College of Charleston 93, Holy Cross 84
WORCESTER, Mass. - Five players scored in double figures including career-highs by senior Jeremy Simmons and sophomore Willis Hall to lead the College of Charleston men's basketball team to a 93-84 road victory at Holy Cross on Saturday night before a near-capacity crowd at Hart Center.
It was the Hall and Simmons show in the opening minutes of play against the Crusaders (0-1). Hall exploded with 10 of the team's first 14 points of the game including two three-pointers to spark an early 8-4 run by the Cougars (1-1). Simmons, who had six of the team's first 14, silenced the crowd with a two-handed dunk on a pass from Hall and ended the night with a game-and career-high 22 points.
CofC shot the lights out in the first half going 70.4 percent from the floor (19-of-27) and making all seven of their free throw attempts. Holy Cross led only once on a game-opening layup by preseason All-Patriot League selection Andrew Keister and the Cougars never relinquished control thereafter.
They led 52-39 at halftime and stretched it out to 20 as senior Donavan Monroe connected from beyond the arc, 68-48, at the 13:39 minute mark. The Crusaders were able to cut the lead down to 10 on a three-point play by R.J. Evans with 9:07 to go, but it wasn't enough to stop the Cougars, who were coming off a hard-fought 75-74 loss at Maryland on Wednesday night.
Evans and Mike Cavataio both paced Holy Cross with a team-high 16, while preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock added 18 to the winning effort as did freshman Trent Wiedeman and Monroe with 13 and 10 respectively.
CofC returns home to the friendly confines of Carolina First Arena to take on Coastal Carolina (0-0) in its home opener scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. (ET).
Penn 69, Davidson 64
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Jack Eggleston tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Zack Rosen scored 16 points in the second half to lead Penn to a 69-64 men¹s basketball victory over visiting Davidson in The Palestra Saturday night. It was the regular-season opener for both teams.
Davidson placed four players in double figures in the scoring column, led by Clint Mann and Brendan McKillop, who each scored 12. Jake Cohen scored 10 points, and De¹Mon Brooks netted 11 off the bench. Mann had seven rebounds, while McKillop and JP Kuhlman each recorded four assists.
Quaker freshman Miles Cartwright scored 18 points off the bench in the first half as Rosen sat with foul trouble.
The Wildcats trailed by one point with five minutes left after Jordan Downing hit a baseline jumper. But Rosen made a layup, and Eggleston drained a 3-pointer to push the margin to 63-57 with 2:20 left.
After Kuhlman and Rosen traded free throws, Mann scored a layup with 1:06 left to make the score 64-60. After a timeout, Penn went to a spread offense to milk the clock, and Rob Belcore missed a layup but got his own rebound with 29 seconds left.
Davidson was forced to foul, and Belcore missed both free throws. But the Quakers¹ Tyler Bernardini got the board and was fouled, where he made 1-of-2 from the line. Kuhlman hit a driving layup with 15 seconds left to make the margin three points, but Eggleston went 4-for-4 from the line the rest of the way to seal the win.
The Quakers used a 17-5 run over 4:58 in the first half to open a 36-35 cushion, but the Wildcats answered with 10 straight points and trailed 39-38 at halftime. McKillop scored five points during the run.
The Wildcats return to action with three games at the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off next week. Davidson opens play there with a contest against West Virginia at 11:30 a.m. (EST) Nov. 18. That game will be televised live on ESPNU.