Semifinal #2: #1N Chattanooga 81, #3N Samford 70
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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Chattanooga’s Stephen McDowell tallied a game-high 32 points and the Mocs connected on 48 percent of their 3-point shots en route to a 81-70 victory over Samford in the semifinals of the 2009 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.
Chattanooga (17-16) advances to face College of Charleston in the championship game Monday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The appearance is the Mocs’ first appearance in the title game since 2006 when they lost to Davidson, 80-55. Samford ends its first season in the SoCon at 16-16.
McDowell also finished the contest with five assists and four rebounds while only committing one turnover and no fouls. Kevin Goffney chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds. Rounding out the double-figure scorers for the Mocs was Ty Patterson with 10.
Scoring all of the Bulldogs’ points were five double-figure scorers in Bryan Friday (17), Josh Davis (16), Trey Montgomery (16), Andy King (11) and Josh Bedwell (10).
The Bulldogs, who came into the tournament last in the SoCon in rebounding margin, were handled on the boards getting outrebounded 40-19, including a 15-3 margin on the offensive glass. This margin led to a 17-2 advantage for the Mocs in second-chance points.
The Mocs jumped out to a quick 18-11 lead by hitting six-straight 3-pointers to open the game. The Bulldogs hung with the Mocs, however, on the strength of 61.9 percent field goal percentage and 54.5 percent 3-point shooting in the first half. UTC hit nine 3-pointers in all to take a 42-36 lead into the break.
Samford was able to cut the lead to three at 46-43 at the 16:33 mark of the second half, but the Bulldogs would get no closer as the Mocs pulled away to extend their lead to as many as 16 at two occasions before closing out the 11-point victory.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? The College of Charleston opened the second half on a 20-4 run and Tony White Jr. scored a team-best 17 points as the Cougars knocked off three-time defending champion Davidson in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship on Sunday, 59-52.
Donavan Monroe had 13 points and Andrew Goudelock had 12 for the Cougars, the South Division’s third seed. SoCon Player of the Year Stephen Curry had a game-high 20 points for Davidson, the No. 1 seed in the South, but struggled from the floor, hitting just five of his 18 attempts, including a 2-for-11 showing from behind the 3-point arc.
The Wildcats (26-7) held a 29-20 halftime edge, but Goudelock ? who was scoreless in the first half ? opened the second frame with eight of the Cougars’ first nine points to get Charleston (26-7) within two points at 31-29.
A Jermaine Johnson free throw made it a one-point game, and after Dustin Scott grabbed one of his game- and career-high 17 rebounds after Johnson missed his second shot to keep the ball on Charleston’s end of the floor, White hit a jumper to put the Cougars ahead for the first time since leading 2-0.
Curry answered with a jumper to put the Wildcats on top 33-32, but White was fouled on the Cougars’ next possession and hit both free throws to give Charleston the lead for good.
Scott, Goudelock and Monroe capped the spurt with buckets to make it 40-33 with 11:14 to play before Andrew Lovedale’s layup snapped Davidson’s 4:46 scoreless drought.
Davidson would cut it to three points three times late in the game, first on Lovedale’s layup with just under six minutes to play. Jeremy Simmons answered with a layup of his own to put the Cougars’ lead back at five points, but Curry countered with a jumper to make it a one-possession game again.
Monroe’s layup with 1:19 to play gave the Cougars a 53-48 advantage, but Curry drained a pair of free throws after a technical foul was called on Simmons to get the Wildcats back within three.
After a defensive stop, Davidson went to its playmaker for the tie, but Curry’s 3-point attempt was off and Scott came up with the rebound.
With less than a minute to play, the Wildcats started fouling, and Charleston, which went just 14-for-24 from the free throw line for the game, was 6-for-6 in the final 40 seconds to put the game away.
Davidson seemed to have the game under control in the first half, when Ben Allison scored all 12 of his points in the game to help the Wildcats to a nine-point halftime lead. Davidson led by as many as 12 in the opening frame, with Curry’s 3 making it a 27-15 with 2:41 to play before intermission.
Monroe countered with a 3 of his own to get the spread back in single digits and Curry and Simmons traded a pair of free throws to close the half.
Charleston prevailed despite shooting just 21.2 percent (7-for-33) from the floor in the opening half. The Cougars shot 46.4 percent in the second half (13-for-28).
Davidson struggled from behind the arc all game, finishing just 3-for-22 from 3-point range. Curry had two of those triples and Bryant Barr had the other.
Charleston will face either Chattanooga or Samford at 7 p.m. in Monday night’s championship game, which will be carried on ESPN. The Cougars will be making their second finals appearance in the last three years.