SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for February 20, 2008
ELON 87, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 86 (2 OT)
ELON, N.C. ? Montell Watson poured in a contest-best 22 points to lift Elon to an 87-86 Southern Conference men’s basketball triumph over the College of Charleston in double overtime Wednesday evening at Alumni Gym. The game featured 12 ties and 14 lead changes.
The Cougars (12-15 overall, 7-10 SoCon) went on a 16-8 run to trade a 12-10 deficit in for a 26-20 advantage on a lay-up by Jeremy Simmons with 10:10 left to play in the first half. The Phoenix (11-16, 9-10) answered with a 10-3 spurt to close to within 30-29 on a jumper by Brett James with 6:38 to go before the intermission.
Charleston responded by going on a 10-3 surge of its own to extend its edge to 39-33 on a basket by Dustin Scott with 2:08 remaining in the period. At the 1:44 mark, T.J. Douglas canned a three-point field goal as Elon drew to within 39-36 for the eventual halftime difference.
Jermaine Johnson knocked down a shot to open the second-half scoring, putting the Cougars up 41-36 with 19:21 on the clock. The Phoenix proceeded to go on an 18-6 tear to pull ahead 54-47 on a fast-break bucket by Atoyebi with 12:49 remaining in regulation.
Trailing 64-57 with 6:50 to go, Charleston started a 10-1 run to go up 67-65 on an inside move by Johnson with 2:27 on the clock. After Atoyebi dropped in a basket to even the count at 67-67 with 28 ticks to go, Andrew Goudelock sank a jumper with sevens second left gave the Cougars a 69-67 edge.
Atoyebi’s put-back of James’ missed trey as time expired knotted the score at 69-69, forcing the first overtime period. The Phoenix opened the extra frame on an 8-2 spurt to build a 77-71 advantage on a pair of free throws by Watson with 1:16 left.
Goudelock’s three-pointer at the 1:08 mark cut the difference in half and Antwaine Wiggins’ trey tied the contest up at 77-77 with 29 ticks to play, sending the contest into a second overtime segment.
After the third tie of the period, Johnson netted a pair of charity shots to give the Cougars an 86-84 lead with 21 seconds to go. Watson drove the lane for a lay-up, leading to an old-fashioned three-point play to award the Phoenix the final lead of the night with three seconds left.
“We just fought as hard and as long as we could and were fortunate to prevail,” Elon coach Ernie Nestor said. “We are very pleased with winning this game tonight. This is tremendous for us.”
The Phoenix won the battle of the boards 37-36 and committed just nine turnovers to 11 by the Cougars. The Elon bench outscored the Charleston bench 24-6.
For the Phoenix, Watson dished out a game-high six assists, Adam Constantine hauled in a contest-best 10 rebounds, Atoyebi posted 15 points, James chipped in 13 points and six caroms and Brian Waters tallied 11 markers and six boards.
For the Cougars, Johnson put up 20 points and eight rebounds, Goudelock registered 18 markers and six boards, Tony White recorded 17 points and four assists, Wiggins scored 17 markers and Scott added seven caroms.
The Phoenix will play host to Tennessee-Martin in an O’Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBusters event at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Cougars return to action Monday with a 7 p.m. visit to UNC Greensboro.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 98, THE CITADEL 68
STATESBORO, GA. --- The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team scored 16 of the game’s first 18 points en route to a 98-68 victory over The Citadel Wednesday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The win gives GSU (20-8, 13-5) its third 20-win season in the last five years. The Citadel (6-20, 1-16) loses for the 14th time in the past 15 contests.
“Our focus was really good at the start,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We’ve talked so much about it ? all league games count and anybody’s dangerous and we need to take the game really seriously. I thought our guys did a really nice job of being focused early in the game.”
GSU senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led all players with 23 points while shooting 8-for-11 from the floor. Fellow senior Matthew Fields (Jacksonville, Fla.) recorded his second straight double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Eagles made nine of their first 11 shots and were up 30-7 before the 10-minute mark. They shot a season-high 67.7% from the floor and 66.7% from 3-point land in the first half.
All told Georgia Southern converted 57.6% of their field goals, 50.0% of their trifectas and 93.3% of their free throws.
By the time it was over the Eagles emptied their bench, playing 14 of the 15 players who suited up. The lone hold-out was sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) who was held out for precautionary reasons because of a knee injury.
“It’s good to play some guys that don’t get to play a lot and it’s beneficial for us going down the stretch to play some guys going into the tournament,” said Price. “I definitely wanted to play Krzysztof (Janiszewski), Trumaine (Pearson), Johntavious (Rucker) and Jared (Collins) and get those guys some minutes, because in tournament situations we’re going to need that depth.”
The Citadel’s Cameron Wells tallied 18 of his team-best 20 points in the second half, Zach Urbanus posted 15 points and eight rebounds, and Austin Dahn added 13 points.