SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for February 7, 2008
WOFFORD 59, UNC GREENSBORO 56
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Drew Gibson made two free throws with 3.2 seconds to play and Kyle Hines’ three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim as Wofford rallied for a 59-56 win over UNC Greensboro at Fleming Gym on Monday night.
Gibson’s free throws capped a wild ending to the contest. Trailing by two with eight seconds left, the Spartans gave Hines the ball out top coming out of a timeout, trying to get the big man the ball before Wofford could double-team him. He drove the right side, getting fouled on the way to the basket. The shot rolled around and came out ? what would have tied the game and gave Hines a chance to give UNCG the lead. Instead, Hines stepped to the line with two shots to possibly tie the game. He missed the first and made the second, however, forcing the Spartans to foul again.
The Spartans (13-8, 7-5) took a 51-48 lead when Kevin Oleksiak hit three free throws, the last two coming with 4:18 left. Oleksiak made 1-of-2, but grabbed the rebound on his miss and was fouled again. He made both on the second trip to make it a three-point game. Drew Gibson tied the game with 3:30 left when he knocked down a trey from the left wing.
Hines gave the Spartans a three-point lead again with just under three minutes left. Dwayne Johnson made his first free throw, but missed the second. This time, Hines cleaned up the miss to make it a 54-51 lead and give himself the 41st 20-point game of his career.
Wofford, which won at Fleming for the first time since January 4, 1999, regained the lead, however, after a pair of free throws and a Corey Godzinsky drive with 1:40 to play, 55-54. Junior Salters then knocked down a jumper almost a minute later to give the Terriers a three-point lead.
UNCG suffered from free throw shooting woes for the second straight game, shooting just 7-for-18 from the line on Thursday night. UNCG shot just 7-for-15 at the line in a two-point loss at Georgia Southern on Monday night.
Four of UNCG’s five conference losses have now come in the final 40 seconds of the respective games.
The Terriers won for the sixth time in the last seven games and are now 14-9 overall and 7-6 in SoCon play.
Shane Nichols led Wofford with 21 points. Gibson, who beat UNCG with a three-pointer with four seconds left in the first meeting back in December, added 11 points.
Hines, a senior from Sicklerville, NJ, finished with game-highs of 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks. The seven blocks tied his own school record, which he had done twice before. It was his 11th double-double of the season, tying another school record of his, and the 42nd of his career. He also extended his streak to 71 consecutive games in double figures and moved to within eight points of 2,000 for his career.
He was the only Spartan in double-figures. Mikko Koivisto chipped in with eight points on a night when the Spartan perimeter struggled to get going. UNCG’s triple threat of three-point shooters ? Koivisto, Kendall Toney and Kevin Oleksiak ? combined to go just 2-for-13 from behind the arc.
For the third straight home game, the Spartans got out to a quick start. In its previous two home games, UNCG led The Citadel, 17-0, and Elon, 15-4, at the outset. On Thursday night, UNCG ran out to a 19-4 lead in the first nine minutes of the contest, forcing six Wofford turnovers in that span. A Drew Gibson three-pointer was the only field goal the Terriers managed in that time. But Wofford settled into a rhythm, however, to score eight straight and start chipping away at the deficit.
The Terriers turned the ball over just twice in the next 11 minutes and connected just three times for the remainder of the contest. Wofford made 9 of 15 from the floor to close out the half and then went 13-for-25 from the field in the second half. Meanwhile, UNCG closed the half missing 11 of its last 15 as Wofford pulled to within two at the break, 27-25.
Corey Godzinski’s trey from the right corner gave Wofford their first lead of the night just 33 seconds into the second half. The Spartans regained the lead and stretched it out to six midway through the second half, but a 5-0 spurt by the Terriers erased any ideas of separation between the teams down the stretch.
Wofford came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at nearly 42 percent, while the Spartans were in the bottom 20 teams in three-point field goal defense. UNCG did an admirable job in that department, holding the Terriers to just 4-for-14 from behind the arc. However, UNCG’s free throw shooting cost it a potential win for the second straight game.
The Spartans visit Furman for a Sunday contest. Game time is set for 2 pm. Wofford hosts Elon at 7 pm Saturday night.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 72, WESTERN CAROLINA 63
STATESBORO, GA. --- The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team came back from a nine-point deficit in the first half and made five of their last six free throws in the final minute to defeat Western Carolina 72-63 Thursday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles win for the fourth time in the last five games and remain in second place in the Southern Conference South Division at 16-8 overall and 9-5 in the league. The Catamounts drop to 7-16, 3-10.
“I think (the players) know we didn’t play particularly well, but I credit Western with a lot of that,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “(Western Carolina) are a much improved basketball team and they’ve gotten really good defensively. I didn’t think we played well and I thought a lot of it had to do with them.
WCU took a 24-15 lead at the 7:09 mark after a 10-2 run but GSU answered with seven straight points and eventually took a 35-33 advantage into half time.
Neither team had trouble shooting in the opening 20 minutes. Georgia Southern converted 57.7 percent from the floor while Western Carolina countered with 54.2 percent.
The second half was a defensive struggle and the largest lead for either team through the first 11 minutes was three points. But a 5-0 GSU run broke a 48-48 tie and the Eagles never trailed again.
“They switched defenses a lot,” said Price. “They pack it in; they make it tight on you. Bottom line is they are a low possession team. We got 50 shots and they got 45 and that’s a low amount of field goal attempts in a game. And that’s the way they play. ... They’re just the type of team that you’re not going to blow out. And you’ve just got to keep grinding away and get a win. And that’s what we did.”
Georgia Southern hit 17 of their last 20 free throws, including 4-for-4 in the last 39 seconds.
“It was definitely good to see us making our shots at the line,” Price said. “That’s a place we’ve struggled. In tight games like this and low possession games, you’ve got to make your free throws.”
GSU senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) paced the team with 18 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) came off the bench to tally a career-high 16 points and senior Anthony Marshall (Lake Worth, Fla.) added nine, all in the first half.
“(Antoine’s) been really efficient off the bench,” said Price. “I thought he came in and gave us a big lift. I thought Anthony Marshall came in and hit some 3s and gave us a lift. I thought our bench gave us a lift when we really needed it tonight.”
Western Carolina’s Brandon Giles led all players with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. But 18 of those came in the first half.
“I thought we did a good job of Brandon Giles in the second half,” said Price. “He’s an awfully good player and he was on fire but we locked him down a little bit.”
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 68, APPALACHIAN STATE 63
BOONE, N.C. - College of Charleston closed the game on a 10-0 run to hand Appalachian State University men’s basketball a heart-breaking 68-63 setback on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center.
Appalachian (14-8, 9-4 SoCon) overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to take a 63-58 lead on Ryann Abraham’s three-pointer with less than three minutes remaining in the contest.
However, Charleston’s Tony White scored four-straight points on a pair of free throws and a jumper in the lane to cut the ASU advantage to one point with just over a minute to play.
The Mountaineers missed a jumper on their next possession and CofC freshman Andrew Goudelock answered with a bucket in the paint with 25 seconds to go to give the Cougars their first lead in over seven minutes. Charleston sank 4-of-4 free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal its first win in Boone since Feb. 15, 2003. Goudelock poured in a game-high 19 points to lead three Cougars in double-figures.
The lead changed hands 18 times in the back-and-forth affair. Neither team led by more than three in the first half, as the lead switched 12 times before the Cougars took a three-point halftime advantage.
Charleston (11-12, 6-7 SoCon) opened the second half with an 8-0 run to stretch its lead to 11 less than two minutes into the period. Appalachian responded with a 20-8 run to take the lead back at 49-48 midway through the second half and advantage went back and forth four more times before ASU took its biggest lead of the game on Abraham’s three-pointer, which unfortunately proved to be its final points of the evening.
Senior Donte Minter and freshman Donald Sims paced the Mountaineers offensively with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Jeremy Clayton led all rebounders with 11.
CHATTANOOGA 69, FURMAN 66
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. - Junior guard Stephen McDowell nailed a three-pointer with 30 seconds to play, while junior forward Nicchaeus Doaks posted a game-high 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead Chattanooga (15-9, 10-4) to a 69-66 win over Furman (4-19, 3-11) in the McKenzie Arena. The win coupled with an Appalachian State 68-63 loss at home to College of Charleston vaulted the Mocs back into first place in the North Division.
With the game tied at 60-60 with 2:19 to play in regulation, Doaks converted on a three-point play to give Chattanooga the lead. Furman’s Noah States drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to knot the score at 63-63 with 1:56 left.
After several defensive stands by both teams, McDowell pulled up from the right wing and drained the go-ahead three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining. The Mocs then withstood a late three-point attempt by States to come away with the win.
The Mocs started the game with an 8-0 run before Furman responded with a 13-2 run of its own to take the early advantage. The lead see-sawed back-and-forth with the Mocs settling for a 31-27 halftime advantage.
Doaks led all scorers with his 20 points adding seven rebounds and two blocks. McDowell added 14 points and two steals, while Marcus Watts tossed in 12 points to go with six rebounds. Kevin Bridgewaters offset an off scoring night of five points with a career-high nine assists and three steals.
Freshman guard Justin Dehm and senior forward George Brozos each collected 15 points on the night to lead the way for the Paladins. Dehm added five boards and four assists while Brozos pulled down a team-high tying six rebounds. States rounded out Furman’s double-digit scorers with 13 points on the night.
The Mocs out-rebounded Furman 46-34 on the night with five players with six or more boards. The two teams combined to hit 24 three-pointers on the night, 16 in the second-half.