one, T.J. Douglas hit a three to give the Phoenix a 64-62 lead with 2:16 on the clock. The Terriers regained the lead with a basket and free throw by Corey Godzinski. Wofford had a chance to go up by three points, but Terry Martin missed two free throws with 74 seconds remaining in overtime.
With 38 seconds left and time expiring on the shot clock, Brett James hit a three-pointer to give Elon a 67-65 lead. Drew Gibson then hit two free throws to tie the game at 67-67 with 26 seconds on the clock. At 3.9, T.J. Douglas hit a long three to take a 70-67 lead. A last chance three-pointer by Shane Nichols from the left corner did not go and Elon took the win.
Wofford shot 40.4% from the floor and 40.0% from three. The Terriers were 68.0% from the line. The Phoenix were 42.9% from the floor and 42.9% from behind the arc and 68.4% from the free throw line. The Terriers had a 40-34 edge on rebounds.
The Terriers have won six of their last eight games in conference play. Marcus Jackson (shoulder) was the only Terrier who did not dress for the contest. There were eleven lead changes and ten ties in the game. Adam Constantine fouled out for Elon in overtime. It was the first overtime game for the Terriers this season and also for the Phoenix. Wofford had two overtime games last season, both wins. The last overtime loss for Wofford was on February 25, 2006, an 84-80 win by The Citadel.
DAVIDSON 81, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 56
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Stephen Curry led three Wildcats in double figures with 26 points as Davidson posted an 81-56 SoCon victory over the College of Charleston before a record crowd of 5,753 at Belk Arena Saturday afternoon.
It was the 13th consecutive victory for the Wildcats, and the attendance was the largest for a league game at Belk Arena. Davidson improved to 15-0 in the conference.
Curry was 7-for-14 from the floor and 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Jason Richards tallied 11 points and 10 assists, while Boris Meno posted 10 points and 10 boards off the bench.
Tony White, Jr. led the Cougars (11-13, 6-8 SoCon) with 13 points, and Andrew Goudelock netted 12.
Davidson's (17-6) defense was too strong for the College of Charleston, and the Wildcats also controlled the glass, posting a 41-33 advantage. The 'Cats scored 19 second-chance points and had 28 off the bench. Davidson also took care of the ball, committing just seven turnovers while turning 18 Cougar miscues into 17 points.
The 'Cats used an 18-5 run midway through the first half to open up a 28-13 lead. Curry sparked the surge with two 3-pointers but then had to sit with two fouls. His teammates kept the run going by scoring the last 10 points of the stretch, including five from Meno.
Davidson held the College of Charleston to 31.8 percent shooting and forced 10 Cougar turnovers in the half. The Wildcats only had one miscue of their own and held a 9-0 edge on second-chance points. Two of those came on an Andrew Lovedale putback as the halftime buzzer sounded, giving Davidson a 38-22 cushion. Curry went 5-for-6 from long distance in the frame.
Davidson did not take its foot off the gas in the second half, and a 10-3 run gave the Wildcats a 70-38 lead after a pair of Curry free throws with 8:46 left in the game. The lead would grow to as many as 34 with 5:08 remaining.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 81, CHATTANOOGA 61
STATESBORO, GA. --- The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team held Chattanooga without a field goal for the first 9:38 of the second half and cruised to an 81-61 victory Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles win for the fifth time in their last six outings and move to 17-8 overall and 10-5 in the Southern Conference. The Mocs fall to 15-10 and 10-5.
While Georgia Southern was holding UTC without a bucket, the Eagles reeled off a 26-4 run thanks to seven straight misses by the Mocs. The GSU defense forced nine turnovers over that span.
“I think (the defense) needs to be the key to our basketball team,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We haven’t been defending well and we’ve talked about it so much over the last week. I thought we were exceptional on the defensive end of the floor tonight. We played a really good game. We played a really good solid, overall basketball game.
Chattanooga hit just 28.6 percent in the first half and 33.3 percent on the night. They came into Saturday the third-most accurate shooting team in the SoCon.
“I looked up and they had 17 points and there were maybe a few minutes to go in the first half, I knew we were defending really well,” said Price. “And then I saw the 28 percent at halftime, it just basically showed me what I already knew. It was just good to see us have a defensive game like that. We haven’t been doing that and I thought we were totally focused in to having the defensive effort.”
GSU freshman Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) ignited the offense in the second half with eight straight points on a coast-to-coast lay-up and two 3-pointers. Senior Anthony Marshall (Lake Worth, Fla.) capped off the run with five straight points, all off UTC turnovers.
“I stressed so much in this game that the first five minutes of each half was going to be absolutely vital because as you know, we’ve had five minutes of halves where we haven’t played well,” Price said. “And that was one of the best things to see is to see us have a good first five and an unbelievable first five in the second half when we pushed the lead up.”
All told Georgia Southern forced 27 turnovers and had 17 steals, both season highs. Sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) recorded six steals, one shy of the school record.
Senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored all of his team-high 17 points in the second half. Marshall came off the bench and had 16 on a 4-for-7 shooting night from downtown. Powers added 15, including three 3-pointers.
UTC’s Nicchaeus Doaks tied Graham for game-high honors with 17 points and Stephen McDowell had 15.