Samford 71, Furman 60
Birmingham, Ala. -- Trey Montgomery tallied nine points in the final two minutes to key Samford’s 12-0 game-ending run as the Bulldogs rallied past Furman 71-60 to notch their first Southern Conference victory on the hardwood Thursday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.
With the win, Samford improves to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in SoCon play. The loss drops Furman to 2-10 overall and 0-3 inside the league.
After Jordan Miller gave the Paladins a 60-59 lead on a jumper with 2:22 remaining, Montgomery answered with a three-pointer to hand Samford a 62-60 edge at the 1:44 mark. The Bulldogs then took advantage of two missed free throws by Alex Opacic and a Miller turnover by converting 3-of-4 free throw attempts to stretch the lead to 65-60 with 41 seconds left. Montgomery stripped Justin Dehm and slammed home two more points before sinking another pair of free throws as the Bulldogs closed the game on a 21-6 run.
Samford held a 31-28 lead at halftime and extended its advantage to seven points on two occasions before a pair of Bryson Barnes baskets and a Miller three-pointer completed a 7-0 Furman run to tie the game at 43-43 with 11:50 to play. The Paladins opened up a 54-50 lead and the two teams traded the lead nine times over the final 10 minutes before the Bulldogs’
decisive 12-0 run.
Samford shot a blistering 63.3% (26-41) from the field, including 72 percent (13-18) in the second half to claim its first ever SoCon win. Junior Bryan Friday paced four Bulldogs in double figures with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Montgomery and Jim Griffin added 11 points each while
Curtis West chipped in with 10 points. The Bulldogs hit 5-of-12 three-point attempts and 14-of-24 attempts at the foul line.
Miller paced Furman with 15 points and four assists while Opacic notched his first double-double of the campaign with 13 points and 12 boards, including a 5-of-8 effort from the field. Dehm added 12 points in 36 minutes of play.
Samford held a 25-23 edge in rebounding and committed just 10 turnovers compared to Furman’s 14 miscues.
Western Carolina 80, UNC Greensboro 75
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina scored eight of the game’s final 11 points to break a 72-72 tie and claim a 80-75 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference men’s basketball action at the Ramsey Center on Thursday night.
Redshirt freshman Harouna Mutombo finished with a career-high 29 points to lead Western Carolina (7-5, 2-0 SoCon). The Catamounts also got 20 points from Brandon Giles, who played the final 10:54 with four fouls.
UNCG (1-11, 0-3) got 23 points from Mikko Koivisto, two shy of a career high and his second game of 20 or more points this season. He tied a career-high with six three pointers in the game.
Freshman forward Damian Eargle added 13 points and Ben Stywall chipped in with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
UNCG rallied from a 13-point first half deficit to lead by nine with 9:09 to play. However, a 17-2 run by Western Carolina erased that advantage as the Catamounts gamble of leaving Giles in with four fouls paid off.
The second half featured five ties and eight lead changes. After Eargle hit one of two at the foul line to make 73-72, Mutombo converted a conventional three-point play to give the Catamounts a 75-73 advantage with 1:23 to play. UNCG’s Stywall was fouled 12 seconds later and hit both free throws to tie the score.
But Mutombo was fouled on the other end with one minute left and made both to give the Catamounts the lead for good, 77-75. UNCG turned the ball over three straight possessions trying to get the lead back.
After jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead, the Spartans went into an early offensive funk again, suffering a nearly six-minute field goal drought. Western Carolina scored the next 12 points to take the lead. Jake Robinson’s three-pointer with 8:24 left in the half gave the Catamounts
their first double digit lead of the night at 25-15.
With Koivisto scoring 11 points in the first 15 minutes, the Spartans trimmed the margin back to single digits. Koivisto’s three with 40 seconds before intermission capped a 7-0 spurt that cut it to 38-34 at the half.
Five straight points to open the second half, including Koivisto’s fourth trey of the night, gave UNCG its first lead since the opening minutes, 39-38. The teams went back and forth for a while from there, UNCG grabbing as big of a lead as four and Western pulling back ahead briefly a couple of times.
Landon Clement’s trey from the right wing gave UNCG a 53-48 lead with 12:12 to play as the Spartans held the Catamounts to just four field goals in 13 minutes going back into the first half.
WCU’s leading scorer Giles picked up his fourth foul with 10:54 to play and the Catamounts decided to gamble and leave him out on the floor. Meanwhile, Kendall Toney found Stywall on the fast break on UNCG’s next trip down the floor for a dunk and the Spartans had their biggest lead to that point at seven.
The lead hit nine, but UNCG had just one field goal in the next five minutes resulting in a 17-2 run by Western Carolina that erased the and gave Western Carolina a 70-64 advantage with six minutes to play. UNCG responded with six straight, though, to tie it again at 70-70.
Wofford 69, Chattanooga 66
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team used a strong second half to win 69-66 over Chattanooga on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena. Noah Dahlman led the Terriers with a career-high 24 points.
The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 24 points and ten rebounds. Jason Dawson and Tim Johnson each added eleven points. Chattanooga was led by Kevin Goffney with 19 points. Current SoCon Player of the Week Stephen McDowell was held to just three points.
The Terriers opened with a three by Jason Dawson, which was answered by Nicchaeus Doaks. Tim Johnson gave the Terriers a 5-3 lead, but Kevin Goffrey score five straight points for the Mocs to take an 8-5 lead at 15:25. The score was tied at 11-11 at the 11:34 mark after a hoop and free throw by Drew Crowell. The Terriers took a 16-14 lead after a bucket and free throw by Noah Dahlman at 9:25.
Chattanooga then went on a 6-0 run to take a 20-16 lead at the 8:32 mark. Wofford was able to pull within one point at 23-22 after two free throws by Noah Dahlman at 5:31. After the score was 28-25, the Mocs went on a 12-2 run to take a 40-27 lead with 1:51 left in the half. The Terriers scored the next five points, including a three by Kevin Giltner for a 40-32 score. Nicchaeus Doaks hit a bucket with two seconds on the clock to take a42-32 lead at the half.
To open the second half, Wofford scored the first four points to cut the lead to 42-36 at 18:51. Following a three pointer by Corey Godzinski and a basket by Noah Dahlman, the Mocs lead was cut to just one point at 46-45 with 12:37 left in the second half. Wofford then took the lead with free throws by Noah Dahlman at 47-46 at 11:21. The Mocs responded with back-to-back threes to end the 16-4 run by the Terriers and regain the lead at 53-51 with 8:02 on the clock.
A three pointer by Jason Dawson gave Wofford a 59-57 lead with 4:55 remaining in the second half. Noah Dahlman then hit a two for four point advantage. Kevin Goffney hit a jumper for Chattanooga with 2:10 on the clock for a 61-59 score. Jason Dawson hit a three from the far corner to extend the Terriers lead. Brad Loesing added two free throws at 1:01 to take a 66-61 lead.
The Mocs then hit a jumper and a free throw by Kevin Goffney with 52 seconds left to cut the Terriers lead to 66-64. Jason Dawson added two free throws with 33 on the clock, but the Mocs added a basket by Khalil Hartwell with 26 seconds to make it a two point game. Corey Godzinski added a free throw with 17 seconds remaining, and then the Mocs turned the ball over with two seconds left to give Wofford the 69-66 win.
The Citadel 84, Georgia Southern 75
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Citadel’s Demetrius Nelson scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Bulldogs to an 84-75 win over Georgia Southern Thursday night at McAlister Field House.
The Citadel evens its record at 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the Southern Conference. Georgia Southern drops to 4-7 and 2-1.
The Eagles found themselves down 10 (41-31) at halftime and went five minutes without scoring midway through the second half but managed to cut the deficit to 55-50 with 8:51 to play in the game.
The Citadel answered with back-to-back 3s from Zach Urbanus and Tyrell McDowell to push the lead to 11. Georgia Southern got to within five twice in the final minute, but the Bulldogs hit 10 of their last 12 free throws to put the game out of reach.
GSU senior Julian Allen tied his career high of 12 rebounds for the second straight game and notched his third career double-double with a team-high 20 points.
Junior Antonio Hanson tallied 17 points on four 3-pointers. Sophomore Willie Powers added 14 and tied his personal-best of six assists.
The Citadel’s Bryan Streeter and Cameron Wells came off the bench to record 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Appalachian State 76, Elon 52
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball capitalized on a fast start and never let up against the Elon Phoenix on Thursday night in a 76-52 win in the first of three home Southern Conference contests over a five-day span. Kellen Brand led the Mountaineers with 17 points as the team pulled in 18 more rebounds than the visitors.
Brand knocked down 5-of-8 shots in the game, including 4-of-5 from downtown. He was second on the team with six rebounds, behind only Josh Hunter's nine.
After missing the first three attempts of the game, the Mountaineers (6-5, 3-0 SoCon) hit 10-of-16, including 4-of-5 by Ryann Abraham to build a 24-15 lead over the first 13 minutes of the contest. Abraham shot 5-for-7 in the game for 14 points to go along with three assists and a steal.
The Phoenix (4-7, 1-2) battled back to cut the deficit to five points at 29-24 with under five minutes to play, behind six first-half points from Ola Atoyebi. With the ASU lead at eight points as time ran down, Abraham sank a long three-pointer at the buzzer to extend the lead to 38-27 at the half.
It was the fourth time this season and third time in four games that the Mountaineers held the opposition under 30 points in the opening stanza.
An 18-7 run punctuated by a Donald Sims trey from the corner and nine points from Eduardo Bermudez opened the lead to 22 points at 56-34 after the intermission.
Bremudez wrapped up the game with 13 points and four rebounds. He and Sims were two of the four players to dish out a team-high three assists in the contest. Sims scored seven points on 2-of-4 shooting off the bench.
From there, Appalachian cruised to a 76-52 win after extending the advantage to as many as 26 points.
The team's 10 three-pointers were the second-most of the season behind 15 against Milligan, and the .667 three-point percentage was easily the highest of the year for the Apps.
The Apps held a 39-21 advantage on the boards in the game to help extend the team's SoCon-best rebound margin to +9.3 per game. Elon's Atoyebi and Brett James averaged 29.3 combined points coming into the game but were held to 12 combined points in the game, as TJ Douglas led the Phoenix with 10 points off the bench.