Davidson 76, Samford 55
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Davidson junior guard Stephen Curry tallied 21 points to go over 2,000 for his career, and head coach Bob McKillop collected his 350th victory in the Wildcats' 76-55 SoCon win over Samford at a sold-out Belk Arena Saturday afternoon.
McKillop, in his 20th season at Davidson, now boasts a career record of 350-227 and a .607 winning percentage. It was Davidson's 33rd consecutive league victory, and the Wildcats' 23rd straight win at Belk Arena.
Curry added game highs of eight assists and four steals, and the Wildcats got plenty of help from their bench, which scored 32 points in the contest. Will Archambault, who was 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and Ben Allison led the charge with 12 points each. Starter Andrew Lovedale posted nine points and seven rebounds.
Bryan Friday was the only Samford player in double figures with 10 points, while Josh Davis and Jeffrey Merritt each netted eight. The Bulldogs, who run a Princeton style offensive, shot 36.2 percent from the field, and 10 of their 17 field goals were 3-pointers.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 10-0 lead and held Samford scoreless until Andy King hit a trey 5:42 into the game. Samford came back and trailed by one after a Curtis West trifecta, but Davidson used a an 11-1 run to take a 13-point lead on an Allison layup with 5:34 left in the frame. Curry hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half, and Davidson led 41-25 at the break.
Archambault sparked a 21-6 Davidson spurt midway through the second half by nailing three straight 3-pointers, and the margin grew to 29 points on a Curry 3-pointer with 5:24 left in the game.
Davidson returns to action Wednesday when the Wildcats travel to No. 5/5 Duke for a 7 p.m. contest. That game will be televised live on ESPN.
Western Carolina 68, Furman 57
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Brandon Giles scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lift Western Carolina over Furman 68-57 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
The Auburndale, Fla., native connected on 6-of-8 shots from the field and 7-of-9 from the foul line over the final 20 minutes as the Catamounts outscored Furman 16-6 over the final 5:18. Giles finished 8-of-14 from the floor and 8-of-13 from the charity stripe while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds to help Western Carolina to 6-5 overall and 1-0 in the SoCon.
After trailing 25-23 at halftime, Furman kept the Catamounts within six points for most of the second half and trimmed the lead to 52-51 with 5:18 to play on a Bryson Barnes dunk. The Catamounts broke the Furman press for a Giles dunk and Brigham Waginger stole the ball from Justin Dehm and converted a layup to bring the lead back to five points.
After a Paladin free throw, Giles buried a three-pointer to push the WCU advantage to 59-52 with 3:38 left. Barnes made the back end of a two shot foul on the other end, but Giles answered with a three-point play up the lead to nine. Giles then converted six straight free throws to cap the game and score the Catamounts final 12 points.
Western Carolina shot 43 percent (22-51) from the field, including 4-of-13 beyond the arc, while making 20-of-31 free throw attempts. Harouna Mutombo and Jake Robinson joined Giles in double figures with 11 points. The Catamounts finished with a 38-30 advantage in rebounding.
Dehm led Furman with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 beyond the arc. Barnes reached double digits with 10 points while Jordan Miller added nine points and five boards. Furman shot just 39 percent (18-46) from the field and 57 percent (16-28) from the foul line.
Furman continues SoCon play on January 8, when it travels to league newcomer Samford for a 6 p.m. ET tip-off at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala. Western Carolina hosts UNC Greensboro on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Georgia Southern 78, Chattanooga 74
STATESBORO, Ga.-- In a late Saturday afternoon matchup, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball program dropped a 78-74 at Georgia Southern. Chattanooga squandered a late six-point lead in losing the SoCon matchup.
The Mocs (4-9, 0-2 SoCon) got off to a good start scoring the game’s first five points and holding the Eagles without a field goal for the first 3:30 of the game. GSU (4-6, 2-0 SoCon) would battle back and take a 26-17 lead with 5:48 to go in the first half on an Antonio Hanson three-point basket.
Chattanooga answered quickly with a three-pointer by Keyron Sheard followed by five consecutive points by Kevin Goffney to help even the score at 26 on a Nicchaeus Doaks free throw at 4:02. Back-to-back treys by Sheard and McDowell helped push the Mocs to a 35-33 lead at the break.
The second half saw a quick start from the Mocs out-scoring Georgia Southern 11-4 going into the first media timeout (15:36) with a 46-37 advantage. GSU answered with eight straight to close within one at 46-45 holding the Mocs without a field goal for 3:28.
With the score at 50-49 for the Mocs (11:42), Chattanooga went on a 12-3 run to jump out to a 10-point lead at 62-52. The run was fueled by Stephen McDowell with two deep threes and a little defense holding GSU with out a field goal for 2:24.
While the Eagles battled back, the Mocs extended back to eight points when Sheard was injured on a drive to the basket at 5:23 leading to an open three-pointer at the other end by Hanson to cut the lead to 69-64 with 5:17 left.
Sheard re-entered the game at 3:15 with the Mocs up 72-66. The Eagles went on flurry with back-to-back threes and a driving basket in the lane by Willie Powers with 1:38 to go to give GSU its first second half lead 74-72.
Free throw shooting was a nemesis for the Mocs as Goffney missed the front end of a one-and-bonus at 1:27 was followed by Sheard missing the two with 35.7 to play to keep the Eagles ahead. The Mocs made just seven of 18 from the charity stripe for the game, 38.9 percent.
Hanson gave the Eagles a four-point cushion with two free throws at 26.5. Doaks followed his own miss with 11.7 to go to make it 76-74 GSU. Two Anthony Marshall free throws with 6.5 seconds left sealed the 78-74 Eagles victory.
The Mocs were led by McDowell and Sheard with 17 apiece as they combined to make nine three-pointers in the game. The four by Sheard is a career high, while McDowell made four in the second half. Doaks and Goffney each had 13 points while Goffney tied a career high with 14 rebounds, as Doaks grabbed nine of his own as the Mocs held a 49-38 advantage on the glass.
Hanson led all scorers with 22 points. Powers added 17 with five assists and three steals.
Princeton 65, UNC Greensboro 55
PRINCETON, N.J. ? UNC Greensboro trimmed a 15-point deficit to three with just over a minute to play, but Princeton made 11 of 12 free throws in the final minute to hold on for a 65-55 win Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gym.
Dan Mavraides led the way with 17 points and seven rebounds, including 6-of-6 at the foul line for Princeton. Doug Davis added 15 points and Kareem Maddox chipped in with 10 points.
UNCG got 13 points and eight rebounds from Ben Stywall, one of three Spartans scoring in double figures on Saturday. Mikko Koivisto added 11 points and Daniel Oliver chipped in with a career-high with 10 points.
The Spartans committed only 12 turnovers, six below their average this season, but shout just 29.6 percent from the floor on the afternoon. UNCG turned 12 offensive rebounds into just nine second-chance points and surrendered 13 offensive boards to the Tigers.
UNCG held Princeton (3-8) to one field goal in a six-minute span to rally from down 45-33. The Spartans cut it to five with six minutes to play on Mikko Koivisto’s steal and bucket off full court pressure, 49-44.
Still trailing by five with 2:08 to play, Ben Stywall drove the lane and was fouled. He made one of two to cut it to 53-49. Following a Princeton miss, though, the rebound went out of bounds off UNCG and the Tigers got a fresh shot clock with 1:35 to play. The Tigers chased down a long rebound after a tip sequence and UNCG committed its sixth team foul to stop the clock with 1:16 to play.
Zach Finley hit the front end of the bonus, but the rebound again went out off UNCG. This time, Koivisto stole the insuing in-bounds and drove to the basket, getting fouled. He hit both shots to make it a three-point game with 1:08 left, the closest UNCG had come since the opening minutes.
But the Tigers made their free throws in the final 60 seconds ? 11 of 12 to be exact ? to snap a six-game losing skid. UNCG (1-10) lost its ninth straight.
The Spartans dug themselves an early hole. After scoring the first basket of the game, Princeton scored 15 of the next 16 points as UNCG went seven minutes without a field goal. Daniel Oliver, who had scored the first bucket of the game, broke the drought with a trey from the left wing with
12:27 to play in the half.
UNCG chipped away to get back in it, though. After missing six straight shots during the drought, the Spartans made four of their next eight to get back to within eight. Mikko Koivisto’s three-pointer made it 21-13 with
8:58 left in the opening half.
The Tigers answered with a 9-2 spurt, capped off by consecutive buckets by Doug Davis, pushed the margin back to 15 with five minutes to go. Davis scored 13 of the Tigers’ first 30 points. But UNCG had an answer of its own with eight straight points to get back to within seven late in the half. Koivisto’s runner at the buzzer kept it at seven at the intermission, 32-25.
The Spartans did a better job on Davis in the second half, holding him to just two points, but the rally came up short.
UNCG is back in action on Thursday when it returns to conference play at Western Carolina. Game time is set for 7 pm.
The Citadel 58, Bethune-Cookman 57
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Demetrius Nelson scored 18 points as The Citadel held on to beat Bethune-Cookman 58-57 on Saturday night.
Cameron Wells added 10 points for the Bulldogs (6-7), who shot 56 percent from the field (14 of 25) in the second half to overcome a 12-point deficit at halftime.
C.J. Reed led the Wildcats (6-7) with 23 points and Alexander Starling scored 14.
Bethune-Cookman made just seven of its 17 second-half shots from the floor, and were outscored 34-21 in the second half.
After Wells hit a jumper to put The Citadel ahead 58-53 with 1:05 to play, Bethune-Cookman went on a 4-0 run in the game's last minute but could pull no closer than the final margin.