Elon 72, Western Carolina 66
ELON, N.C. ? Ola Atoyebi registered 14 points, including an old-fashioned three-point play with 24 seconds left to give Elon the lead for good, leading the Phoenix to a 72-66 come-from-behind victory over Western Carolina in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday night at Alumni Gym.
The Catamounts (13-13 overall, 8-8 SoCon) rolled to a commanding 30-18 advantage on a layup by Brandon Giles with 3:54 left to play in the opening period. Elon (9-16, 6-11) rallied with a 10-2 spurt to close out the first frame, pulling to within 32-28 at halftime on a three-point bucket by TJ Douglas with 41 ticks remaining in the stanza.
WCU erupted out of the locker room to a 7-0 surge, fattening its lead to 39-28 on an old-fashioned three-point play with 18:27 to go in the contest. The Phoenix responded with a 17-9 run to draw to within 48-45 on a dunk by Adam Constantine at the 10:50 mark.
Western Carolina answered with a 9-4 spurt to stretch its advantage to 57-49 on a bucket in the paint by Harouna Mutombo with 7:42 left. Elon replied with a 14-3 surge to claim a 63-60 edge when Chris Long followed Atoyebi’s game-tying free throw ? the contest’s lone tie ? by draining a three-point field goal with 3:14 to play.
The Catamounts used a 6-2 spurt to seize their final lead at 66-65 on a jumper by Mutombo ? WCU’s last points of the game ? with 1:29 to go, setting the stage for Atoyebi’s heroics. After Atoyebi’s old-fashioned three-point play gave the Phoenix a 68-65 lead with 24 ticks left, Long canned a pair of freebies with 13 seconds remaining and Elon’s Drew Spradlin sank two charity shots with one tick to go.
The contest featured six lead changes. Western Carolina outscored Elon 30-22 in the paint and 12-5 off second chances. The Phoenix outscored the Catamounts 25-13 off turnovers and 40-12 off the bench. Western Carolina won the battle of the boards by a 39-25 margin, but committed 23 turnovers to 13 by Elon.
Atoyebi pulled down a team-high six rebounds while Long dished out a contest-best nine assists, Devan Carter chipped in 12 points, Douglas added 11 markers and Brett James swiped three steals for the Phoenix. For the Catamounts, Mutombo posted a pair of game highs with 20 points and 10 rebounds along with his team-leading four assists. Keaton Cole scored 10 points for Western Carolina.
Elon shot 48.9 percent (23 of 47) from the field ? 52.2 percent (12 of 23) in the second half ? and 57.1 percent (20 of season-high 35) from the free throw line. The contest marked the second time that the Phoenix won this season despite trailing at halftime. Elon also won for the seventh time in its 14th game decided by 10 points or less.
Western Carolina fired 42.3 percent (22 of 52) from the floor and 85.0 percent (17 of 20) from the charity stripe. WCU connected on 27.8 percent (5 of 18) of its attempts from three-point range to 46.2 percent (6 of 13) from downtown by Elon.
The Phoenix will now hit the road to visit UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m. Saturday in an ESPNU BracketBuster matchup. Meanwhile, the Catamounts will visit UNC Greensboro at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Appalachian State 70, UNC Greensboro 69
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? A. J. Highsmith’s three-pointer with 29 seconds to play gave Appalachian State a 70-69 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference men’s basketball action at Fleming Gym on Thursday night.
Kellen Brand had 15 points to lead the Mountaineers, but it was his back-to-back steals with a little over two minutes to play that sparked the Mountaineers late. Donald Sims had 13 points for ASU (11-15, 8-10 SoCon).
Junior guard Kendall Toney had a season-high 18 points to lead UNCG (4-22, 3-14). Ben Stywall added 17 points and eight rebounds, while Mikko Koivisto chipped in with 13 points.
The Spartans were hurt, however, by free throw shooting. UNCG was just 19-of-35 from the foul line and missed 10 front ends of two-shot sequences.
UNCG had a 65-63 lead with 2:30 to play, but back-to-back steals by Kellen Brand and ensuing breakaway layups by ASU gave the visitors a two-point advantage with 2:05 lead. UNCG’s Kendall Toney, countered, however, after a timeout with a three-pointer from the left wing for a 68-67 lead.
After an ASU miss, the Spartans’ Damian Eargle drove to the basket and was fouled with 49.6 second left. He rattled one of two home for a two-point lead. Highsmith answered that, though, with 29 seconds left with a trey from the left corner to give the Mountaineers a 70-69 lead.
UNCG called timeout to set up a final play. The Spartans isolated for Stywall on the left side, but his turnaround jumper rattled out. Kellen Brand missed two free throws, however, and UNCG got a timeout with 3.2 seconds left.
With 94 feet to go, the Spartans turned to speedy Daniel Oliver. Oliver dribbled through traffic, but was double-teamed as he lunged at a 28-footer, but it fell short as time expired.
The Mountaineers led by as many as 11 in the first half. Andre Williamson made one of two at the line to give Appalachian State a 27-16 lead with 5:36 left before halftime. However, the Spartans closed out the half on a 10-3 run. Capped off by Kendall Toney’s three-pointer with three seconds
left, UNCG cut the deficit to one, 35-34, at the break.
The Mountaineers held UNCG without a field goal for the first three minutes of the second half to extend the lead back to six. But the Spartans went on a 7-1 run to tie at 41-41 on a pair of free throws by Montel Smith. UNCG finally get its first lead of the night with 11:10 to play on a Stywall
turnaround jumper in the lane, 48-47.
College of Charleston 81, Georgia Southern 68
STATESBORO, Ga. - Tyler Troupe recorded his third double-double this year but the College of Charleston blistered the nets, shooting 67.9 percent in the second half, handing Georgia Southern an 81-68 loss Thursday night (Feb. 19). The Eagles dropped their eighth straight, 7-18 overall and 5-12 in the Southern Conference.
Both teams went back and forth during the first half as the lead changed hands 10 times and three times the score was tied.
Down one, Ben Drayton III hit a three pointer. The Cougars responded with a triple of their own, but Drayton hit a jumper to give the Eagles a 27-26 lead with 2:36 remaining in the first half. Jeremy Simmons hit two free throws and Antwaine Wiggins hit a field goal which would eventually give Charleston a one-point halftime lead, 30-29.
Charleston eventually took a six point lead midway through the second half lead when Andrew Goudelock hit a three pointer with 14:43 remaining. The Eagles responded to tie the game when Colby Wohlleb hit a jumper, Antonio Hanson drained a triple and Kenith Ward hit the second of two free throws.
Gouldelock hit another jumper but Wohlleb rimmed in a shot from beyond the arc for a 47-46 lead with 11:40 left. Donavan Monroe hit back-to-back triples and the Cougars used that to start a 15-2 run to pull away for the win. Charleston started the half hitting 11 of its first 15 field goal attempts, finishing 67.9 percent for the half and 50.9 percent for the game (29-57).
Troupe tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds with three assists and no turnovers in 31 minutes of play. It was his second double-double in the last five games.
Drayton scored in double-figures for the seventh straight game playing nearly all 40 minutes. The true-freshman guard finished with 16 points and blocked a shot. Hanson also scored in double-figures with 11 points, nine coming from beyond the arc.
The Eagles shot 42.4 percent for the game, but only made 5-of-11 free throws. For the third straight game Georgia Southern made equal or more 3-pointers (7-of-21) than free throws.
Goudelock scored a game-high 18 points while Monroe added 16 points off the bench. Charleston held a 37-35 edge overall in rebounds but Georgia Southern owned the offensive end, 17-12. Neither Charleston turned the ball over nine times to the Eagles' 10.