College of Charleston 88, South Carolina State 73
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Andrew Goudelock scored a game-high 22 points while teammate Casaan Breeden added a career-best 22 points as the College of Charleston cruised to an 88-73 win over South Carolina State before 2,734 at Carolina First Arena on Saturday.
Charleston, which remained unbeaten in five home games, improved to 7-6 overall. The Bulldogs fell to 6-5. Charleston plays host to defending national champion North Carolina at 7 p.m. at Carolina First Arena on Monday.
Goudelock and Breeden scored 13 points each in the first half as the Cougars built a 49-29 lead at intermission. Breeden's dunk with 9:08 left in the first half gave Charleston its largest lead at 34-12.
Charleston continued the scoring barrage in the second half and eventually built a 35-point cushion at 83-48 with 6:20 remaining on a jumper by Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.).
Goudelock hit 9-of-13 from the field, 1-for-3 from behind the arc and all three of his free throw attempts. He added three assists and four rebounds. Breeden hit 8-of-10 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point land and 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
Breeden added seven rebounds.
Charleston's Donavan Monroe and Tony White, Jr. added 13 and 11 points each, respectively. Jeremy Simmons had eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Bulldogs were paced by Tyvon Williams who led four players in double figures with 17 points. Jason Flagler and Arsenio Williams added 12 points each, while Darnell Porter chipped in 11.
For the game, the Cougars shot a season-best 52.2 percent from the floor hitting on 36-of-69 attempts. The Bulldogs shot 43.9 percent (29-66). The Cougars held a 41-33 rebounding edge, including 13-12 on the offensive glass.
Furman 62, Erskine 53
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman men's basketball team finished on a 15-2 run, including scoring the final nine points, to rally past NCAA Division II Erskine College 62-53 in the non-conference finale for the Paladins on Saturday afternoon on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
Trailing by four points after Brandon Wright's three-pointer put the Flying Fleet ahead 51-47 with 5:21 left, Furman scored on its next five possessions to blow by Erskine and pull away. Justin Dehm and Bryson Barnes answered Wright's trey with back-to-back three-pointers to even the game at 53-53 with 4:11 remaining. Darryl Evans collected a loose ball off of an Erskine miss on the other end and raced end-to-end to convert the layup and put the Paladins ahead for good at 55-53. Jordan Miller and Amu Saaka each connected on a pair of free throws on the Paladins' next two possessions and Barnes capped the game with a three-point play in the paint to secure the win.
With its second straight victory, Furman improved to 7-6 on the season and concluded its non-conference slate with a 6-5 record. It marked the first time since 2006-07 that the Paladins finished the non-league schedule with a winning record. Erskine, playing its first game since December 12, fell to 2-4.
Miller, a native of Memphis, Tenn., led the way for Furman with 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-14 shooting beyond the arc. The junior added three assists, two steals and two rebounds without committing a turnover. Saaka contributed 15 points, five boards and four assists while Dehm reached double figures with 10 points to go with four assists.
The Paladins shot 40.4 percent (19-47) from the floor, including 44.4 percent (8-18) in the second half. Furman connected on 11 of a season-high 30 three-point attempts and made five of its 11 second half shots from long range. The Paladins, 13-of-16 from the foul line, got a game-high six rebounds from Noah States. Furman committed a season-low five turnovers on the night.
Wright, a senior from Goose Creek, S.C., led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting from three-point range. Marko Latinovic joined Wright as the only Erskine players in double figures with 12 points.
The Flying Fleet shot 40.7 percent (22-54) from the floor and 8-of-24 from three-point range, but was just 1-of-4 at the charity stripe. Erskine held a 34-28 rebounding edge.
After Furman scored the opening bucket, Erskine reeled off 11 straight points and led by as many as 10 points at 14-4 before the Paladins rallied to grab a 30-29 advantage at intermission.
The lead changed hands five times in the second half before Furman grabbed the advantage for good on Evans' layup with 3:24 left and held the Flying Fleet scoreless the rest of the way.
Furman returns to Southern Conference play beginning on Thursday when it travels to face Elon at 6 p.m. at Alumni Gym.
The Citadel 54, Savannah State 47
SAVANNAH, Ga. - Austin Dahn converted four three-pointers, three coming in the second half, to lead The Citadel to a 54-47 victory over Savannah State at Tiger Arena on Saturday. Teammates Harrison DuPont and Bryan Streeter also reached double figures, 11 points apiece, as the Bulldogs move to 7-7 on the season. Dahn knocked down four treys in a game for the eighth time in his career and first since a meeting at Samford (Jan. 26, 2009).
"We have worked on trying to get those guys (Dahn, Streeter and DuPont) the ball in places where they can be productive," said Head Coach Ed Conroy after the game. "It shows the unselfish play of Zach and Cameron and now we just have to find that balance of them having the production that we normally count on to go along with it."
DuPont, who started his first collegiate game, converted 5-of-8 from the field which included a long range shot in the opening minutes of play. Meanwhile the combination of Streeter, Dahn and Daniel Eykyn accounted for a 27-2 difference in bench scoring. As a unit, the Bulldogs converted 20-of-43 attempts (.465), while limiting the Tigers to 18-of-45 (.400) from the field.
Leading 40-29 at the 8:11 mark, Dahn knocked down a key 3-pointer on the next Citadel possession to push the lead to 14. Savannah State followed with an 11-3 run that narrowed the gap to 47-40 with 1:35 remaining in the game. Dahn again stepped up and hit his fourth shot from downtown, on a pass from Zach Urbanus, that helped seal the victory for the Bulldogs.
As for the Tigers, who slip to 5-10 overall, the tandem of Tracy Rankins (17 pts) and Rashad Hassan (13 pts) led the team in scoring. Rankins managed to hit 7-for-14 from the field, including 2-for-7 from 3-point range, while Hassan was 5-for-9 in the game. Hassan added eight rebounds to give the Tigers a 29-24 edge in the paint.
The Citadel took a 26-18 lead into the break behind five points by DuPont and four each from Cosmo Morabbi, Cameron Wells and Eykyn. Eykyn gave the Bulldogs a lift off the bench, playing four minutes and converting a pair of free throws in the final minute of play.
DuPont scored the first five points of the contest before a 13-2 run by the Tigers, highlighted by six points from Rashad Hassan, made for a 13-7 Savannah State lead at the 10:41 mark. The Citadel responded with defensive prowess and regained the lead, 17-16, on a Wolfinger layup just over five minutes later.
Dahn knocked down a three-pointer with 3:27 in the first, giving the Bulldogs a lead they would not relinquish, 20-18. Eykyn accounted for the next four points, including a layup, before Streeter's hook pushed the lead to eight points.
Auburn 95, Georgia Southern 75
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn counted on balanced scoring and hit a season best 13 three-point field goals to pull to a 95-75 win over Georgia Southern at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Saturday (Jan. 2) afternoon. The Tigers' Brendon Knox scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers off the bench. Senior guard Antonio Hanson hit five three-pointers and added a free throw to lead the Eagles with 16 points. Sophomore forward Colby Wohlleb had
10 points, all in the second half, for his second straight game in double figures.
"Auburn shot the ball well, and that probably had a lot to do with us," said Eagles head coach Charlton Young. "Our problems are on the defensive end of the floor and we are going to keep on working on it, that's all we can do. Our first (non-conference) season is over, we've played seven of our last eight games on the road and we're going to play at home for most of this month. We are just now getting everybody available to play and we'll finally have a chance to develop our
identity as a team."
Down by six at the half, 33-39, the Tigers and Eagles kept within eight to 10 points to the first media timeout of the second half. Auburn was hitting 66.7 percent to the Eagles 33.3 percent over the first four and a half minutes. The Tigers' hot shooting cooled off slightly, to 54 percent, but they finished the half at 60 percent and 57.1 percent for the game.
Freshman forward Cameron Baskerville came out of the first media timeout with a quick jumper and Auburn's Lucas Hargrove countered with a basket in the paint. Hanson hit a three pointer off a Willie Powers III pass to get the Eagles within eight, 45-53. Knox scored the next six straight points for the Tigers and Frankie Sullivan nailed a three-point bucket, interrupted only by
junior forward Rory Spencer's layup, to stretch the Auburn lead to 15, 62-47.
Over the next two minutes, the teams traded free throws with the same irregularity as their shots before Knox hit a jumper and free throw off a Wohlleb foul. Tay Waller hit back-to-back threes to give the Tigers a 9-2 swing and 23-point advantage.
With more free throws over the next 90 seconds, Hanson and Wohlleb broke the basket-less stretch, with Hanson hitting two treys and Wohlleb adding another. Layups by Powers and Johntavious Rucker countered Tiger scoring and Wohlleb hit his second trey to pull the Eagles closer, 70-85. Andre Malone would hit back-to-back threes for the Tigers, and the bench would add four more points. Wohlleb scored four more points with a free throw and his third trey in the last minute of the game.
Josh Wallace and DeWayne Reed had nine points each with three three-point field goals to lead Auburn into the locker room at the half. Georgia Southern shot 46.2 percent for the first half and had a15-14 advantage on the boards. Hanson, Powers and Perry each had six points at the half with senior forward Tyler Troupe and Rucker contributing five points.
The Eagles finally return home on Wednesday, Jan. 6 for a 7 p.m. game vs. Southern Conference foe Chattanooga at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Navy 79, Elon 73
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Junior Chris Long netted a career-high 25 points on 5-of-6 from three-point territory, but the Elon men's basketball team came up just short, falling 79-73 to the host Navy Midshipmen at Alumni Hall on Saturday night. The two teams combined for 20 buckets from beyond the arc as Navy won its second straight contest to improve to 6-8 on the season. Elon fell to 3-10 in its final non-conference game prior to the heart of Southern Conference play.
"We are in a building process," Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. "Again tonight, I felt we did compete, fight and battle back. In the first half, I felt we did not compete like we need to in order to win games like this. It is a 40-minute game and we came up short."
Long led three Elon players in double figures, connecting on 8-of-14 field goals. The guard also added six assists to his totals. Devan Carter scored 15 points of 5-of-7 shooting while fellow senior TJ Douglas added a season-high 14 tallies and grabbed five rebounds. Adam Constantine continued his dominance on the glass. Despite foul trouble which limited his minutes, the forward grabbed 11 boards and blocked a personal-best four shots. As a team, the Phoenix connected on 48 percent (26-54) from the field, including 10-of-20 from downtown. Navy's Chris Harris led the Mids with 22 points and Jordan Sugars posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Down 11, 41-30, early in the second half, Elon used a 17-6 run to tie the game at the 12:52 mark. The run included two Long triples and was capped by one of Douglas' four three-pointers in the contest. After a couple empty possessions for both teams, an Elon offensive foul gave the ball back to the Mids at 11:24. Navy's Greg Brown scored all 11 of his points in the next two minutes, draining three buckets from beyond the arc as Navy went back on top, 59-50, with nine minutes to play.
It looked as though Navy was going to pull away as the home team stretched its advantage back to 11, 65-54, with 5:59 on the clock. After back-to-back Elon layups, another long range basket from Long put the Phoenix within six, 67-61, with 3:34 to go. The Midshipmen scored on the ensuing possession, but Long was again good from beyond the arc and Elon was within five with just under three minutes to play. Elon managed to get as close as four, 75-71, with 41 ticks, but Navy free throws closed out the win for the Mids.
Elon turned the ball over 18 times in the contest, its second-highest total of the season. Navy converted those miscues into 23 points.
The Phoenix got off to a strong start in the first half, hitting five of its first six shots to jump out to a 13-7 lead. Navy answered with a 10-0 run to turn the score in its favor, 17-13. Two Constantine fouls forced him to the bench with 12 minutes remaining in the half and the Midshipmen took advantage. Navy went up by as many as 13, including a 39-26 lead with under two to go, before Elon scored the last four points and went into the locker room down nine, 39-30.
Elon will play its first home game since November 29 when it challenges the Furman Paladins in a Southern Conference tilt on Thursday, January 5. The game is set to tip at 6 p.m. in Alumni Gym. Elon is 1-1 in league action this season.