Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Thursday's Men's Basketball Results

Wofford 79, USC Upstate 61

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team downed USC Upstate 79-61 in the opening road of the 2010 Charleston Classic on Thursday afternoon. The Terriers will face 20th ranked Georgetown in the second round in a 2:30 pm game Friday that will air on ESPNU.

Wofford is 1-2 on the season and USC Upstate is 0-3. The Terriers were led by Jamar Diggs with 18 points and Noah Dahlman with 17 points. Tim Johnson came up short of the triple-double with ten points, nine assists and nine rebounds. The Spartans were led by Torrey Craig with 13 points, all in the second half.

Jamar Diggs scored the first five points of the game for the Terriers and Wofford was able to take a 12-0 lead after a bucket by Tim Johnson four minutes into the contest. The Spartans got on the board with a three by Tony Dukes at 15:31, but the Terriers were able to extend the lead to 18-3 at the 14:14 mark after two lay-ups by Noah Dahlman.

The Terriers kept up the pressure and a three by Kevin Giltner made it a 28-7 game at the 9:22 mark in the first half. The Spartans cut the lead to 30-9 at 8:31 with only their second field goal of the game. Wofford continued to hold the advantage at 42-21 with 3:10 left in the half. A three by Kevin Giltner made it a 49-23 lead with 37 seconds left, but the Spartans answered with a three by Marquis Sloan with three seconds on the clock for a 49-26 score at the half.

The Spartans scored the first three points of the second half on free throws, but at the first media time out at 15:41, the Terriers had a 51-31 lead. Wofford kept up the pressure and a dunk by Kevin Giltner on a break-away gave the Terriers a 72-38 lead at 8:07 in the second half. With seven minutes left in the game, the Wofford starters took the bench. The Spartans chipped away at the Wofford lead with a couple late three-pointers, but the Terriers came away with the 79-61 win.

Wofford shot 57.1% from the floor and were 50.0% from three. From the free throw line, the Terriers were 58.3%. USC Upstate was 31.1% overall and were 34.8% from behind the arc. They were 55.6% from the line. Rebounds were tied at 38 each and each team had twelve turnovers.


Georgia Southern 101 Reinhardt 84

STATESBORO, Ga. -- Georgia Southern freshman Jelani Hewitt scored 17 points to lead the Eagles to a 101-84 victory over Reinhardt Thursday night in Hanner Fieldhouse. Hewitt was one of seven players who scored in double figures as Georgia Southern shot 65.4 percent for the game and eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time since the season-opening win against Reinhardt last November.

A 15-4 scoring run in the second half propelled the Georgia Southern to a 22-point lead, its largest of the game at 96-74, on its way to its second win of the year.

Georgia Southern shot 68 percent in the second half and held Reinhardt to a 38.9 field goal percentage in the period after Reinhardt shot 51.5 percent in the first half. In a game with little or no flow, the two teams combined for 50 fouls and, consequently, 63 free throw attempts. Georgia Southern converted 27 points on 37 trips to the charity stripe.

After Reinhardt cut Georgia Southern's halftime lead to four early in the second half, senior forward Rory Spencer helped GSU pull away to a 66-54 margin as he scored eight of his 13 points over a two-minute stretch. Spencer also picked up a steal to feed freshman Tré Bussey for a layup and registered one of his four blocked shots during that period.

A trey by freshman guard Eric Ferguson and jumper by sophomore forward Cameron Baskerville extended the GSU lead to 15 with just under 14 minutes to play. Georgia Southern continued to score consistently, but three of its post players already had three fouls each and freshman starting forward Marvin Baynham picked up his fourth with 12:20 left to go in the game.

A double technical on the Georgia Southern bench at 11:44 of the second half sent Reinhardt's Steven Jenkins to the line for four free throws, cutting the Georgia Southern lead to single-digits for the first time since the 15:30 mark of the half. The technical fouls earned Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young an ejection from the game and Assistant Coach Steve Smith assumed head coaching duties.

"It was a tighter game than we expected, and the first half didn't go as well as we wanted it to defensively," said Assistant Coach Steve Smith. "We have a couple of goals defensively we are working on, and in the first half, we didn't accomplish those goals. In the second half we did a better job defensively, but a big part of it was that we didn't turn the ball over as much."

Ferguson and Ben Drayton III each had 16 points with Spencer adding 13. Baskerville and Baynham had career best totals of 11 and 10, respectively. Ferguson and Baskerville combined for 11-11 shooting from the floor, helping GSU to its best single-game field goal percentage of the year. Reinhardt guard David Lawson finished with a game-high 25 points with three others putting up double-figure totals. Lawson was also the game-high rebounder with eight boards while Baskerville grabbed seven for Georgia Southern.

Through the first four minutes of the game, Georgia Southern and Reinhardt went back and forth with Carrlos Lyles hitting a jumper to tie the game at 8 all. GSU proceeded to go on an 18-0 run to pull out to a 26-8 lead off points from six different players. Baskerville had two baskets during the run with Zuri James (Atlanta, Ga.) hitting a jumper and adding two free throws. Bussey hit the first three-pointer of his career during the run.

Reinhardt rattled off a 13-2 run of its own to cut the lead to seven with nine minutes left in the first half. The Georgia Southern lead crept back up to nine, but Reinhardt's Lawson had a steal and then took it the length of the court for a layup. A quick jumper by Tyler Backwell off an assist from Lawson made it a five-point game again, 30-25. Reinhardt would get within four at the 6:07 mark before a Baynham dunk and Hewitt trey would provide a little more cushion, 39-31, Georgia Southern.

The two teams traded baskets over the next two minutes before Sam Mike gave GSU a nine-point lead with his jumper in the lane. Two field goals by Drayton offset Reinhardt jumpers by Lawson and Hobbs. A Lyles jumper with 11 seconds left in the first half trimmed the lead to seven, 51-44, Georgia Southern.

Georgia Southern improved to 2-1 on the year and will play next at South Florida Sunday, November 21st. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. in the Sun Dome.

 


West Virginia 84, Davidson 70

SAN JUAN, P.R. -­ Darryl Bryant scored a game-high 22 points to lead West Virginia to an 84-70 men¹s basketball victory over Davidson in the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Thursday afternoon.

Brendan McKillop and De¹Mon Brooks each scored 15 points to lead the Wildcats (0-2), and Brooks added a team-high seven rebounds.

Casey Mitchell scored 12 points for the Mountaineers (2-0), and John Flowers posted 11 points and eight rebounds. Kevin Jones and Dalton Pepper each scored 10.

It was a game marred by 67 called fouls, 37 for Davidson and 30 for the Mountaineers. Four Wildcats and three Mountaineers fouled out.

West Virginia took advantage from the charity stripe, making 31-of-49, while Davidson went 18-for-29.

After West Virginia built a 17-point lead early in the second half, Davidson trimmed the deficit to 10 points twice but could get no closer.

A 7-0 Davidson run, capped by two Clint Mann free throws, made the score 48-38 midway through the frame, but the Mountaineers responded with a 12-3 spurt to open a 19-point advantage.

The 'Cats drew to within 10 points again on a Jordan Downing 3-pointer with 3:21 left, but Joe Mazzulla hit a layup, and Bryant nailed a triple to put the game away.

An 8-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Flowers, opened a 26-16 lead for West Virginia midway through the first half. Davidson trailed 28-20 following a Tom Droney layup, but the Mountaineers used a 12-4 run to open a 40-24 cushion with 3:08 left in the frame.


Georgia Southern xx, Reinhardt xx