Appalachian State 89, Elon 65
BOONE, N.C. - Though Wednesday night's game saw 12 lead changes and eight ties in the first 30 minutes, Appalachian State University men's basketball took over the final 10 to defeat Elon, 89-65, in front of 2,301 fans at the Holmes Center.
Trailing by three points at halftime, the Phoenix (3-13, 1-4 SoCon) rallied to tie the game four different times in the next nine minutes, but were unable to take a second-half lead.
Once Devan Carter scored a lay-up pull the visitors within 59-57 with eight minutes to play, Ryann Abraham led the Mountaineers (9-7, 3-2) on a 24-6 run over the next six minutes to put the game out of reach.
The senior scored five of ASU's next seven points and Kellen Brand added seven of his own as the squad pushed the advantage to 20 points.
Abraham and Brand each matched season highs with 12 and 20 points, respectively, while keeping the team's turnovers limited to a season-low seven.
Brand was 6-of-12 from the field and drained 7-of-8 free throws to accompany five rebounds and four assists. Abraham sank all three field goal attempts and added two steals and an assist in 19 minutes off the bench.
Josh Hunter provided an offensive spark early in the game with eight first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting. All three of his rebounds came at the offensive end of the floor as ASU scored 11 second-chance points to Elon's 0 in the game. Hunter finished with 11 points, four assists and a block in the contest.
The Mountaineers totaled 40 rebounds to Elon's 24 and held the Phoenix to just three offensive boards on 33 misses. EU shot 43.6 percent from the floor but made just 6-of-24 treys.
ASU finished with a 51.9 field goal percentage and made 7-of-17 from beyond the arc. Three of the treys came from Southern Conference Player of the Week Donald Sims, who regularly fought double teams after his 44-point outburst at Davidson on Saturday.
Sims sank just 2-of-9 attempts before halftime but finished with 16 points for the game to accompany four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
Elon's Adam Contantine grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and all three of Elon's blocks while Drew Spradlin scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
Jeremi Booth and Isaac Butts tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while Andre Williamson added five off the bench. Williamson scored 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and 5-of-7 free throws. The sophomore added two of Appalachian's 16 assists.
Davidson 86, Furman 81
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Senior Will Archambault led four Davidson players in double figures with 15 points as the Wildcats held off a furious second half rally by Furman to claim an 86-81 victory over the Paladins in Southern Conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 2,108 on Wednesday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
Davidson improved to 8-9 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon while Furman slipped to 8-8 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Junior Amu Saaka poured in a career-high 34 points for the Paladins, including 28 in the second half, to help Furman erase a 16-point deficit, but Archambault finished with a dunk on a fast break and drained two free throws with 5.5 seconds left after rebounding a Bryant Barr miss from the foul line to secure the victory for the Wildcats.
Trailing 78-67 with 1:22 left, Saaka drained back-to-back treys to pull Furman to within five points with 57 seconds to play. After Davidson's Brendan McKillop and Saaka each went 1-for-2 at the foul line, Kuhlman converted two free throws to put the Wildcats ahead 81-74 with 45 second remaining. Furman's Darryl Evans answered by driving the length of the floor for a layup and completed the three-point play at the foul line to cut the margin back to 81-77 with 39 seconds to go.
Kuhlman made 1-of-2 free throw attempts once again on the other end, but Saaka buried a three-pointer six seconds later to pull Furman within two points with 23 seconds left. The Wildcats broke the Paladins pressure and Archambault finished with a dunk to increase the lead to four points before Evans responded with a free throw on the other end. With Davidson leading 84-81 and eight seconds to play, Bryant Barr missed both free throws, but Archambault claimed the offensive rebound and drained two shots from the charity stripe to put the game away.
After leading 39-35 at intermission, Davidson opened the second half on a 22-11 spurt to fashion a 15-point advantage at 61-46 with 11:54 remaining in the game. The Wildcats extended their cushion to 68-52 with 6:40 left before Furman reeled off a 28-14 run to trim the margin to 82-80 on Saaka's three-pointer with under 30 seconds left.
Kuhlman added 14 points for the Wildcats while Steve Rossiter and freshman Jake Cohen scored 13 and 11, respectively. Davidson shot just 41.4 percent (24-58) from the field, but made 10-of-24 three-point attempts and converted on 28-of-44 trips to the foul line. Davidson also held a 37-29 edge in rebounding, including a 16-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
Saaka hit 12-16 field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 beyond the arc, to become the first Paladins to score 34 points in a game since Moussa Diagne accomplished the feat in a loss to the College of Charleston during the 2006-07 season. Jordan Miller and Evans added 11 points apiece while Bryson Barnes came off of the bench to score 10 points. Saaka paced the Paladins with nine rebounds.
Furman shot 51.1 percent (24-47) from the floor. The Paladins were 7-of-14 from three-point range and connected on 26-of-36 free throw attempts.
Davidson returns to action when it travels to Wofford on Saturday. Furman hosts the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday at 4 p.m.