Chattanooga 71, Elon 65
ELON, N.C. - Keegan Bell scored 23 points and the visiting Chattanooga Mocs crashed the glass to pull out the 71-65 victory over the Elon Phoenix in a Southern Conference battle at Alumni Gym on Friday night. Elon fell to 4-6 on the year, 0-3 in league action. Chattanooga remained unbeaten in the SoCon at 3-0, moving to 5-6 overall.
Chattanooga was dominating on the glass, outrebounding Elon 48-31 and scoring 24 points in the paint compared to only 10 by the Phoenix. DeAntre Jefferson had 10 boards and six UTC players had five or more rebounds. Jack Isenbarger was the lone Phoenix in double figures with 22 points on 6-of-11 from three-point territory. Elon's Drew Spradlin tied his career high with 10 rebounds in the contest.
Holding a slight 35-33 advantage at the break, Elon struggled from the field in the final 20 minutes of action. The lead changed hands eight times in the first eight minutes, with the Phoenix still clinging to a 51-46 lead with 12:12 remaining. The Mocs erased the deficit and went on top 52-51 as Elon went five minutes without a field goal.
An Isenbarger bucket finally ended the drought at 7:29, but the 53-52 lead would be short-lived as another dry spell from the field allowed UTC to pull ahead, 61-55, with 3:42 to go. Elon netted only one field goal during the nine-minute stretch, but the defensive effort kept the Phoenix in the contest.
A Chris Long triple trimmed the advantage to three, 61-58, but Elon would climb no closer. While the Mocs shot only 59 percent from the free throw line for the game, Chattanooga connected on 8-of-9 from the stripe down the stretch to stay undefeated in conference action.
Elon shot only 37 percent in the second half, compared to 52 percent by the visitors. The Mocs turned the ball over 17 times in the contest, but the Phoenix converted the miscues into only eight points.
In the opening half, Isenbarger hit four three-pointers and scored 12 of the Phoenix's first 16 points as Elon jumped on top 16-11 with 11:28 on the clock. Despite some early foul trouble, Elon managed to push its advantage to 10, 26-16, on a Brett Ervin put-back at 7:24. A quick 7-0 run by Chattanooga was extended to 17-9 over the remainder of the half and Elon went into the locker room up only two, 35-33.
Colorado 89, The Citadel 61
Boulder, Colo. - The Citadel's Mike Groselle scored a career-high 22 points to lead three players in double figures, but it was not enough as Colorado emerged with an 89-61 victory at Coors Event Center on Friday evening. Groselle's game-high marked the third straight game that the sophomore center has topped double figures in scoring. On the offensive end he was joined by teammates Cameron Wells and Austin Dahn, who finished with 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Citadel finished 24-of-58 (41.4%) from the floor as a unit, keyed by a 12-for-26 (46.2%) second half shooting performance. Groselle topped all players with a 9-for-12 outing along with three rebounds as a starter. The Bulldogs also got a lift in the post from Bryan Streeter who finished with a team-high six rebounds, followed closely by Wells who tallied five boards. Wells piloted the offense with five assists as the Cadets dished out 14 total assists, along the way moving into second on the school's all-time assists lists. The Citadel slips to 3-6 overall.
"Mike's improving every game and every practice and most importantly he is the kind of guy that you can build things around," said head coach Chuck Driesell. "I was really excited about Mike's performance tonight. The thing that sets him apart is not what he did on the stat sheet, but rather how hard he worked. He works hard all the time and he wouldn't have it any other way. I love that about his playing style."
Four Buffaloes topped double figures in scoring led by Alec Burks' 19 points. Teammates Cory Higgins (18 points), Levi Knutson (11 points) and Andre Roberson (11 points) also reached double-digit marks. Roberson completed the double-double with 10 rebounds, grabbing nine on the defensive end, to give the Buffs a 33-29 edge on the glass. Colorado finished 10-for-20 from 3-point range due in large part to a 4-of-6 outing by Higgins. CU shot better than 50% from the floor in each half that accounted for the 34-of-57 (59.6%) performance on the game. With the victory the Buffaloes improve to 6-3 on the season.
Colorado stretched a 13-point halftime lead to 48-28 in the first 2:44 of the second half on seven quick points by the tandem of Higgins and Burks forcing an early Citadel timeout. The Bulldogs responded with a pair of jumpers by Wells and Dahn, but solid long range shooting by the Buffs allowed them to maintain a 20-plus point advantage. The Citadel scored 18 of 33 second half points in the paint, keyed by Groselle's 10 post points in the stanza. Groselle added four free throws to finish with 14 total second half points for the Dogs, hitting 5-of-7 from the field. Wells tallied seven points after the intermission along with four assists. Three players made a combined eight trips to the charity stripe, as the Bulldogs finished 8-for-11 (72.7%), led by Groselle (4-5).
Higgins led Colorado with 10 second half points, followed by nine each from Roberson and Knutson and eight points on 3-for-3 shooting by Burks. The depth of head coach Tad Boyle's bench allowed eight players to score after the break, securing the 89-61 win.
Groselle's 10 points was the workhorse in the paint for a Bulldogs unit that scored 18 points in the paint in the second half, scoring 10 scored 10 of his 13 second half points in the middle for a Bulldogs unit that finished with 18 points in the paint in the stanza.
In his first career start for the Bulldogs Groselle led the team with eight points at the half. He was joined in scoring by Dahn, who converted his 200th career 3-pointer en route to five points, along with four each by the combination of Wells and Eykyn. The Citadel finished 12-of-32 (37.5%) from field goal range, including two from beyond the arc. Streeter posted a team-high four rebounds as the Cadets finished with an 18-15 edge on the glass.
As for the Buffaloes, Burks opened the first half with a 4-of-5 shooting performance which included a pair of 3-pointers, netting a game-high 11 points. Higgins added eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field, finishing a perfect 2-of-2 from long distance. Colorado had eight players with at least two first half bucket as the team finished 16-of-26 (61.5%) from the floor, a first half high for any Bulldog opponent this season.
Colorado streaked out to an early 11-2 lead, behind eight points from Higgins and forced an early Citadel timeout at the 17:42 mark. The Cadets responded with a layup by Groselle and a Dahn 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 12-7 before a 7-2 run by Buffaloes pushed the lead back to double digits with 14:05 remaining.
The teams traded baskets before a series of buckets by Groselle and Urbanus, who connected on a long range 3-pointer, cut the Buffs advantage to 23-16 at the 11:46 mark. Colorado responded with a 16-4 run over the next 8:41 of the contest, sparked by six points each from reserves Ben Mills and Austin Dufault.
The two teams headed to intermission on an eight point swing by The Citadel. Consecutive layups by Dahn and Clark followed by a jumper by Cosmo Morabbi sliced the deficit to 41-26. The final Bulldog points came on a hustle play by Eykyn who regained possession from Burks and drew the foul. Eykyn converted a pair of free throws to make for the 41-28 halftime score.
The Citadel will now head to New Mexico for a Sunday afternoon tilt with the Lobos that is set for 3:00 p.m. EST.