Samford 68, Appalachian State 56.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team improved its home record to 7-1 on Saturday as the Bulldogs earned a 68-56 Southern Conference victory against the Appalachian State Mountaineers. In the win, Samford’s Trey Montgomery scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor.
With Saturday’s victory, Samford (8-8, 3-4 SoCon) concluded its two-game homestand with a 2-0 record. On Thursday, the Bulldogs picked up a 76-64 win against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Samford is now 3-1 against conference opponents when playing in the Pete Hanna Center.
Appalachian State (6-9, 3-4 SoCon) had its losing streak extended to four-straight games. Since beating Elon on Jan. 8, the Mountaineers have dropped consecutive games against UNC Greensboro, Davidson, Chattanooga and Samford.
Samford outscored Appalachian State 45-31 in the second half.
After only leading the Mountaineers 25-23 at the intermission, the Bulldogs rallied to shoot 52 percent from the field in the final period and were buoyed by Montgomery’s 17 second-half points. The Bulldogs’ 6-foot-4 guard from Destrehan, La., was 6-for-10 in the final period and helped spark a critical 14-2 run midway through the period.
With 9:30 remaining in the game, Appalachian State held a 44-41 advantage. Montgomery then scored nine of the Bulldogs’ next 14 points to give Samford a 55-46 lead with 4:43 left to play.
Montgomery capped the 14-2 run with a thunderous two-handed dunk following one of his season-high four steals in the game. The Bulldogs finished the contest with eight steals and only nine turnovers, while the Mountaineers only tallied five takeaways and coughed the ball up 17 times.
Down the stretch, Appalachian State used a deep 3-pointer from Jeremi Booth to trim Samford’s lead to 55-52, but then the Bulldogs ended play with eight free throws, a huge 3-pointer from Andy King and a back-door layup from Montgomery.
Samford shot 15-of-18 from the free-throw line as Montgomery led the way with a 5-of-6 performance. The Bulldogs’ sophomore guard Josh Bedwell, the leading free-throw shooter in the conference, upped his near-perfect percentage to 92.1 with a 4-for-4 outing. So far this season, Bedwell has made 35 of his 38 attempts from the charity stripe.
Samford finished the game with three players scoring in double figures.
After Montgomery’s career-high 25 points, sophomore guard Josh Davis added 11 points, four assists and three steals, while King tallied 10 points and four rebounds. King, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-8 center from Omaha, Neb., finished 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Appalachian State was led in scoring by sophomore guard Donald Sims. A 6-foot-1 native of Gaffney, S.C., Sims tallied 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and was 4-of-9 from 3-point range. He was also the only person in the game to play all 40 minutes.
The Mountaineers’ Donterious Hughes was the only other Appalachian State player to score in double figures. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
Samford’s Bryan Friday registered seven points, two rebounds and a pair of assists, while Bedwell added six points and Curtis West chipped in with five.
Davis led the Bulldogs with five rebounds, but Samford was out-rebounded by Appalachian State 32-23. The Mountaineers entered the game as the top rebounding team in the SoCon and were ranked ninth in the nation in rebounding margin (+7.5).
Davidson 89, Georgia Southern 68
STATESBORO, Ga. ? A capacity crowd of 4,360 watched Georgia Southern’s battle against Southern Conference South Division leader Davidson Saturday afternoon (Jan. 17). Four Davidson players scored in double-figures as the Eagles dropped an 89-68 decision.
The crowd was the sixth-largest in Hanner Fieldhouse history, and largest since the facility underwent a renovation in 1995. However, the Eagles fell to .500 in league play (3-3, 5-9 overall).
Tied at 7-all in the first minutes, Davidson went on a 16-3 run and never looked back. Antonio Hanson hit a 3-pointer, snapping a streak of nine straight misses dating back to the UNC Greensboro game. Julian Allen hit a 17-footer with a Wildcat in his face, capping a streak where the Eagles scored seven of the next nine points, cutting the deficit to 24-17.
The Wildcats (14-3, 7-0) went on another big run, this time 17-2 over the next six minutes and eventually took a 51-30 lead into the locker room.
Davidson shot 43.6 percent from the field in the first half compared to the Eagles’ 33.3 percent. The Wildcats out-rebounded GS 29-15 in the half, including a 10-2 edge on the offensive end.
The 12 turnovers in the first half were more than what the Eagles committed during the UNC Greensboro game (8).
Ben Drayton scored 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half as the Eagles actually shot better than the Wildcats, 43.3 to 42.9 over the final 20 minutes.
Allen recorded his fourth career double-double, 11 points and 11 rebounds, in addition to his four assists to just one turnover in 28 minutes.
Hanson chipped in 14 points going 4-of-10 from the field and hitting all four free throw attempts.
Stephen Curry finished with a game-high 28 points, one shy of his nation-leading season average, on 11-of-30 shooting. The Eagle defense held him in check beyond the arc as the junior All-America guard made only 3-of-16 attempts.
Andrew Lovedale added 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots for the South Division leading Wildcats who extended their streak to 37 straight regular season SoCon victories. Will Archambault added 14 points off the bench.
UNC Greensboro 89, Elon 72
ELON, N.C. ? UNC Greensboro had all five starters score in double figures, led by Mikko Koivisto’s 22 points and Ben Stywall’s third consecutive double-double, to top backyard rival Elon, 89-72.
Both teams came into the game with 1-4 marks in league play, but a win could get either right back into a topsy-turvy Southern Conference North Division race with all six teams already suffering two league losses, including Western Carolina’s loss at Chattanooga on Saturday night. The Spartans had a similar opportunity at home on Thursday night when they lost to Georgia Southern. They didn’t let that chance slip away on Saturday, shooting a season-best 59.5 percent from the floor.
The win was UNCG’s fifth straight over the Phoenix and the third straight win at Alumni Gym. UNCG had lost nine of its first 10 trips to Elon.
Stywall, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for his third straight double-double and fifth of the season. He has had four of the five double-doubles in UNCG’s six league games this season.
Freshman Damian Eargle had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Spartans, while redshirt freshman DeAngelo Jackson chipped in with 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Sophomore Daniel Oliver added a career-high 12 points and five assists.
Elon also had five players in double figures with Ola Atoybei leading the way with 17 points, but was held to just two points in the final 16:30. Chris Long added 12 points and six assists for the Phoenix.
A 20-4 run midway through the second half broke open a 54-54 tie as the Spartans moved to 2-4 in conference play and 3-12 overall. Elon lost its sixth straight and fell to 4-10 overall and 1-5 in the league.
The Spartans got out to an early six-point lead, 13-7, but a 9-0 run by the Phoenix negated that. UNCG opened the lead back up to five midway through the half, however, with an 8-0 run of their own, 21-16. Leading by as many as eight in the opening half, the Spartans took a 39-34 lead into the locker room. UNCG’s first half field goal percentage of 56.7 percent (17-of-30) was a season-best and the first time this year UNCG was over 50 percent in a first half.
UNCG increased the lead back to nine to open the second half after a four-point play by Koivisto. The Phoenix, however, scored 11 of the next 12 points to regain the lead and it looked like it could go back and forth the rest of the way.
But with the score tied at 54-54, UNCG scored on eight of its went on a 20-4 run, capped off by three straight three-pointers by Montel Smith, Kendall Toney and Koivisto to break the game wide open with six minutes to play. UNCG scored in eight out of 10 possessions during the six-minute span.
Wofford 66, The Citadel 63
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team withstood sharp three-point shooting by The Citadel in the second half to take a 66-63 win on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. Noah Dahlman led the Terriers with 17 points.
Wofford is 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while The Citadel is 8-10, 3-4 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 17 points and Tim Johnson with eight rebounds. Junior Salters returned to the starting line-up after missing five games and had 15 points. The Citadel was led by Demetrius Nelson with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Cosmo Morabbi added twelve points, all on three pointers.
The game started slow, with a 4-4 tie after the first five minutes for play. With Wofford holding an 8-7 lead at 14:07, the Terriers went on a 9-0 run to take a ten point lead. A three-pointer by Junior Salters and a dunk by Terry Martin extended the lead to 27-13 at the 6:54 mark in the first half.
A second dunk by Terry Martin at 4:42 gave the Terriers a 33-17 lead, their largest of the night. The Citadel chipped away in the final minutes and with a lay-up by Demetrius Nelson at the buzzer the Bulldogs were down 35-25 at the half.
In the second half, the Bulldogs pulled with in three points after a three by Zach Urbanus at 14:27 for a 40-37 score. The Citadel used a stretch of five straight made three’s to take their first lead of the night at 49-48 at 9:23. Wofford answered with a three by Junior Salters, but Cosmo Morabbi hit from three to regain the lead at 52-51 for the Bulldogs.
After the game was tied at 54-54, Cosmo Morabbi hit again from three for the lead. Junior Salters was able to answer for Wofford and tied the game at 59-59 with 3:57 remaining. The Bulldogs made a free throw to take a one-point lead, but then Junior Salters hit a bucket and free throw to give the Terriers a 62-60 lead. Noah Dahlman then made a lay-up for a four-point advantage, but the Bulldogs answered as Daniel Eykyn hit a three to make it a 64-63 game.
In the final 1:32 of the game, Noah Dahlman hit two-of-four free throws and the Bulldogs missed three three-point attempts as the Terriers held on for the 66-63 final score. In the second half, The Citadel made 8-of-14 three point attempts (.571).
Wofford shot 57 percent from the floor and 60 percent from three-point range. The Terriers finished 80 percent from the line. The Bulldogs shot 39 percent from the floor and 37 percent from behind the arc. The Citadel was 80 percent from the free throw line. The Citadel had a 32-27 advantage on the boards and forced 15 turnovers by the Terriers.
Wofford was without guard Corey Godzinski, who will miss approximately four weeks due to a broken hand. Noah Dahlman has scored in double-figures in the last thirteen games. The Terriers have now won four straight games against The Citadel in the series. Wofford was out-rebounded for only the second time this season ? the other occasion was at Clemson.
The Terriers hit the road for a contest at Georgia Southern on Thursday, January 22, and then remain on the road to visit Davidson on Saturday, January 24. The next home game is Monday, January 26 against Elon.
College of Charleston 78, Furman 71
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Andrew Goudelock and Tony White Jr. netted 18 points apiece and the College of Charleston shot 51 percent from the field to down Furman 78-71 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
With the victory, the Cougars improved to 14-3 overall and 6-1 in the SoCon. Furman dropped to 2-13 overall and 0-6 in the league.
The Paladins held a 59-53 lead after Noah States scored on a layup with 10:43 remaining, but the Cougars outscored Furman 25-12 the rest of the way to claim their fourth straight SoCon win. Charleston, 35-34 leaders at the intermission, shot 58 percent (14-24) in the second half and connected on 12-of-13 free throw attempts after the break to pull away from the Paladins.
White tallied 15 of his game-high 18 points after the half, including six points during the decisive run over the final 10:30. Goudelock connected on 7-of-13 shots from the field and 2-of-2 at the charity stripe while Donavan Monroe reached double figures with 10 points. The Cougars made
7-of-15 treys and 15-of-17 free throws for the game.
Freshman Neil Duval led Furman with a career-high 14 points. Jordan Miller added 13 points and five boards while States and Brandon Sebirumbi tallied 12 and 11, respectively. The Paladins shot 43 percent (26-60) from the field and held a 33-30 edge in rebounding led by States eight boards. Both teams were guilty of nine turnovers.
The College of Charleston returns home to host Appalachian State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Furman travels to Davidson to face the Wildcats in a 7 p.m. contest at Belk Arena on Wednesday.
Chattanooga 82, Western Carolina 75
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Stephen McDowell scored 25 points to lead four players in double figures for Chattanooga in an 82-75 win over Western Carolina on Saturday night.
Nicchaeus Doaks added 19 points, Ty Patterson had 17 and Khalil Hartwell chipped in with 11 for the Mocs (8-10, 4-3 Southern Conference). Doaks also grabbed 10 rebounds and Patterson went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Brandon Giles led the Catamounts (8-7, 3-2), who also had four players in double figures, with 15 points. Harouna Mutombo scored 12, Jake Robinson had 11 and Greg Avery added 10. Giles also grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Mocs shot 43.9 percent from the field (25 of 57) en route to the victory, compared to just a 35.2 percent mark (25 of 71) for the Catamounts.
Chattanooga led Western Carolina by just one point at halftime, but outscored the Catamounts 39-33 in the second half.