Elon 75, Georgia Southern 61
ELON, N.C. ? Drew Spradlin knocked down a team-high and career-high 17 points ? 10 in the second half ? and Devan Carter added a season-high 16 points as Elon upended Georgia Southern for a 75-61 Southern Conference men’s basketball triumph Thursday evening at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (10-17 overall, 7-11 SoCon) also received a team-leading seven rebounds from Adam Constantine, a game-high and career-high eight assists from Josh Bonney and 10 points and a contest-best two blocked shots from Ola Atoyebi en route to beating Georgia Southern at “The Nest” for the first time ever in four attempts.
Ben Drayton posted a game-high 26 points, a contest-best nine boards and five assists for the Eagles (8-19 overall, 5-13 SoCon), who also ended up with 11 markers and six caroms by Sandy Perry, 10 points by Colby Wohlleb, five assists by Antonio Hanson ? who finished 0-for-4 from long distance despite entering the contest with 77 treys on the season ? and a game-high three steals by Anthony Marshall.
Elon erupted to a 17-6 lead on a fast-break bucket by Brett James with 9:29 left to play in the opening stanza. Georgia Southern responded by going on an 11-4 tear to draw to within 21-17 on an inside basket by Perry with 5:20 remaining in the first period.
Via a 35-18 run, the Phoenix sprinted to a 56-35 advantage with 10:24 to go in the game on a jumper by Bonney. The Eagles answered with a 22-13 surge to move to within 69-57 on a free throw by Jeb Brannen with 48 ticks left, but could inch no closer.
Elon fired 49.1 percent (26 of 53) from the field ? 56.5 percent (13 of 23) in the second half ? and 81.0 percent (17 of 21) from the free throw line while Georgia Southern shot 38.3 percent (23 of 60) from the floor and 62.5 percent (10 of 16) from the charity stripe. The Phoenix fired 35.3 percent (6 of 17) from three-point range while the Eagles finished at 23.8 percent (5 of 21) from downtown.
Georgia Southern outrebounded Elon 37-33, but committed 14 turnovers to 12 miscues by the Phoenix. Elon edged the Eagles in points off turnovers (10-9), fast-break points (12-9) and bench points (38-12). Georgia Southern outscored the Phoenix 30-28 in the paint and 10-4 off second chances.
College of Charleston 86, Wofford 84
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Andrew Goudelock scored 20 points while Jeremy Simmons added a career-best 16 points as the College of Charleston held on for an 86-84 Southern Conference win over Wofford before 2,836 at Carolina First Arena on Thursday.
The Cougars, who improved to 22-7 overall and 14-5 in league play, play host to Furman in the regular-season finale on SportSouth at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Wofford, which fell to 14-13 and 10-8, plays at The Citadel at 7 p.m on Saturday. Charleston has won five of its last six games.
Goudelock scored nine points including a three-pointer at the end of the half to give the Cougars a 41-26 lead at intermission. Jermaine Johnson’s jumper in the lane with 8:33 left in the game gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 66-47.
Wofford came back on the shoulders of Noah Dahlman, who posted a career-high 36 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds.
Junior Salters, who tallied 16 points, 13 in the second half, capped a 25-11 Wofford run that cut Charleston’s lead to 77-72 with 1:13 remaining. Down the stretch Charleston did just enough including hitting 5-of-6 free throws to earn the win. Salters hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.
For the game, the Cougars shot 50.8 percent from the floor after connecting on 59.3 percent in the first half. Wofford, who tallied 58 points after intermission, shot 43.8 percent for the game, 55.3 percent in the second half.
Marcus Hammond came off the bench to score 13 points for Charleston while Tony White, Jr. and Johnson added 11 and 10 points each, respectively.
Corey Godzinski added 13 points for the Terriers and Terry Martin scored 10 off the bench.
Simmons added a career-high four blocks and pulled down a team-high nine boards.
Western Carolina 65, Samford 58
CULLOWHEE, N.C. --- The Samford University basketball team’s road struggles continued at Western Carolina on Thursday as the Bulldogs suffered a 65-58 Southern Conference loss against the Catamounts at the Ramsey Center. Samford committed 22 turnovers and dropped to 3-11 on the road this season.
With the loss, Samford (13-15, 8-11 SoCon) ended its chances of earning a first-round bye in the upcoming SoCon Tournament. Following Appalachian State’s 88-82 victory against Chattanooga on Thursday, the Bulldogs concluded the day as the fourth-place team in the North Division.
The Bulldogs’ Josh Bedwell tied a career-high with 24 points in Thursday’s loss. Samford’s sophomore sharpshooter from Hartselle, Ala., came off the bench to lead the team in scoring and finished 7-of-12 from the field.
Bedwell turned in a 5-for-8 performance from 3-point range and was an unblemished 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. He is the Bulldogs’ top free-throw shooter this season with a stellar 89.1 mark from the line.
Samford’s Josh Davis added 16 points Thursday, with all of his points coming in the first half. He finished the game shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Trey Montgomery added 12 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs.
With its win Thursday, Western Carolina (15-14, 10-9 SoCon) improved to 10-2 when playing at home this season. The Catamounts own the best home record in the conference and have not been defeated in the Ramsey Center since a 75-66 setback against The Citadel on Feb. 7.
Forward Richie Gordon scored a team-high 23 points for Western Carolina. The Catamounts’ muscular 6-foot-8 native of Atlanta, Ga., turned in a 9-of-13 performance from the field and a 5-of-7 mark from the free-throw line. Gordon also tallied a game-high nine rebounds and finished just one board shy of a double-double.
Western Carolina’s Adrian Gailliard and Brigham Waginger both tallied 10 points apiece.
Samford tallied a 48-percent shooting performance from 3-point range Thursday, but turned the ball over 22 times. It was the Bulldogs’ second highest total for turnovers this season, following 24 miscues at Belmont on Nov. 14.
Appalachian State 88, Chattanooga 82
BOONE, N.C. - Donald Sims scored a career-high 35 points, including two critical three-pointers in the final minute, to lead Appalachian State University men’s basketball to a crucial 88-82 win over first-place Chattanooga on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center.
With the victory, Appalachian (12-16, 9-10 SoCon) remained in the hunt for one of the North Division’s two first-round byes in next week’s Southern Conference Tournament. A win on Saturday versus Samford and a Western Carolina loss to Chattanooga (15-15, 11-8) gives ASU the first-round bye. No team without a bye has won the SoCon Tournament since it went to a four-day format in 1993.
Having already tied his previous career high of 29, Sims snapped an 82-82 deadlock with a long-range three-pointer with 57 seconds left to play. After UTC’s Stephen McDowell missed his attempt at a game-tying three and following an ASU timeout, Sims drained his ninth three-pointer of the evening from 25 feet with 14 seconds remaining to seal the thrilling win.
Stephen McDowell led Chattanooga with 16 points. Khalil Hartwell and Keyron Sheard each added 14 points for the Mocs, while Kevin Goffney tallied 13 points. Chattanooga forced ASU into 19 turnovers and converted them into 25 points. The Mocs’ bench outscored Appalachian State, 17-3
The Mountaineers led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Mocs went on a 34-19 run to take its first lead in 26 minutes at 76-75 with 4:09 to go. The Apps regained the lead 17 seconds later on a Sims three but UTC scored six of the next 10 points to knot it at 82-82 and set up Sims’ last-minute heroics.
Appalachian opened the first half strong with a 9-2 run and extended the lead to 10 points at the break with a 48-38 advantage. 15 of Sims’ 19 first-half points came from beyond the arc as the team made seven treys in the first half and shot 54.5 percent from the floor. ASU shot 56.4 percent from the floor in the game and sank 11-of-28 three-pointers.
Isaac Butts had four points and three rebounds in the first three minutes of the game but spent the remaining 17 minutes of the half on the bench due to foul trouble. The big man came alive in the second half when he entered the game with 13 minutes to play. He finished the game with his ninth double-double of the season with 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in just 16 minutes of play.
Kellen Brand added 18 points and a season-best seven assists on 8-of-14 shooting with four rebounds. Donterious Hughes dished out five assists of his own to go along with 13 points and a perfect 5-for-5 mark from the charity stripe. The Apps made 15-of-20 from the line in the game and 21 assists in the game, the second-highest total of the season.
Sims’ nine three-pointers are tied for the second-most in ASU history while his 35 points are tied for 19th in the school’s all-time annals.
The 48 first-half points were the third-most of the season for the Apps and the most in SoCon play, while the team’s five starters accounted for all but three of the team’s points on the night. A.J. Highsmith hit a three-pointer for the only bench points of the evening.
The Citadel 75, Furman 54
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Senior Demetrius Nelson tallied a game-high 28 points to guide The Citadel to its 11th straight victory as the Bulldogs topped Furman 75-54 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday evening at McAlister Field House.
The Bulldogs upped their record to 19-10 overall and 14-4 in the SoCon while Furman dropped its third straight game to fall to 6-21 overall and 4-14 inside the league.
Nelson connected on 9-of-11 shots from the field and 10-of-12 free throw attempts while matching a team-high with eight rebounds. The senior scored five of his points during a 24-7 Bulldog run that turned a 31-28 lead with 19:11 left into a 55-35 cushion with under nine minutes
remaining.
John Brown tallied 16 points and eight rebounds and Zach Urbanus added 11 points for the Bulldogs who shot 50 percent (29-58) from the field to complete a regular season sweep against the Paladins.
Bryson Barnes paced Furman with 10 points and a career-best 12 rebounds in the loss. Furman, who was out-rebounded 38-32, shot just 34 percent (19-56) from the floor and connected on only 3-of-14 shots from long range as it remained winless on the road this season.