Elon 76, Hampden-Sydney 56
ELON, N.C. - Junior Drew Spradlin scored 14 points and rookie Lucas Troutman added a career-best 12 points as the Elon men's basketball team rolled to a 76-56 victory over the visiting Hampden-Sydney Tigers on Monday night in Alumni Gym. Twelve Phoenix players scored in the contest as Elon moved to 2-2 on the year. The loss was the Tigers first of the season, dropping H-SC to 2-1 overall.
"I thought we came into the game with the right mindset," said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. "We had a lot of respect for Hampden-Sydney which was well-deserved. As the game progressed, we got better both offensively and defensively, but there is still plenty of work to be done. Hopefully this is one of many steps in the right direction."
Elon produced well-rounded scoring and rebounding efforts. Twelve players posted at least one board with senior Chris Long and sophomore Roger Dugas each grabbing a career-high eight rebounds. Long added seven points and contributed four assists. The guard is only seven helpers away from moving into the third position on Elon's career assist list. Troutman posted seven boards and freshman Jack Isenbarger dumped in six points, dished off a personal-best eight assists and pulled down five rebounds. H-SC's Ru White led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Elon jumped on top 10-6 at the 17:18 mark of the first half before stepping up its defense and holding the Tigers without a field goal for the next four minutes. The Phoenix rolled out to a 24-9 lead with 11:30 on the clock and never looked back. Elon gave up only 19 first-half points, holding the visitors to a 28.6 shooting percentage from the field. Hampden-Sydney did not connect on a three-pointer in the opening period and Elon took a 40-19 advantage into the locker room.
While the Phoenix shot under 40 percent in the opening stanza, the home team was dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Tigers 31-18 and dumping in 14 second-chance points.
The Phoenix scored 14 of the first 18 points in the final period to boost its lead to 54-23 at 13:46. Elon's biggest lead of the night would come on a Sebastian Koch three-pointer, giving the Phoenix a 35-point advantage, 64-29, with 9:17 remaining in the contest. A late 16-6 Tiger run to close the game provided the final margin of 76-56.
Elon, the Southern Conference leader in assists per game, had 17 assists on 28 buckets. The Phoenix had six blocks in the contest, three of which came from Troutman. The freshman now has seven swats on the year. Elon continued to struggle from the free throw line, managing only 11-of-22 from 15 feet.
Following the Thanksgiving holiday, Elon will travel to College Park, Md. to meet the Maryland Terrapins on Friday, November 26 at 8 p.m.
Western Carolina 97, Warren Wilson 47
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Richie Gordon recorded his first career double-double, leading a balanced Catamount attack with a career-high tying 23 points and career-best 10 rebounds as Western Carolina soared past Warren Wilson, 97-47, Monday night in nonconference action in the Ramsey Center.
All 11 Catamounts that saw action on Monday night scored points with 10 tallying points before intermission. Five players established career-highs for points in a game with two tallying their career bests in rebounds in the victory.
Gordon was joined in double figures by freshman Preston Ross with a career-best 12 points with four steals while redshirt freshman Trey Sumler poured in 11 points off the bench for WCU. Senior Mike Williams had his string of double-digit scoring games snapped at three, finishing with nine points while freshman Tawaski King was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor for eight points, adding a career-best eight rebounds.
Freshman Ishmael Hollis scored his first collegiate field goal in the win, posting a career-best seven points off the bench while redshirt sophomore center Sam Smithson established career benchmarks with six points and six rebounds.
All told, the Catamounts dominated the paint, outscoring the out-matched Owls, 66-to-10, while also commanding the glass to the tune of 51-to-32 with 20 offensive rebounds.
After Western Carolina (2-2) raced out to a 5-0 lead, the Owls connected on consecutive buckets to close back to within a point, 5-4, at the 16:35 mark of the first half. The Catamounts then scored nine-straight points as a part of a 24-to-4 run to push its advantage into double-digits which is where it would remain the rest of the ballgame.
WCU stretched its lead to as many as 29 in the opening half, leading 49-20 at intermission.
Harouna Mutombo's lay-up at the 16:42 mark of the second half ballooned the Catamount advantage over 30 points for good with WCU taking a game-high 50-point lead inside the final minute of regulation.
Warren Wilson (3-5) was paced by the double-double effort of Rashad Ali who finished with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Timur Oktay and Patrick Albright both added seven points for the Owls who were playing their third game in the past four days.
Western Carolina returns to action this weekend in the Legends Classic sub-regional hosted by William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The Catamounts will face Mercer on Friday, Nov. 26 at 5:00 pm, Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 3:30 pm and the host Tribe at 4:30 pm on Sunday, Nov. 28.
Louisville 106, Chattanooga 65
LOUISVILLE, Ky.. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team hung in early before a big run propelled Louisville to a 106-65 win at the brand new KFC Yum! Center in game two of the Global Sports Shoot-out. Chattanooga falls to 2-3 on the young season, while the Cardinals improve to 3-0.
Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) had his best game since transferring from Georgetown with a career-high 24 points. The 24 points and five three-pointers made are both new team season-bests. DeAntre Jefferson (Bloomington, Ill.) added 10 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine on the night.
Seven Cards scored in double digits with Preston Knowles' 14 serving as the team high. Terrence Jennings had 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks, while Peyton Siva added 13 points and five assists.
The Mocs jumped out to a 4-0 lead on layups by Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) and Keegan Bell (Hazel Green, Ala.). The Chattanooga defense held U of L scoreless until a Mike Marra trey at 16:41.
It was 34-29 with 3:33 left in the first half after a Wattad three when the damn burst. Louisville went on a quick 12-3 run to jump out to a 14-point advantage, 46-32 on a three-point play by Stephan Van Treese with 2:30 left in the half.
Coming out of the break with a 51-37 lead, the Cardinals took control of the game on both ends of the floor. After another Wattad three-ball made it 58-42, but Louisville scored 24 unanswered points to put the game away. It's the first time UTC has allowed 100 points to an opponent since the 2009 NCAA West Regional loss to UConn.
After the Mocs limited Louisville to 37.5 percent shooting the first half, the Cards shot 62.9 percent in the second frame, while holding UTC to 36 percent. U of L forced 25 turnovers with steals scoring 28 points off those miscues.
There were not a lot of bright spots on the evening for Chattanooga. Jefferson and Jeremy Saffore (Nashville, Tenn.) combined for 17 points and 15 rebounds at the center position.
Louisville's bench out-pointed the Mocs' reserves 44-18. Kyle Kuric led the Cardinals' bench with 13 points, while Chris Smith notched 11. It is the first time in three games that the Mo
Chattanooga keeps up its hectic schedule with game three of the Global Sports Shoot-out Wednesday night returning home against Jackson State. Tipoff in McKenzie Arena is at 7 p.m. Live video, audio and stats are available at GoMocs.com.