Furman 70, Georgia Southern 60
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Sophomore Connor Nolte poured in a career-high 17 points and added seven rebounds to lead Furman past Georgia Southern 70-60 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
The Paladins, with their fourth straight victory at Timmons Arena, upped their record to 6-18 overall and 4-11 in the SoCon. Georgia Southern dropped its sixth straight game to fall to 7-16 overall and 5-10 in the league.
The Paladins forced 16 Georgia Southern turnovers and outscored the Eagles 21-6 on points off of turnovers and 19-14 on second-chance points to snap a six-game skid against GSU. Trailing 49-46 with under 10 minutes remaining, Nolte buried a three-pointer and Justin Dehm followed with a pair of treys to put Furman ahead for good at 55-52 with 8:00 left.
Georgia Southern trimmed the lead to a pair on Sandy Perry’s layup at 5:18. After Jordan Miller answered with a three-pointer and Tyler Troupe followed with a dunk for the Eagles, Bryson Barnes converted a three-point play and Nolte buried another trey to push the Furman advantage to 65-56 with 1:28 to go.
Nolte finished 6-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-7 from three-point range, and 2-for-2 at the foul line. Dehm totaled 16 points, five boards and a career-best six assists while Barnes and Miller each reached double figures with 10 points apiece.
The Paladins shot just 39 percent from the field, but connected on 9-of-27 attempts from long range, including six in the second half. Furman matched a season-low with only eight turnovers and made 11-of-16 free throw attempts.
Troupe and Colby Wohlleb scored 13 points apiece to pace five Eagles in double figures. Perry added 12 points and Antonio Hanson and Ben Drayton each scored 11 on the night. The Eagles held a 36-35 edge on the boards, but shot just 46 percent for the game after shooting 56 percent in the first half.
Furman hosts SoCon-leading Davidson at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Timmons Arena. The game is a sellout and will be broadcast live on the Mid Atlantic Sports Network. Georgia Southern travels to Wofford on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Samford 73, UNC Greensboro 60
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? Bryan Friday led the way with 23 points as Samford defeated UNC Greensboro, 73-60, in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak and moved to 12-13 overall, 7-9 in the SoCon North. UNCG dropped to 4-20 overall, 3-12 in league play.
The Spartans got 16 points from junior guard Mikko Koivisto and 12 points by junior guard Kendall Toney. Freshman forward Damian Eargle added 10 points, giving him double figures in nine of the last 12.
UNCG was within one at 45-44 midway through the second half, but a 10-2 run by the Bulldogs opened the lead back up to eight again. Samford made its free throws down the stretch, knocking down 8 of 10 in the final 1:38. For the game, Samford made 20-of-23 at the line. UNCG was 9-for-11 at the stripe.
Samford also turned UNCG’s 15 miscues into 19 points to make for a 19-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
Friday, who had 20 points in the first meeting between the teams, was 9-of-12 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line for Samford on Thursday night. The Bulldogs also got 16 points from Josh Davis and 14 by Trey Montgomery.
The opening half featured seven lead changes as both teams came out scoring. UNCG led by five early, but seven straight points by the Bulldogs erased the early 7-2 lead. Neither team got much separation from there until Samford went on a 13-3 run, five of those points by Montgomery. That helped open up an eight-point lead for the home squad.
The Bulldogs held UNCG without a field goal for 6:40 during that run, missing six straight shots. But as the halftime buzzer sounded, Toney’s three-pointer went through the net to cut the deficit to just 33-28 at the break.
The Bulldogs held off the Spartans for a while in the second half, but Toney’s three-pointer from the right side cut it to 45-44 with 10:39 left. Samford went on a 10-2 run, capped off by a three-pointer by Davis, to open it back up to an nine-point lead with 7:27 to play.
The Citadel 78, Appalachian State 73 (OT)
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Isaac Butts tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, but Cameron Wells scored six of his game-high 30 in the extra period as The Citadel took a 78-73 win.
For the second time in eight days, the Mountaineers (10-13, 7-8 SoCon) trailed The Citadel by two points in the final minute, when A.J. Highsmith's three-point attempt from the corner rimmed out with just a few ticks left. Butts hauled in the rebound in the middle of the paint and tipped it in at the buzzer to bump the score to 66-66 and force an extra frame.
The Citadel (16-10, 11-4) struck first in overtime with four points before Marcus Wright responded with five points to give the Apps a 71-70 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
After a Bulldog free throw tied it, Donald Sims hit a jumper to give the Apps a 73-71 advantage. Those would be the final ASU points as The Citadel scored the final seven points of the contest.
Cameron Wells of The Citadel led all scorers with 30 points. Zach Urbanus scored 14 points for the Bulldogs, while tallied a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the win.
Kellen Brand scored 18 points in the first half and finished the game with 22 points on 4-of-6 three-point attempts to go with three of ASU's six steals. Sims picked up the slack after halftime with 12 points in the game after not taking a single shot in the opening 20 minutes.
The Mountaineers scored the first 10 points of the game and opened a 15-2 lead behind three Brand treys. Zach Urbanus then heated up for The Citadel as the home team cut their deficit to just four points, before Appalachian extended the advantage back out to 10 points at the half.
The Bulldogs opened the second half on a 12-2 run over four minutes to tie the game at 39-39, before the lead changed hands 11 times in the final 25 minutes.
Wright chipped in seven first-half points and finished the game with a career-high 17 on 7-of-13 shooting, while Butts led the team with eight rebounds to go along with 10 points and a pair of blocks. Wright added three assists and two steals and was the lone Mountaineer without a turnover.
Appalachian out-shot the home team 50.9 percent to 46.6 percent and drained 9-of-18 treys.
The game was the fifth overtime contest of the season for ASU, and marked the second time in the last three games against the Bulldogs that an extra period was required.
Chattanooga 76, Elon 54
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After a sloppy start, Chattanooga (13-13, 9-6 SoCon) used a big second half to roll to a 76-54 win over Elon (8-15, 5-10 SoCon) in the McKenzie Arena Thursday night. The win extends the Mocs lead in the Southern Conference North Division to one-and-a-half games over Western Carolina at 7-7.
Two career records were broken by Mocs tonight as seniors Stephen McDowell and Nicchaeus Doaks etched their names in the history books. A series record was broken as well with the 22-point margin of victory tonight serving as the largest in the 13 meetings between the two schools.
McDowell broke the UTC record for three-pointers made in a career on a trey from the left wing with 28 seconds to go in the first half to cut the Elon advantage to 32-31. He gave the Mocs a halftime cushion of two points with another three with two seconds to go in the half to make it 34-32.
Elon led for the majority of the first half and by as many as nine, 20-11, with 9:28 to go in the first half before the Mocs got going.
The Mocs scored the first nine points of the second half to go up by 11, 43-32 on two Khalil Hartwell free throws at 16:37. In that run, Doaks broke the UTC modern era record for rebounds on a defensive board at 18:54.
A three-pointer by T.J. Douglas cut the lead to eight, 43-35, before Hartwell put the Mocs back up by 10, 45-35 and the lead would not see single digits again with it reaching its apex at the final tally of 76-54.
McDowell led the Mocs with 19 points including five-of-nine from three-point range. He now has 213 three-pointers made in passing Keddric Mays (2006-07) and his 209.
Doaks added 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks to the equation. His 753 career rebounds moves him into first place on the UTC rebounding list ahead of Lance Fulse’s (1985-88) 747 in the DI era.
Two more Mocs registered double digits as Hartwell scored 12 points to go with eight boards, while Kevin Goffney added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
The Phoenix were led by Brett James with 13 points and four rebounds. Douglas came off the bench to chip in 11.
Chattanooga held a slim margin of 38-35 on the glass. The Mocs dominated in the paint with a 36-18 scoring advantage there and scored 19 points off 16 Phoenix turnovers, while Elon registered just six off the Mocs 10 miscues.
UTC limited Elon to 37.1 percent shooting from the field for the game, 29 percent in the second half. Chattanooga hit 70.8 percent from the free throw line.
The Mocs return to action Saturday night hosting UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. in the McKenzie Arena, Elon travels on to Samford for a 3 p.m. tipoff.
Davison 78, Wofford 61
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 78-61 by Davidson on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers had the lead at the half, but could not stop Davidson junior Stephen Curry who had 39 points.
Wofford is 11-12 overall and 7-7 in the conference, while Davidson is 21-4 overall and 14-1 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 18 points and Terry Martin with eleven points, while Tim Johnson pulled down seven rebounds. Davidson was led by Curry with 39 points. Curry leads the nation in scoring. Andrew Lovedale had ten points and nine rebounds.
The Terriers opened strong and had an 11-2 lead at the 15:40 mark after a three pointer from Kevin Giltner. Davidson then went on an 8-0 run to make it an 11-10 score after a three from Stephen Curry at 14:33. Wofford was able to push the lead back to eight points at 19-11 before another 8-0 run tied the game at 19-19 at 10:41.
The score was tied again at 23-23 before the Terriers went on an 8-0 run that included two baskets from Corey Godzinski for a 31-23 lead at 5:42. Again, Davidson answered and pulled back to within two points with another three from Stephen Curry for a 36-34 tally at the 2:16 mark. Wofford added a three from Junior Salters and a lay-up from Noah Dahlman in the final two minutes to take a 41-36 lead at the half.
To open the second half, three straight three pointers by the Wildcats tied the game at 45-45 at the 17:43 mark. Once the game was tied, Davidson went on a 10-0 run which included seven points from Curry for a 55-45 lead at 14:38. Wofford was able to get the lead back to four points after a lay-up from Noah Dahlman for a 57-53 score.
A basket from Brad Loesing got the Terriers to within two at 58-56 with 9:35 on the clock. A lay-up from Tim Johnson with 7:48 left made it a 60-59 lead for the Wildcats. However, that was as close as Wofford would get, as Davidson went on an 18-2 run over the final 7:34 to secure the 78-61 win.
Wofford shot 42 percent from the floor and 21 percent from three-point range. The Wildcats connected on 44 percent of their field goal attempts and shot 37 percent from behind the arc.
The game was the second sell-out at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The only other sell-out was on November 28, 2001 against South Carolina. The Gamecocks will visit Wofford again next season.