Wofford 81, Southern 66
LAS VEGAS, Nev.- The Wofford men's basketball team used 31 points from Noah Dahlman to defeat Southern University 81-66 at the Orleans Arena on Friday afternoon in the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational. The Terriers never trailed in the game and led by as many as 14 in the first half.
Wofford is 3-3 overall, while Southern is 0-5 on the season. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with a season-high 31 points. Junior Salters had 12 and Jamar Diggs added nine, while Brad Loesing had eight assists with only one turnover. The Jaguars were led by Jazz Williams with 19 points and Earnest Jones with 14 points.
"I thought our transition defense was good," said head coach Mike Young. "I told our team I thought we were a bit lackluster. We handled some things well and our defense was good. We were willing to share the ball. We are going to have to be better if we expect to beat Seattle tomorrow as they are a good team."
The Terriers opened the game with a 10-2 lead. After a basket from Noah Dahlman, Wofford had a 14-5 advantage. The Terriers pushed the lead to 29-15 after two free throws by Terry Martin just under five minutes in the half. Southern then went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead back to six. The Jaguars would pull to within five points at 33-28, but Junior Salters hit a three with ten seconds left in the half to take a 36-28 at the break.
Dahlman scored the first four points of the second half to take a twelve point lead. Wofford had a ten point lead at 52-42 after a three pointer by Kevin Giltner at the 13:20 mark. The Jaguars would pull to within six points at the nine minute mark at 57-51, but the Terriers kept it a ten point game until just under five minutes to play. A three pointer by Junior Salters widened the lead and Wofford made free throws in the final minutes for the 81-66 final score.
The Terriers will play Seattle on Saturday at 5:30 pm ET in Las Vegas to complete the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational. Wofford will then play two more road games at Western Carolina and at Michigan State before hosting Appalachian State at Benjamin Johnson Arena on December 7.
Furman 72, UNC Asheville 66
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Junior Jordan Miller tallied 20 points, including 15 in the second half, and Furman converted on 25-of-31 trips to the foul line to hold off UNC Asheville 72-66 to snap a 20-game road losing streak on Friday evening at the Justice Center.
The win improved Furman to 4-1 on the season and gave the Paladins their first road triumph since claiming a victory at The Citadel on February 28, 2008. UNC Asheville fell to 0-5 on the season.
Miller, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, keyed an 11-0 Furman run late in the second half to turn a 46-45 deficit with six minutes left into a 57-46 lead on a driving layup with 3:01 remaining. After Furman built a four-point advantage on a pair of Justin Dehm free throws, Miller buried a three-pointer with 4:12 left to give the Paladins their largest lead of the game to that point at 53-46. Following two free throws on the next possession, the Memphis, Tenn., native created a turnover and converted the layup to put the game out of reach.
Furman made 24-of-27 shots from the charity stripe in the second half and buried 7-of-16 three-point attempts on the night to snap a three-game skid against the Bulldogs and earn its second victory ever at the Justice Center.
Bryson Barnes connected on 5-of-10 field goal attempts and 6-of-6 free throws to join Miller in double figures with 17 points while Dehm made 9-of-10 free throws to register 15 points to go with three assists. The Paladins shot 40.0% (20-50) from the field and committed just 13 turnovers on the night.
UNCA, led by J.P. Primm's 20 points, shot 43.3% from the floor and was guilty of 14 turnovers. The Bulldogs managed a 37-33 edge on the boards. Chris Stephenson and John Williams joined Primm in double figures with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Furman held a 28-27 advantage at the half, but neither team led by more than four points until Miller's trey with under five minutes remaining gave the Paladins a seven-point cushion.
Furman wraps up its three-game road trip and opens Southern Conference play on December 3, when it travels to face Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. Tip-off at the Holmes Convocation Center is set for 7 p.m.
Texas-Pan American 61, Chattanooga 50
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - It was a frustrating afternoon for the Chattanooga men's basketball team as it dropped a 61-50 decision to feisty University of Texas-Pan American in the South Padre Island Convention Center in South Padre Island, Texas. The loss puts the Mocs at 2-3 on the year, while the Broncs move to 1-5.
DeAntre Jefferson once again led the way for the Mocs on the nine-day, four-game road trip with 12 points and nine rebounds. UTPA was led by Luis Valera with 12 point and eight boards.
It was a slow start for both teams. After UTPA scored first on a Ben Smith three-pointer, the Mocs held the Broncs without a field goal for more than five minutes (5:18) but could not take early control. UTC went through a five-plus minute drought of its own as the score including a two-for-eight start at the charity stripe to trail 9-4 with 12:04 left in the half.
The Mocs found their scoring touch going on a 15-2 run to go up eight, 19-11, with 6:50 until the break. True freshman Sam Watson provided a big spark off the bench with six points on two three-pointers.
The Broncs answered closing out the half on a 17-4 run of its own. UTPA took a 28-23 lead into the intermission. The Mocs struggled shooting from all over the court making 31.0 percent (9-29) from the field, 20.0 percent from three-point range (2-10) and just 30 percent (3-10) from the free throw line.
The Mocs got off to another slow start in the second half scoring just eight points over the first 10-plus minutes of the game. That gave the Broncs the ability to push to as much as an 18-point cushion.
Trailing 57-42 with 3:42 left, the Mocs got back-to-back three-pointers by Josh Odem and Ricky Taylor to cut the lead to 58-48 at 2:07. But it was a matter of too little, too late for the Mocs as UTPA held on for the 61-50 win.
The Chattanooga bench out-scored the starters 31 to 19 and grabbed 19 of the team's 38 rebounds. The Mocs shot just 32.7 percent (18-55) from the floor, 28.6 percent (6-21) from behind the arc and 40 percent (8-10) on free throws.
The Mocs will face Longwood tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. (ET). The games are part of the South Padre Island Invitational. The team returns to Chattanooga on Sunday and heads back on the road Tuesday, Dec. 1, with a visit to Jacksonville State at 8 p.m, (ET).
Tennessee 86, College of Charleston 69
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Scotty Hopson scored 21 points and Tyler Smith added 18 to lead No. 9 Tennessee to an 86-69 win over College of Charleston on Friday night.
Charleston (1-3) stayed close by going 10 for 17 from 3-point range, but Tennessee (5-1) went on a 9-0 run to take a 76-61 lead with just under 6 minutes left.
The Volunteers struggled at the free throw line early in the game, going 6 for 13, but they connected on 13 of their next 16 the rest of the way. They also controlled the glass all night, with a 44-24 rebounding advantage over the Cougars.
Hopson scored 17 points in the first half, going 6 for 9 from the field and hitting all three of his attempts from behind the arc. Smith picked up the slack in the second half with 16 points, hitting all eight of his attempts from the free throw line.
Smith slashed inside for a layup to give Tennessee a 46-33 lead early in the second half, but three quick triples and a Willis Hall jumper closed the gap to 48-44. Andrew Goudelock's three-pointer cut the Vols' lead to 61-58 midway through the half, but Smith and Williams connected on consecutive possessions to make it 65-58.
Donavan Monroe led Charleston with 16 points and Jeremy Simmons added 15.
Charleston senior point guard Tony White Jr., a Knoxville native and the son of former Tennessee All-America point guard Tony White, was given a loud ovation during the starting lineup introduction and finished with 12 points. Cougars coach Bobby Cremins called time-out with 0:36 left, allowing White to leave the floor to another round of cheers. White had a game-high six assists.
"It was a great experience coming here to Knoxville," said Cougar coach Bobby Cremins. "I really appreciate Tennessee playing us. Coach Pearl has been great. This is a classy program. It was a pleasure playing these guys. We were competitive tonight. We were right there, and then we ran out of gas. They were too powerful for us. They are a very good team. They played with a lot of poise, and they are tough. It was a competitive game, though, and we're glad about that."
Valparaiso 97, Georgia Southern 89
STATESBORO, Ga. - Junior guard Willie Powers III scored a career-best 27 points and senior guard Antonio Hanson added 20, but it wasn't enough as Valparaiso came away with the 97-89 win at Hanner Fieldhouse. In the second game of the Legends Classic, the Crusaders had built a 21-point lead at the 13-minute mark of the second half, 44-65, but the combination of the Eagles' pesky press defense and key baskets from Powers and Hanson reduced the margin to six with 2:15 left in the game.
Georgia Southern had a season-high 10 three-pointers with Hanson hitting six. Junior forward Rory Spencer went 5-5 from the field in the first half, contributing 14 points to the total.
With nine ties and seven lead changes in the first half, the Eagles and Crusaders appeared set to battle, but Brandon Wood scored seven of Valparaiso's next 10 points to give the Crusaders a 47-39 lead at halftime. Valpo built its lead to 20 off a 17-3 run in the first five minutes of the second stanza. Both teams went without a basket until the 12:36 mark. Two threes and two free throws by Hanson and a three by Ben Drayton III would counter a Crusader layup and dunk to the 8:24 mark. In the next 30 seconds, Hanson hit another three, then stole a pass to feed Powers for a layup to cut the lead to 13.
Hanson and Powers each hit another three and Spencer completed a three-point play to pull the score within eight with just under four minutes left to play. Trading Eagle baskets and Crusader free throws, the lead went back and forth between nine and 11 during the final minute. A final three-pointer by Powers cut the lead back to seven with 15 seconds left, but a final free throw by Wood put the final margin at eight points.
Wood had 39 points to lead all scorers, going 13-18 from the field for the game with three treys and adding 10 points from the foul line. Wood also had the game high in rebounds with nine. Cory Johnson and Ryan Broekhoff each had 14 points with Brandon McPherson finishing with 10.
"We played hard buzzer to buzzer, but there are definitely some things we need to improve defensively," said Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "I'm disappointed that we allowed 71 percent field goal percentage in the second half in our last game and 56 percent for the game tonight. Our press got us back in the game, no question. We're continuing to learn more about our team and each game we are playing now prepares us for conference competition down the road."
The Legends Classic Statesboro sub-regional games continue Saturday (November 28) with Troy and Valparaiso meeting in the early game at 3 p.m. and Arkansas-Fort Smith meeting the host Georgia Southern in the 5:30 p.m. contest.