Clemson 71, UNCG 61
CLEMSON, S.C. - Despite making it a two-point game midway through the second half, UNCG wasn't able to overcome a 21-point halftime deficit as the Spartans fell to Clemson, 71-61, on Sunday afternoon. The game was the final stop for UNCG on its three-game ACC road stand.
Korey Van Dussen paced the Spartans (0-10) as he delivered a career-high 20 points on 7-10 shooting, while also adding a career-high six assists and five rebounds. Trevis Simpson also set a new career-high with 16 points and seven boards. Aloysius Henry was in double figures for the ninth time this season with 10 points.
The Tigers (7-4) were led by Andre Young who had a game-high 22 points. Jerai Grant had the lone double-double of the game as he scored 19 points, 15 of those coming in the first half, and added 13 rebounds.
After trailing 37-16 at the break, the Spartans came storming out of the gates as Simpson threw down a highlight reel alley-oop from Van Dussen on the first play of the second half. After a steal by Drew Parker, Van Dussen converted a layup before sinking a 3-pointer from the top of the key on the next play to make it a 37-23 contest.
UNCG would cut the Tiger lead down to 13 on a pair of Van Dussen free throws before Clemson extended its lead to 49-31 on a Milton Jennings 3.
That would be the last basket for Clemson for nearly four minutes as the Spartans would go on a 16-0 run, eight of those coming from Simpson, to cut the Tiger lead to two at 49-47 with 9:08 remaining.
The Tigers would immediately answer with a 3-point from Tanner Smith in the right corner. Coming out of a media timeout, Kyle Randall found himself open from the top of the key and drained a 3-pointer of his own to cut it back to two at 52-50 with 7:18 left.
That was as close as the Spartans would get the rest of the contest as the Tigers went on a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to stretch their lead back out to 15 points. UNCG cut it back down to nine with 24 seconds left on a 3 from Brian Cole, but it wasn't enough.
Despite the large halftime deficit, the Spartans started the first half on a high note. Just over four minutes into the game, Randall hit a 3-pointer to give UNCG an early 7-4 lead and another 3 by Van Dussen made it 13-12 in favor of Clemson.
It was all Clemson the rest of the first half, though, as the Tigers ended the half on a 24-4 run over the final 11 and a half minutes to take a commanding lead into the break.
The 16 points scored in the opening half was just four points more than the lowest point total for a first half in school history. The Spartans shot just 6-28 in the first half for a 21.4 percent mark, as opposed to shooting 16-31 for 51.6 percent after intermission.
UNCG was outrebounded 24-11 in the first half, but bounced back to outrebound the Tigers 18-12 in the second half with seven of those 18 being on the offensive end.
The Spartans will return home for the first time in over two weeks on Wednesday as they kick off their five-game homestand by hosting Richmond for a noon contest in the Greensboro Coliseum.
New Mexico 84, The Citadel 58
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Senior Austin Dahn rose to the occasion for The Citadel with a team-high 15 points, but it was not enough as New Mexico emerged victorious, 84-58, in front of 14,640 fans at The Pit. Dahn, who now has a 3-pointer in each of his last nine games, finished 4-of-8 from the field and 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Teammate Mike Groselle finished with 14 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds to join Dahn in double figures.
Behind an 11-for-22 shooting performance in the second half, the Bulldogs finished 20-for-47 (42.6%) from the field and 5-of-11 (45.5%) from 3-point range. The trio of Dahn (3-6), Zach Urbanus (1-1) and Daniel Eykyn (1-1) guided the Cadets to the best 3-point percentage of the season. Citadel Head Coach Chuck Driesell got a solid performance from reserves Cosmo Morabbi (four assists), Matt Clark (four points) and Bo Holston who created defensive problems for New Mexico along with two points in eight minutes of action. The Citadel bench finished with 16 points and converted 6-of-11 field goals.
"We played a lot of players tonight and we are a much better basketball team," said Driesell following the game. "I was very proud of how we played, the way we executed our offense. We slowed things down a little bit, picking our places to run, because we were going against a very high octane team in New Mexico. This is a very tough place to play and our guys came in here and played a well executed game."
The Lobos, who finished with four players in double figures, were led by the 17-point, six rebound effort of Phillip McDonald. He was joined by A.J. Hardeman (12 points), Chad Adams (11 points) and Drew Gordon (11 points). McDonald converted 7-of-14 field goal attempts, including 3-of-8 from long range. As a unit New Mexico finished 29-of-57 (50.9%) from the floor and improved on their team free throw percentage with a 20-for-26 (76.9%) performance.
UNM improved on its 42-32 lead at the break with an 8-0 run in the first 2:58 of the second half. Jumpers by McDonald pushed the lead to 50-32 as New Mexico converted their first seven straight field goals in the second half. Reserves Matt Clark and Mike Dejworek gave The Citadel four points, slicing the lead to 59-38, but the Bulldogs would pull no closer.
As the New Mexico lead grew, the starting backcourt was shuttled in-and-out for a large portion of the second half, which allowed The Citadel to show multiple defenses at a sharpshooting Lobo squad. The Bulldogs limited UNM to 6-of-17 (35.3%) shooting over a 14:55 stretch of the game.
"That is what happens over the course of a season, when things get out of control, on either end," Driesell added. "Coaches want to have large margins so they can play a variety of players and see how they respond. We were able to get some players into the rotation who work just as hard as those players that get a bulk of the minutes, and they really stepped up. Bo Holston is one of those guys that is at practice working hard and in this game we gave him the opportunity to see what he could do and he responded to the challenge."
Dahn knocked down a pair of first half 3-pointers along with hitting a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, leading The Citadel with 10 points out of the gate. He teamed with Groselle, who finished with nine points on 3-for-5 shooting along with a team-high three rebounds. Six Bulldogs scored at least one point, including Cameron Wells (six), Urbanus (three), Eykyn (three) and Dejworek (one). The Dogs trailed 42-32 at the intermission due in large part to their solid 3-point shooting (4-8, 50%) and free throws (10-14, 71.4%).
Falling behind 4-0 in the first 1:20 of the game, The Citadel rallied to knot the game at six apiece on a pair of treys by Dahn and Urbanus. The teams traded baskets over a 5:20 stretch before Eykyn buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Bulldogs a 17-16 lead at the 10:34 mark. Just under one minute later Groselle flipped a layup off the glass to push the advantage to three.
The Cadets maintained the three point advantage until a series of points by Bairstow allowed New Mexico to regain lead, 24-23, with 7:24 remaining. Just over two minutes later Dahn calmly buried a pair of free throws in front of the raucous crowd to keep the Dogs within striking distance at 28-26. Behind points from six different scorers The Lobos responded with a 16-6 run to close out the half. Three points apiece from Chad Adams and Emmanuel Negedu highlighted the final 5:02 of the half as UNM took a 42-32 lead into the break.
The Citadel returns to action on December 22nd in the first round of the Las Vegas Classic when it faces in-state foe South Carolina State. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. EST.