College of Charleston 90, Chattanooga 66
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's six-game winning streak was snapped Saturday afternoon as the College of Charleston claimed a 90-66 win in the McKenzie Arena. Charleston moves to 11-6, 5-0 in league play, while the Mocs fall to 11-7, 3-2 in the SoCon.
Andrew Goudelock led the four Cougars in double digits with a game-high 22 points as CofC won its fifth game in a row. Sophomore Ricky Taylor led the Mocs with 14.
It was a see-saw game early as both teams made shots. The Mocs took their largest lead of the game on a jumper by sophomore Chris Early at 12:16 to make it 23-18. The Cougars went on a 17-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes to go up 35-25 on a fade-away three-pointer from Goudelock. CofC scored six points in the run off three steals. For the game, the Cougars scored 28 points off 18 Chattanooga turnovers.
The Mocs closed to within eight after a Ricky Taylor three-pointer made it 49-41 at the 17:36 mark. But that was as close as it would get. With a score of 52-44, Charleston out-scored Chattanooga 38-22 down the stretch.
The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field for the game, and 40 percent from behind the arc, but the biggest disparity was at the free throw line. The Mocs struggled from the line, hitting only 11-23, while the Cougars missed only one of 13.
Tony White Jr. added 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for CofC. Donavan Monroe had 15 points and four steals, while Jeremy Simmons came on strong in the second to finish with 14 points and nine rebounds. CofC held a 42-37 advantage on the boards as five players had five or more.
For the Mocs, junior Jeremy Saffore scored 12 and Keegan Bell added 11. Bell added a team-high seven rebounds and five assists. Chattanooga struggled shooting today hitting 39 percent for the game from the floor and 27.6 percent from three-point range.
The Citadel 51, Samford 50
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- In a Southern Conference battle featuring two of the nation's top defenses, the Samford University basketball team mounted a furious second-half comeback against The Citadel Bulldogs, but came up just short in a physical 51-50 loss at the Pete Hanna Center.
After trailing by as many as 14 points (20-6) in the first half, Samford (7-10, 1-4 SoCon) battled back in the second period to take a 37-35 lead with 10:49 remaining. The Bulldogs' comeback was paced by senior Bryan Friday and junior Andy King. Friday scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the second half, while King tallied all 12 of his points in the final period.
With only 30 seconds left in the game, The Citadel (9-9, 3-3 SoCon) held a seemingly safe 49-44 advantage in Saturday's defensive struggle. Samford was basically down to its last meaningful possession when Friday drove from the top of the key down the right side of the lane and attempted a high-flying layup over a pair of The Citadel defenders.
Friday's attempt bounced off the back of the rim, but was tipped back to King beyond the 3-point line. King grabbed the ball at the top of the key, pump faked one defender and then pulled up for a deep 3-point shot that caromed off the backboard and went directly through the hoop. King's successful bank-shot cut The Citadel's lead to 49-47 with 12 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession, The Citadel's Austin Dahn failed to inbound the ball in and Samford took over on the five-second call.
The Bulldogs took possession at the baseline and quickly found Friday in the backcourt. Samford's senior captain then drove to his right and was fouled on a layup attempt by Bryan Streeter.
Friday went to the free-throw line to shoot two shots with the Bulldogs trailing 49-47 and six seconds remaining on the clocks. He missed the first attempt, but then made the second to trim The Citadel's advantage to 49-48.
After a quick Samford foul, The Citadel's Cameron Wells drained a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to three at 51-48 with five seconds remaining.
On Samford's final possession of the game, The Citadel fouled Trey Montgomery once he crossed the timeline, sending the Bulldogs' senior to the line with 0.4 seconds on the clock. Montgomery made the first attempt and then tried to purposefully miss the final one, but his high-arcing shot found the bottom of the net.
Following Montgomery's second made free throw, The Citadel was then able to force the ball inbounds to close out the hard-fought 51-50 victory.
Montgomery finished with eight points, six rebounds and four assists. He was also 3-for-5 from the field and only committed three turnovers in a season-high 36 minutes of playing time.
The Citadel's point guard, Wells, finished with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field. He also tallied seven rebounds and five assists, and led the Bulldogs down the stretch by registering 10 of their final 13 points. Wells, who was a member of the 2009-10 SoCon Preseason All-Conference Team, committed two of The Citadel's 10 turnovers.
Samford entered Saturday's game as the seventh-ranked team in the nation in scoring defense. The Bulldogs were only allowing an average of 57.6 points per contest this season. The Citadel's defense was ranked No. 27 in the nation at 59.9 points per outing.
Samford outshot The Citadel 47.1 percent to 43.2 percent, but left five free throws on the table. The Bulldogs were 11-of-16 from the charity stripe, while The Citadel was 7-of-9. Samford's bench outscored The Citadel's 17-6, but the Bulldogs were on the negative side of a 18-8 disparity in points off turnovers.
Appalachian State 72, UNC Greensboro 64
BOONE, N.C. - An 11-0 Mountaineer run broke open a 51-51 tie late in the second half and Appalachian State University men's basketball scored its final 10 points from the free throw line to secure a 72-64 win against UNC Greensboro on Saturday.
The back-and-forth affair saw six second-half lead changes before the run, which mirrored ASU's second-half breakout in the win against Elon on Wednesday. Appalachian (10-7, 4-2 SoCon) was 4-for-4 from the field over the stretch, while the Spartans (3-15, 2-5) were 0-for-4 with a turnover during the run.
Donald Sims accounted for five of the 11 over the span and 16 in the second half. The Southern Conference scoring leader finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He sank 3-of-8 three-pointers and all four free throw attempts to go along with three assists, two steals and a pair of rebounds.
Jeremi Booth was the only other App in double-figures, as the junior scored 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting, including seven in the first half. He narrowly missed his first double-double with a career-high nine rebounds as well.
Ben Stywall led UNCG in the game with 19 points and 12 rebounds. It marked his eighth double-double of the season, and fifth in seven SoCon games.
As a team, the Spartans shot just 37.7 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from downtown, while the Mountaineers knocked down 44.2 percent of shots and 6-of-19 treys.
ASU made it to the free throw line 29 times and sank 20 foul shots, while UNCG was just 6-of-7 from the stripe in the contest.
Rebounds were again a key as ASU held a 46-33 advantage on the boards, including 11 from Isaac Butts. The center was just one point shy of his fourth double-double on the season.
Josh Hunter continued to dominate the offensive boards, as five of his eight rebounds extended ASU possessions. Over the last five games, 19 of the senior's 27 rebounds have come on offense. ASU's 13 offensive rebounds turned into 14 second-chance points, while UNCG scored just five off of 11 offensive boards.
Also in the post, Andre Williamson came off the bench to block four shots and grab eight rebounds to go along with two points.
UNC Greensboro held a 28-17 advantage in bench point, however, as Brian Cole made four of his first five shots for 11 points, and was matched by Mikko Koivisto.
Furman 69, Georgia Southern 45
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman used a 26-6 first half run to open up a 20-point lead and held Georgia Southern to 24.6 percent shooting from the field as the Paladins cruised past the Eagles 69-45 in Southern Conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 2,282 on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Furman improved to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in SoCon play. Georgia Southern fell to 4-15 overall and 1-5 in the league.
Tied 6-6 in the opening half, Jordan Miller buried a three-pointer to tally the first of 13 straight points for the Paladins who reeled off a 26-6 run to open up a 32-12 lead on Miller's layup with 4:33 left in the half. The Paladins held the Eagles to 5-of-25 shooting from the field over the opening 20 minutes and limited GSU to a Furman opponent season-low 24.6 percent (14-57) from the floor for the game.
Junior Amu Saaka led the way for Furman with a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds while Miller chipped in with 15 points, six boards and three assists. Darryl Evans and Justin Dehm scored nine points apiece and Chris Toler notched a career-high nine rebounds.
Furman, who made 16-of-23 free throws, shot 39.7 percent (23-58) from the floor and connected on 7-of-22 three-point attempts. The Paladins grabbed a season-best 54 rebounds to Georgia Southern's 32 boards.
Antonio Hanson led Georgia Southern with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting. The Eagles connected on only 1-of-15 three-point attempts and 16-of-26 trips to the foul line.
Georgia Southern returns home to host Appalachian State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse. Furman travels to the College of Charleston to face the Cougars in a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday. The game will be televised live by CSS.
Wofford 68, Davidson 62
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - In a hard-fought contest at Benjamin Johnson Arena, Wofford scored six straight points to defeat Davidson 68-62 on Saturday night. With the game tied at sixty with 1:36 left, the Terriers outscored the Wildcats to win their fifth-straight game.
Wofford is 12-7 on the season and 4-2 in the SoCon, while Davidson is 8-10 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 17 points and Cameron Rundles with 13 points. Tim Johnson had a game-high 16 rebounds. The Wildcats were led by Jake Cohen and JP Kuhlman with 15 points each.
Davidson opened the game with a three from JP Kulhman and built a 10-3 lead after a three by Jake Cohen at the 15:25 mark. Wofford responded and pulled within one point at 10-9 after a lay-up by Jason Dawson. The Wildcats pushed the lead back to 16-10, but two free throws by Cameron Rundles at 8:20 tied the game at 16. A three by Jason Dawson tied it again at 23 with 5:12 on the clock, but the Wildcats again extended the lead to five. Wofford pulled to within one at 29-28 with 1:22 remaining, but Davidson added another bucket before the half and took a 31-28 lead at the break.
To open the second half, Davidson went on an 8-2 run and took a nine-point lead, their largest of the night at 39-30 just four minutes into the half. Wofford answered and scored the next 14 points in a row for a 44-39 lead at the 10:43 mark.
Just two minutes later, the Wildcats tied the game at 46 and took the lead at 48-47 with 8:20 on the clock. After ties at 48 and 50 points, Wofford used a lay-up and free throw by Noah Dahlman at 5:46 to take a 56-51 lead. However the Wildcats were able to tie the game again at 60 with 1:36 on the clock. A free throw by Jamar Diggs and lay-up by Noah Dahlman gave the Terriers a 63-60 lead, but a bucket by Nik Cochran made it a one-point game with only 37 second left.
Cameron Rundles hit two free throws with 28 seconds on the clock. A shot by Davidson's Brendan McKillop missed and Jamar Diggs pulled down the rebound. Diggs passed the ball quickly up court to Brad Loesing for an easy lay-up and a 67-62 lead with 13 seconds remaining. Noah Dahlman blocked a shot by Will Archambault with four seconds left and Cameron Rundles came down with the board. Rundles added a free throw for the 68-62 final score.
Wofford shot 40.4 percent from the floor and were 20 percent from three-point range. From the free throw line, the Terriers were improved over the Georgia Southern game, but still only 63.6 percent on 44 attempts. Davidson was 43.1 percent overall and were 25 percent from behind the arc. Wofford had a 35-31 lead on the glass and the Wildcats committed twenty turnovers.
Western Carolina 83, Elon 81
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - A last second heave by Adam Constantine fell short and with it the chance of victory for the Elon men's basketball team as the Phoenix lost a heartbreaker, 83-81, to the Southern Conference North Division leading Western Carolina Catamounts at the Ramsey Center on Saturday night. Elon's TJ Douglas shot lights out, nailing a career-high 7-of-9 from three-point territory for 21 points, but it wasn't enough to put the Phoenix (3-14, 1-5) back in the win column. The host Catamounts improved to 14-3 overall, 4-1 in league action.
Down as many as 12, 41-29, after a Harouna Mutombo layup to start the second half, Elon picked and scrapped its way back into the game. Each time the Catamounts would begin to stretch their lead close to double-digits, Douglas seemed to answer from long range. Six of the senior's long-range buckets came in the second half.
Staring at an eight-point deficit, 75-67, with 6:54 to play, Douglas calmly drained back-to-back triples to close the gap to two. Western responded with four quick points, but Chris Long laid it in off the glass and then followed with a three-pointer of his own to make it a 79-78 ballgame with 3:08 to play.
Elon drew two straight offensive fouls on the ensuing possessions, but was unable to capitalize off the turnovers. Western's Brandon Giles converted an old-fashioned three-point play to put the home team back up four, 82-78, with 1:20 on the clock. A Drew Spradlin free throw and then a jumper on the next two possessions made the score, 82-81, in favor of WCU with seven ticks remaining. Douglas grabbed the rebound after Giles missed the second of two free throw attempts, sending it to Constantine at mid-court. The senior was unable to get a clean look and Western Carolina held on to the victory to preserve its unbeaten record at the Ramsey Center this season.
Spradlin turned in a team-high 22 points on 7-of-13 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Long added 15 points and dished off five assists. The Phoenix shot 51.9 percent for the game, including a blistering 65.4 percent in the second half. Foul trouble plagued the Phoenix's leading scorer Adam Constantine, who was held to only 13 minutes of action.
Elon tied its season-high for points in a half with 52 in the final stanza. The Phoenix, who average only 65 percent shooting from the charity stripe, has shot above 80 percent in each of the last two contests. Elon knocked down 18-of-22 (81.8) free throws against the Catamounts.
Giles led five Western players in double figures, turning in a 25-point performance on 8-of-12 shooting. The Catamounts hit 30-of-63 (47.6) from the field and 14-of-17 (82.4) from the stripe.
Elon did not shoot the ball nearly as well in the first half but found itself down only two, 27-25, with 4:59 to go before the break. Giles hit two big treys to lead Western in a 12-4 run that gave the Catamounts a 39-29 advantage after 20 minutes of play.