Chattanooga 56, The Citadel 54
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ---With 3.2 seconds to play and Chattanooga trailing by a point, Mocs head coach John Shulman went deep into his bag of tricks. From the opposite end of the court, sophomore Chris Early threw the inbounds pass to junior Jeremy Saffore at halfcourt, who handed off to a streaking Keegan Bell. Bell got off a three point attempt from the right wing, and it sank through the net as the buzzer sounded.
The last second shot gave the Mocs a 56-54 win, extended their winning streak to six and kept them at the top of the Southern Conference North Division with a 10-6 record overall, and 3-1 in league play.
The Citadel took its first lead of the game with 1:01 to play on a Cameron Wells layup, and had a chance to put it away with an open three-pointer from Zach Urbanus. Sam Watson's ensuing fight for the rebound led to a tied ball, and the possession arrow gave UTC the ball.
The hook and ladder play dropped the Citadel to 8-9 overall and 2-3 in the SoCon. Wells did all he could for the Bulldogs, tying his season high with 28 points and adding six rebounds and three assists.
The Mocs tightened up on the guard for parts of the second half, mixing in good one-on-one defense from junior Jasper Williams and double teams when he got inside. The team defense was strong again, holding the Bulldogs to 33.9 percent shooting from the field, and only allowing five three-pointers on 34 attempts (.147). Wells shot 10-22 (.455) from the field, while the rest of the squad hit just 11 of 40 (.275).
The Mocs shot 39.6 percent overall and hit six of 20 from behind the arc. Bell and Ricky Taylor led the Mocs with 11, but it was Bell's final three that will be remembered. Taylor's career high nine rebounds were a game high total for the sophomore.
Chattanooga scored the game's first nine points on three-pointers by Taylor (two) and Bell in the first minute in jumping out to an early lead. The Mocs would lead by as many as 10 in the first half before settling for an eight-point margin at the break.
The Citadel scored the first seven points of the second half to close within one, 35-34, at 17:57 on a Zach Urbanus three-pointer. The Mocs pushed the lead back to seven, 49-42, on two Bell free throws at 8:08. The Bulldogs got within a basket four different times before finally taking the lead on Wells' layup at 1:01.
Western Carolina 79, UNC Greensboro 69
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - UNC Greensboro senior forward Ben Stywall recorded his seventh double-double of the season, but Western Carolina slowly pulled away in the second half for a 79-69 win over the Spartans in Southern Conference men's basketball action Thursday night at the Ramsey Center.
UNCG had just two field goals in a 10-minute span of the second half as Western Carolina slowly pulled away to raise its record to 13-3 overall, 3-1 in SoCon play. The Spartans dropped to 3-14 overall, 2-4 in SoCon action.
Jake Robinson had 19 points and five rebounds to lead Western Carolina. He was 6-of-8 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, in 24 minutes of action. He was one of four Catamounts in double figures. Kendall Russell and Brigham Waginger each added 14 points and Brandon Giles had 11.
Stywall, a Charlotte, N.C. native who topped 1,000 points for his career on Monday, finished with a season-high 24 points and 14 rebounds, recording his fourth double-double in six SoCon games this season. The other three came against ACC teams. His seven double-doubles this season leads the
conference.
Brandon Evans added 17 points and Kyle Randall chipped in 14 points for the Spartans.
With both teams shooting the ball well in the opening half, neither team got much separation in a well-played first half. Western Carolina opened up an early five-point lead, but eight straight points by Evans erased that deficit and gave the Spartans their first lead of the night.
The Catamounts held the Spartans to just one field goal over the final four minutes, but managed just three buckets themselves in that time and took a 35-31 lead into the intermission.
Western Carolina opened up a nine-point lead early in the second half with an 8-1 spurt. Stywall ended that run with a conventional three-point play, however. That began a 7-0 run for the Spartans that closed the gap back to 43-41 with a little over 13 minutes to play.
The Catamounts held UNCG to just one field goal over the next six minutes to gradually open the lead back to nine, 57-48. A Waginger three-pointer made it a nine-point lead and UNCG never got the margin less than seven after that.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the second half. UNCG was 11-for-28 in the second half (39 percent), while Western Carolina was 9-for-25 (36 percent). But the Catamounts were 5-of-8 behind the arc in the second half, while UNCG was just 1-of-8.
Wofford 71, Georgia Southern 57
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team won their fourth-straight game on Thursday night with a 71-57 victory over Georgia Southern at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers led the entire game and built a 20-point lead early in the second half.
Wofford is 11-7 on the season and 3-2 in the SoCon, while Georgia Southern is 4-14 overall and 1-4 in the conference. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Tim Johnson had eleven points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Cameron Rundles added eleven points. The Eagles were led by Antonio Hanson with 14 points and Cameron Baskerville with eight rebounds.
The Terriers opened the game with a dunk by Tim Johnson, but the game was tied at 5 after a three by Antonio Hanson at 17:21. Over the next five minutes Wofford took a 15-7 lead that included threes by Cameron Rundles and Jason Dawson. After a lay-up by Tim Johnson at 8:41, Wofford had a 22-11 advantage. The Terriers continued to slowly build the lead and at the half Wofford was up 39-25.
To open the second half, the Terriers went on a 13-4 run over the first five minutes to take a 52-29 lead. Wofford kept the lead at about 20 until the three-minute mark when a lay-up by Noah Dahlman and a free throw by Brad Loesing pushed the lead to 69-45. Careless play by the Terriers allowed the Eagles to go on an 8-0 run to cut the score to 69-53 with 1:30 on the clock. After a bucket by Kevin Giltner with seconds left, Georgia Southern scored the final four points of the game to make the score 71-57.
Wofford shot 50.9 percent from the floor and made 50 percent from three-point range. From the free throw line, the Terriers were a season-low 37.5 percent (9-24). Georgia Southern was 36.1 percent overall and were 35.7 percent from behind the arc. Wofford had a 45-32 lead on the glass.
Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 18th time this season and has led the team in scoring in 13 games. Wofford has won seven of the last eight games played and are now 4-1 at home this season.
College of Charleston 78, Samford 67
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford basketball team was defeated at home in the Pete Hanna Center for only the second time this season Thursday as the College of Charleston's torrid second-half shooting from 3-point range lifted the Cougars past the Bulldogs for a 78-67 Southern Conference victory.
With Thursday's hard-fought loss, Samford (7-9, 1-3 SoCon) moved to 6-2 at home this season and was defeated at the Pete Hanna Center for the first time since Dec. 5, when the Bulldogs suffered a 73-40 decision against UNC Greensboro. Under Tillette, Samford owns a stellar 92-38 record against conference opponents at home.
College of Charleston (10-6, 5-0 SoCon), the lone undefeated SoCon team remaining in league play, improved to 3-5 on the road this season and 9-0 all-time against Samford. The Cougars are also 5-0 against the Bulldogs when playing in Birmingham, Ala., in a rivalry that began Jan. 3, 1994.
Early in the second half, Samford trailed by as many as nine points, 49-40, before rallying back with a 10-2 run to trim College of Charleston's lead to 51-50. During the Bulldogs' scoring stretch, Trey Montgomery scored five points and Andy King drained a clutch 3-point field goal from the top of the key.
Montgomery finished the game with 11 points and was one of five Samford players to score in double figures. King scored 10 points and came off the bench to add five rebounds and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.
Following King's first 3-point basket of the game, the Bulldogs only trailed the Cougars 51-50 with 10:12 to play. On College of Charleston's ensuing possession, Tony White, Jr., missed a deep 3-point attempt from the left flank and the ball caromed off the rim to Montgomery across the arc. Samford's senior point guard grabbed the ball in stride and took off down the court.
With a pair of Cougar defenders hounding him near the basket, Montgomery checked up slightly expecting a hard foul and laid up the finger roll too hard off the back of the rim. The ball rolled around the cylinder and White, Jr., grabbed the rebound.
After Montgomery's missed layup, College of Charleston's Casaan Breeden knocked down a 10-foot jumper and ignited the Cougars on their decisive 15-6 run. Preseason SoCon Player of the Year, Andrew Goudelock, scored eight straight points during the stretch en route to his game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.
College of Charleston's 6-foot-2 junior was also 5-of-8 from 3-point range, including three that would have been good from well past NBA range. Goudelock also finished with eight rebounds, six assists and a steal.
Following the Cougars' 15-6 run late in the second half, they led the Bulldogs 66-56 with 5:58 remaining. Samford would never get within eight points down the stretch.
Along with Goudelock's 23 points, College of Charleston was also helped by 21 points from Donavan Monroe and 17 from Breeden. Monroe added a game-high nine rebounds, while Breeded also chipped in with a perfect 6-of-6 performance from the charity stripe.
Samford finished with five players scoring in double figures for the first time this season. Senior forward Bryan Friday led the way with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, while Josh Davis, Josh Bedwell and Montgomery all finished with 11. King rounded out the five with 10 points.
The Bulldogs shot 41.8 percent from the field, but only shot 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Samford did knock down eight shots from beyond the arc, including a team-high three from Bedwell.