Furman 63, Samford 57
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Sophomore Jordan Miller scored a team-high 18 points, all in the second half, and Furman shot 63 percent from the field after the break to down Samford 63-57 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
The win, Furman’s second straight at home, improved the Paladins to 4-17 overall and 2-10 in the SoCon. Samford dropped to 11-11 overall and 6-7 inside the league.
After missing all six shots in the first half, Miller buried 5-of-8 field goal attempts, including 3-of-4 beyond the arc following the break, to spark Furman to a 12-of-19 effort from the floor after intermission. The Memphis, Tenn., native gave Furman a lead on two free throws with 6:21 left and drained a three-pointer on the next possession to extend the lead to 51-47 with under six minutes to play.
Furman pushed its lead out to seven with 1:17 left before Trey Montgomery sunk two free throws and Josh Davis buried a trey to trim the margin to 59-57 with 38 seconds remaining. Justin Dehm and Miller each connected on a pair of free throws in the final 34 seconds and Noah States rejected a Montgomery dunk attempt in the final seconds to help the Paladins hold on for the victory.
Dehm and States joined Miller in double figures with 10 points apiece. Bryson Barnes chipped in with nine points and six rebounds. The Paladins shot 48 percent (23-47) from the field while connecting on 6-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc and 11-of-15 trips to the charity stripe. Furman dominated the glass outrebounding the Bulldogs 35-13, including 15 offensive boards.
Bryan Friday poured in a career-high 21 points to lead the Bulldogs. Davis added 17 and Montgomery tallied 10 points. Samford shot 49 percent (20-41) from the field and 10-of-14 from the foul line.
The Paladins continue their homestand on Saturday hosting Chattanooga at 4 p.m. Samford travels to face Wofford on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Western Carolina 70, College of Charleston 68
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Richie Gordon scored 22 points, including the game-winning layup, to lead Western Carolina to a 70-68 victory over College of Charleston on Thursday night.
Gordon was 10-for-11 from the field and scored seven of the last eight points for the Catamounts (12-10, 7-5 Southern Conference), who won their sixth straight home game. Harouna Mutombo added 14 points for WCU, while Brandon Giles and Brigham Waginger each added 10 points for the Catamounts
Western Carolina snapped the Cougars' 13-0 streak when leading at halftime. Charleston (16-6, 8-4) led 36-33 at halftime and 51-43 with 14:34 left. Dustin Scott scored 16 points for CofC. Jermaine Johnson scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.
The Catamounts pulled ahead 64-63 on a Gordon jumper with 5:32 left. Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 18 points, tied the game at 68 on a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining. Gordon answered with his layup with 15 seconds left.
Charleston's Tony White Jr. missed his first free throw, ending his school-record streak of 30 straight.
The Citadel 74, Appalachian State 72
BOONE, N.C. - Donald Sims' three-pointer at the buzzer was off target as Appalachian State University men's basketball suffered a 74-72 setback at the hands of The Citadel on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center
The win was The Citadel's sixth in a row but first over Appalachian since Jan. 20, 1996, snapping a string of 17-straight ASU victories in the series. The Citadel won in Boone for the first time since a 75-71 victory at Varsity Gym on Feb. 13, 1993.
The Mountaineers (9-12, 6-7 SoCon) opened a seven-point lead in the first half of the game behind eight points from Kellen Brand, but the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 10-2 run to take a 35-33 lead into the locker room.
The Citadel (14-10, 9-4) regained the advantage after the break and extended it to as many as seven early in the second half. The Apps cut the deficit to two points in the final minute and had the ball following a Marcus Wright steal with 14 seconds left to play. On their final possession, Kellen Brand was unable to break free for an open look and dished to Sims, who had a decent look at the would-be game-winning shot, but the attempt bounced off the rim as time expired to snap the Mountaineers' two-game winning streak.
After sinking 9-of-14 three-pointers in Monday's win at Georgia Southern, Appalachian struggled from deep in the first half, connecting on just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc. The Apps shot a proficient 60 percent on two-point attempts but knocked in just 2-of-17 from outside in the game.
Josh Hunter paced ASU with a career-high 18 points, while The Citadel's Demetrius Nelson led all scorers with 22. Isaac Butts again led the team on the glass with seven rebounds to complement his 13 points. He also had two of the team's seven blocks while freshman Andre Williamson swatted three.
Cameron Wells added 20 points and four assists for the Bulldogs, while Zach Urbanus chipped in 13 points.
Sims and Brand each wrapped up the game with 10 points while Donterious Hughes had nine. Wright dished out four of ASU's nine assists.
It was just the fifth time in 21 games this season that an opponent held an advantage in rebounds, as the Cadets hauled in 34 boards compared to 31 for ASU.
Elon 57, Georgia Southern 54
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer missed left off the glass and the Eagles dropped a 57-54 Southern Conference decision to Elon on Thursday night (Feb. 5) at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Eagles (7-14 overall, 5-8 SoCon) lost their fourth straight.
Tyler Troupe recorded his second career double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds off the bench. His boards were not only a career-high, but also a team season-high.
Ben Drayton III hit a jumper in the lane with 3:52 remaining to give Georgia Southern a 54-52 lead. Brett James hit a runner in the lane to tie, then with two minutes left Adam Constantine was wide open in the lane and dunked home what would be the winning basket.
The Eagles missed three triples in the final two minutes. Josh Bonney hit the second of two free throws and Drayton raced up court with three seconds left. He launched a shot from near midcourt to try sending the game into overtime but just missed.
The Eagles opened the game on a 14-2 run, with four different players scoring, forcing Elon to call a timeout six minutes into the game.
Elon staged a 20-9 run over the next 13 minutes to close the gap to one. When Troupe missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 12 seconds left Elon got the rebound and drove down the court.
Anthony Marshall intercepted Devan Carter's pass and as he was falling out-of-bounds, launched a half-court pass to Drayton. The freshman guard caught the pass and made a driving lay-in in the final second to give the Eagles a 25-22 halftime lead.
Early in the second half both teams traded baskets. Bonney hit a 20-footer to give Elon (7-13, 4-8) its first lead of the game at 29-28, forcing coach Price to call timeout.
Troupe hit a pair of free throws to give GS a 36-33 lead. However, Elon responded with a 15-5 run. Chris Long hit a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point lead, the largest of the night.
On the next possession, Krzysztof Janiszewski grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Drayton who drained a '3'. Troupe made an off-handed lay-in, then Antonio Hanson drained a three-pointer to regain the lead.
Drayton joined Troupe in double-figures, scoring a game-high 17 points. Hanson added 11 points and three rebounds.
The Eagles shot 40.8 percent for the game (20-49) and held Elon to 36.7 percent (22-60). Despite out-rebounding the Phoenix 40-35, nine more turnovers cost Georgia Southern.
James scored a team-high 15 points for Elon while Long and Atoyebi added 11 points each. Constantine grabbed 11 rebounds.
Chattanooga 84, Wofford 77
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 84-77 by Chattanooga on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. Wofford had an eleven point lead early in the second half, but a 13-0 run by the Mocs late in the game was the difference.
Wofford is 9-11 overall and 5-6 in the conference, while Chattanooga is 11-12 overall and 7-5 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Junior Salters with 18 points, including 6-of-8 from three, Tim Johnson with 13 points and five rebounds, and Kevin Giltner with ten points. The Mocs were led by Ty Patterson with 23 points as five players scored in double-figures. Khalil Hartwell led all rebounders with eleven.
The Terriers jumped out to an early 9-0 lead after a three pointer by Brad Loesing and two threes from Junior Salters at the 17:19 mark. A three pointer by Matt Estep pushed the Wofford lead to 21-9 with 12:27 left in the first half. Additional threes by Corey Godzinski and Junior Salters kept the lead at ten points with 8:42 remaining.
Chattanooga pulled within four points at 27-23 at 7:37, but the lead was quickly back to 35-25 after a couple more threes from Salters. Wofford had an eleven points lead after a three from Kevin Giltner with 1:26 left in the half, but two late threes from Jasper Williams made it a 44-37 lead for the Terriers at the half. In the first twenty minutes, both teams made over 60% from behind the arc and combined for 20 three pointers.
In the second half, Wofford pushed the lead to eleven points just two minutes into play at 50-39 after a lay-up by Terry Martin. Five minutes later at the 12:54 mark, the Terrier lead was down to only three points at 55-52. Wofford made it a seven point game at 7:51 after a basket from Terry Martin.
With five minutes on the clock, Wofford had a 70-64 lead after a bucket from Corey Godzinski. Over the next four minutes, the Mocs would go on a 13-0 run to take a 77-70 lead with just 42 seconds left in the game. A key factor in the run was the Mocs making 9-of-9 free throws. A three by Corey Godzinski with 34 seconds left ended the run, but more free throws down the stretch sealed the 84-77 comeback win for Chattanooga.
Wofford shot 49.1percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from three. The Terriers were 58.8 percent from the line. The Mocs shot 57.8 percent from the floor and 57.9 percent from behind the arc. Chattanooga was 70.0 percent from the free throw line. Wofford was out rebounded 37-26 and had a season-low nine turnovers.
Noah Dahlman did not play due to injury. Corey Godzinski was back in the line-up after missing seven games due to injury. Terry Martin and Junior Salters both fouled out in the game for the Terriers. Wofford had 15 three-pointers in the game, the most this season and the most since hitting 17 against Chattanooga last season (Jan. 3, 2008).
Davidson 75, UNC Greensboro 54
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? National Player of the Year candidate Stephen Curry scored a game-high 29 points to lead Davidson past UNC Greensboro, 75-54, in front of a sellout crowd of 11,687 at the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday night.
The win was Davidson’s 43rd straight in Southern Conference regular season play, one shy of the conference record set nearly 50 years ago by West Virginia. The Wildcats moved to 20-3 overall, 13-0 in league play, while UNCG dropped to 3-18, 2-10 despite hanging around for much of the night.
The Spartans trailed by just six with 13 minutes to go, but a 10-2 run by Davidson, including back-to-back three-pointers by Curry and Bryant Barr, pushed it back to 14 with 9:32 to play. UNCG couldn’t get the margin under 10 after that as the Wildcats pulled away for their 12th straight win.
UNCG got 13 points and seven rebounds from junior forward Ben Stywall. Kendall Toney added 12 points and freshman Damian Eargle chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocks.
Stephen Rossiter added 14 points and 13 rebounds and Andrew Lovedale chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, which won their sixth straight over the Spartans.
UNCG held Davidson to just 38 percent shooting from the floor (27-of-71), but 25 offensive rebounds by the Wildcats and 20 turnovers by the Spartans were the difference. Davidson wound up with a 51-34 advantage on the glass and 27 second-chance points.
Davidson opened the game with no field goals in the first five minutes ? getting its first bucket on a three-pointer by Curry at the 15-minute mark. In Davidson missing their first seven shots, UNCG opened up a 7-3 lead.
That sparked the Wildcats to 16 straight points, though, holding the Spartans scoreless for six minutes themselves. UNCG recovered to trail by six, 17-11, with eight minutes to go in the opening half.
Meanwhile, Curry, the nation’s leading scorer was off to a slow start. Averaging 28.9 points per contest entering the night, the native of Charlotte, NC missed four of his first six from the floor and actually missed consecutive free throws during a three-shot trip to the line.
But Curry scored six points in the next four minutes as he started to warm up. UNCG kept its poise and stayed within eight, 28-20, following a Kendall Toney three-pointer. Curry capped off the half, however, with a floater in the lane to give him 18 in the half and the Wildcats a 37-24 lead at the break.
UNCG didn’t go away early in the second half. Daniel Oliver’s runner in transition cut it to 43-35 with 14:08 to play. Oliver knocked down two free throws a minute later to cut it to six.
But a 10-2 spurt by the Wildcats pushed the lead back to 53-39 with 9:32 left following Bryant’s trey. UNCG cut it to 56-46 with 6:54 left on a Pete Brown bucket in the lane. The Wildcats answered, though, with a 15-3 run to put it away ? the last nine points coming on a conventional three-point play by Rossiter and treys by Curry and Will Archambault.