Western Carolina 77, Davidson 67
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Davidson nearly erased a 24-point second half deficit, coming within four points late, but Western Carolina hung on to take a 77-67 victory in Southern Conference men's basketball action Wednesday night in Belk Arena.
Jake Robinson led four double-digit scorers for Western Carolina (15-3, 5-1 SoCon) with 20 points, going 6-for-9 from the field and hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers, while adding an assist and a rebound. Brandon Giles scored 19 and led the Catamounts with eight rebounds, all on defense. Harouna Mutombo scored 12 points, going 5-for-8 from the field and hitting 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Mike Williams added 11 points.
For the Wildcats (8-11, 3-4 SoCon), Ben Allison led three scorers in double figures with a career-high 15 points, while adding eight rebounds and an assist. Brendan McKillop scored 13 points, while JP Kuhlman had 11 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Steve Rossiter led the 'Cats on the boards with 10 rebounds to give him 507 for his career. Archambault was also strong rebounding, pulling in eight boards and scoring nine points, all in the second half.
Down 48-24 1:49 into the second half, Davidson used a 16-2 run to cut the lead to 10 by the 14:11 mark. Western Carolina maintained the double-digit cushion, taking a 60-47 lead after Robinson sank a 3-pointer with 7:36 to go until Davidson went on a 9-0 spurt to cut the lead to just four with 5:43 remaining.
That was as close as the 'Cats would come as they turned the ball over four times in the final three minutes of play. Robinson sank 4-of-4 free throw attempts and sank a three-ball to help put the game out of reach.
Western Carolina took a 22-point lead into the locker room at halftime after hitting 63 percent of their shots from the field and 6-of-11 from behind the arc, while the 'Cats hit just 14.8 percent from the field and missed all 11 3-point attempts.
Davidson improved from the field in the second half, shooting 56 percent, while Western Carolina shot just 30.8 percent. The Catamounts finished shooting 47.2 percent, while sinking 9-of-19 three-point attempts. The Wildcats shot 34.2 percent for the game, going 6-for-26 from behind the arc.
Georgia Southern 68, Appalachian State 65
STATESBORO, Ga. - Behind 12 second-half points from Donald Sims, Appalachian State University men's basketball rallied from an early deficit to take a lead, but Georgia Southern came back to end ASU's three-game winning streak, 68-65, on Wednesday.
After spotting Georgia Southern a 13-0 lead, the Mountaineers rallied to tie the game at 24-24 with six minutes to play before the half. Josh Hunter then scored ASU's first five points of the second half, as the Apps gained their first lead of the night, 32-30.
The senior forward finished with a double-double on 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Sims led ASU with 16 points and added three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Appalachian (10-8, 4-3 SoCon) scored the first nine points after halftime and extended the advantage to as many as 13 points with 10 minutes to play before the Eagles started its run.
GSU (5-15, 2-5 SoCon) was kept to just a pair of free throws for the first nine minutes of the period before a 20-8 run gave the home team a 65-64 advantage with a minute to play.
The Eagles extended the lead with three more free throws, while ASU was 1-for-5 from the line and 0-for-2 from the field in the final 60 seconds.
The hotly-contested game took a somber tone Kellen Brand flipped over the top of GSU's Antonio Hanson in attempt to block a shot with 4:09 to play before halftime and landed awkwardly on his back. He was rolled off the floor on a stretcher and taken to nearby East Georgia Regional Medical Center for observation. The senior was evaluated, released and rode the team bus back to Boone.
Isaac Butts picked up his fifth double-double on the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds in his home state while fellow post player Andre Williamson added 12 points and 11 boards. Butts also matched a career high with five blocks. Marcus Wright scored seven points off the bench, including a dunk and two reverse layups. The sophomore added two of ASU's seven assists.
Hanson led the Eagles with a game-high 21 points for GSU. Willie Powers finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and nine assists for Georgia Southern.
The Mountaineers struggled shooting early on and made just 12-of-34 shots in the first half. The team regrouped at the intermission and finished the game at 40 percent, compared to 40.7 for GSU. Appalachian was just 3-of-11 from downtown and 10-of-20 at the free throw line.
The Mountaineers did own the lead in both rebounding (42 to 35), turnovers (14-17) and steals (7-5).