Western Carolina 64, William & Mary 39
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Western Carolina used a quick start combined with a strong team defensive effort to score a 64-39 rout of Legend's Classic sub-regional host, William & Mary, Sunday afternoon at the Kaplan Arena.
Senior guard Mike Williams paced the squad with 16 points while dishing out five assists and swiping five steals as the Catamounts led start-to-finish and held a double-digit lead for nearly 29 total minutes. All told, WCU led by as many as 27 on the afternoon in halting a two-game slide.
On the strength of three-straight, double-digit scoring efforts, Williams garnered Legend's Classic All-tournament team honors. He averaged 18.7 points, five rebounds and 3.3 assists while converting all 11 free throw opportunities on the weekend. It is the second-straight season that Williams has earned all-tournament team honors at an in-season tournament. Last year, the Baton Rouge, La., native garnered MVP honors at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic sub-regional hosted in Cullowhee.
Williams was joined in double figures on Sunday by senior forward Richie Gordon with 11, while Harouna Mutombo chipped in nine off the bench on three, 3-pointers with junior Keaton Cole and freshman Tawaski King - both of which made their second-straight start of the season - scoring eight points apiece.
William & Mary (2-4) only had one player score in double figures as Kyle Gaillard finished with 11 on 4-of-6 shooting. Tribe leading scorers Marcus Kitts and Quinn McDowell, both of which entered the game averaging double-digit points, were held to six points apiece by the WCU defense.
Spurred by an 8-0 start, Western Carolina (3-4) jumped on top early in the first half. The Tribe closed to within five at the 12:35 mark, 12-7, but the Catamounts responded with a 22-to-6 run over the next 10 minutes to take a 21-point, 34-13, lead just before the break.
WCU carried a 19-point, 36-17, edge into the locker room.
A second-consecutive 3-pointer by freshman Brandon Boggs handed the Catamounts a 22-point edge before the Tribe mounted its biggest threat since early in the game. A lay-up by Matt Rum and a trey from Gaillard coupled with six empty trips for WCU allowed William & Mary to pull within 17, 50-33, midway through the second half.
However, the Catamounts closed the game by outscoring the Tribe, 14-to-6 over the final 10 minutes to cruise to the road victory.
All told, the Tribe was held to just 38 shot attempts and a season-low 39 points. The Catamounts won the battle on the boards, 34-to-26, including a 12-to-4 edge in offensive rebounding.
Western Carolina returns home on Tuesday night to host the Bradley Braves out of the Missouri Valley Conference at 7:00 pm in the Ramsey Center. WCU downed the Braves, 75-67, a year ago in Peoria, Ill. Tuesday's home game represents the Catamounts final home game of the 2010 calendar year.
Penn State 70, Furman 49
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State buried 12 three-pointers and shot 54.2 percent from the field en route to a 70-49 victory over Furman in non-conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 5,181 on Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The win improved the Nittany Lions to 5-1 on the season and 5-0 at home while Furman, who concluded its three-game road trip, slipped to 3-2.
Penn State connected on 8-of-11 first half treys and shot 60 percent (15-25) from the floor to open up a 41-25 lead at intermission. David Jackson, Jeff Brooks and Taran Buie each buried a trey in the opening six minutes of the second half as the Nittany Lions began the period with a 12-4 run to push their advantage to 53-29 on Buie's trey with 14:18 left.
Trailing 58-34 with just over 10 minutes remaining, Furman's Amu Saaka slashed to the basket for two points. Colin Reddick connected on a jump hook, Jordan Miller drained a three-pointer and Charlie Reddick added a bucket as the Paladins used a 9-0 spurt to trim the margin to 15 points. Less than two minutes later, Justin Dehm's three-pointer cut the lead to 13 at 62-49 with 5:06 left, but Penn State held Furman without a basket for the remaining five minutes while tallying the game's final eight points.
All-Big Ten pick Talor Battle poured in a game-high 19 points while Jackson posted 16 and Brooks added 13 for Penn State. Each of the Nittany Lions' three double figure scorers buried a trio of three-point shots as Penn State made 12-of-19 beyond the arc. The Nittany Lions finished 26-of-48 from the field and held a 33-19 rebounding edge.
Dehm drained four three-pointers to lead Furman with 12 points while Saaka added 10 on 5-of-15 shooting. Furman made 9-of-20 shots beyond the arc, but the Paladins shot only 37.5 percent (18-48) from the floor and were outscored 24-4 in the paint.
The Paladins return to Timmons Arena on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. when they open Southern Conference play against the Elon Phoenix.
#25 North Carolina 74, College of Charleston 69
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - John Henson scored a career-high 19 points and ignited a decisive second-half run to help No. 25 North Carolina beat College of Charleston, 74-69, Sunday night at the Dean E. Smith Center.
Henson also had seven rebounds and two blocked shots for the Tar Heels (4-2), who rallied from a five-point deficit midway through the second half to win their second-straight game.
North Carolina had all kinds of trouble avenging last year's overtime loss to the Cougars (4-3), who never let the Tar Heels put away the game after they finally went back ahead.
The Tar Heels, who led by just a point at halftime, shot 53 percent after the break.
Andrew Goudelock scored 28 points to lead CofC, which hit nine three-pointers, but missed plenty of good looks in the second half.
The Cougars also consistently pounded the boards, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds and scoring 22 second-chance points against the bigger Tar Heels.
Goudelock had a huge day against the Tar Heels last year, hitting the tying three in the final seconds of regulation on the way to a game-high 24 points in the win. He got off to a slow start Sunday, missing his first five shots and scoring just five points in the opening half, before he got rolling with a dazzling two-minute flurry.
Goudelock made five-straight shots for 10 points - including back-to-back three-pointers from several feet behind the arc - which gave the Cougars a 48-43 lead with 13 minutes left in regulation.
It was one of many sequences that proved College of Charleston wasn't afraid of North Carolina, including a one-handed reverse dunk by freshman Trent Wiedeman against Tyler Zeller for the Cougars' final lead at 54-52.
Yet the Tar Heels - whose transition offense has been missing in action for much of this season - finally got out on the break and even started scrapping on the offensive glass to take back control. Henson banked in a shot in the lane off an offensive rebound to put the Tar Heels ahead for good with about 7 1/2 minutes left, which started an 8-0 run that finally gave them some breathing room.
North Carolina overcame shaky performances from top scorers Zeller and Harrison Barnes. Zeller had eight points on 4-for-12 shooting and fell short of double figures for the first time all year, while Barnes had eight points on 3-for-12 shooting.
The Cougars return to Charleston for a three-game homestand which begins with Davidson in both team's Southern Conference opener on Thursday, Dec. 2, at Carolina First Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.