Wofford 59, Samford 54
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team was outscored 35-22 in the second half of play Saturday in a hard-fought Southern Conference loss against the Wofford Terriers at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 points in the game, but only tallied eight field goals in the second half en route to a 59-54 defeat.
With Saturday's defeat, Samford (10-16, 4-10 SoCon) dropped to 6-6 at home this season with all of its losses coming in SoCon play. The Bulldogs have been defeated in six straight SoCon games at the Pete Hanna Center and haven't won at home since Jan. 8.
Samford opened conference play with a 55-31 home win against Elon on Dec. 3, but have since dropped consecutive games to UNC Greensboro, College of Charleston, The Citadel, Appalachian State, Western Carolina and Wofford (19-8, 11-3 SoCon) at the Pete Hanna Center.
Wofford extended its SoCon-best winning streak to six-consecutive games and improved to 12-1 in its last 13 outings. The Terriers have also been victorious in 15 of their last 17 contests, only losing to Kent State 73-66 and College of Charleston 70-68 during the stretch.
Four players finished with double figures in scoring for Wofford as the Terriers were paced by 15 points from Junior Salters. He poured in 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and hit a number of key shots late in the game. Salters also finished with three steals, two assists and a pair of blocks.
Joining Salters in the scoring column Saturday were Tim Johnson (13), Noah Dahlman (12) and Cameron Rundles (10). To go along with his 13 points, Wofford's Johnson pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds as the Terriers out-rebounded the Bulldogs 33-26.
Samford led by as many 13 points in the first half and took a 32-24 advantage in the intermission. Senior guard Trey Montgomery led the Bulldogs with 17 points and tallied 13 of his game-high total in the opening period. Montgomery finished the game shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Midway through the second half, Samford held a 38-32 advantage in the game before Wofford exploded for a 14-2 run. During the stretch, Salters scored seven points and Dahlman added four as the Terriers would take a decisive 46-40 advantage with 6:42 remaining to play.
For the remainder of the half, Wofford's lead hovered around the six-point mark until Samford's Kaylin Johnson drained an NBA-range 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining. Johnson's deep basket trimmed the Terriers' advantage to 57-54.
On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs extended their pressure defense, but Wofford was able to get the ball inbounds to Rundles. Rundles was immediately fouled by Montgomery and connected on both of the free throws to ice the game at 59-54.
Samford's Matthew Friday earned his second straight start and finished with seven points, eight rebounds, two blocks and an assist. The Bulldogs' sophomore center from Grapevine, Texas, turned in a 3-for-4 performance from the field and was 1-for-1 from 3-point range.
Matthew's older brother, Bryan, added eight points for the Bulldogs, while Johnson chipped in with eight of his own. Junior Josh Davis, who poured in a career-high 30 points against Chattanooga on Wednesday, was limited to four points on only five shot attempts.
The Citadel 77, Elon 72
ELON, N.C. - Austin Dahn drained five second-half three-pointers to lead The Citadel Bulldogs to a 77-72 victory over the host Elon Phoenix in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday night at Alumni Gym. Playing its fifth game in nine days, Elon shot 40 percent in the final period compared to a 62.5 percent clip by the Bulldogs. Elon fell to 6-19 on the season, 4-10 in the SoCon, while The Citadel won its fourth straight game to improve to 14-12, 8-6 in the league.
Elon's Adam Constantine scored 24 points to lead all scorers. The forward racked up his eighth double-double of the season, adding a game-high 15 rebounds. Constantine is averaging 16.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg in the last six contests. Drew Spradlin added 18 for the Phoenix and Chris Long dumped in 10 points and dished six assists.
Dahn, who averages 6.3 ppg, scored all 16 of his points in the second half, netting 5-of-6 from long range. Cameron Wells led the Bulldogs with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Harrison DuPont chipped in 18 points and eight boards.
Holding a 31-28 advantage at the break, Elon pulled out to 36-30 lead on a Spradlin triple before Dahn drained back-to-back buckets from beyond the arc to tie the game with 17:21 to play.
Elon answered with Long and Spradlin three-pointers to make it 42-36, but Dahn kept the Bulldogs alive, hitting from long range on consecutive tries to get The Citadel within four, 46-42, at the 14 minute mark.
The Citadel knotted the game at 48 on a jumper by Joe Wolfinger. Following two more ties, a backdoor layup by DuPont gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 54-52, with 8:06 to go in the contest.
The Bulldogs outscored Elon 14-1 over a five-minute span to take a 66-53 lead with 4:22 to play. A Constantine three-point play at 4:02 put Elon within 10, 66-56, and then it became a free throw game. The Citadel struggled from the line in the final three minutes, hitting only 9-of-19 from the stripe, but Elon would claw no closer than five for the remainder of the contest.
The Phoenix jumped out to a quick 8-0 advantage, hitting its first three shots to start the game. After The Citadel managed to get on the board, Constantine scored back-to-back buckets and Brett Ervin nailed a jumper off the bench to stretch the Elon lead to 11 at 14-3 with 14:18 to go.
Holding a 23-13 edge, Elon hit a cold stretch from the field, not hitting a field goal for over four minutes as The Citadel used an 8-0 run to make it a 23-21 game at 5:25.
A Terrance Birdette layup at 5:16 ended the field goal drought and Elon pushed its lead to 31-25 over the next four minutes. With the final seconds ticking down before the break, Zach Urbanus sank The Citadel's lone three-pointer of the half to cut it to 31-28 after 20 minutes of action.
Elon was strong on the glass in the first half, holding a 17-12 rebounding advantage. The second period was a different story as The Citadel crashed the boards to hold a 36-33 overall edge.
The Phoenix played a clean contest for the second straight game, turning the ball over only seven times - once in the second half. Elon has totaled only 12 turnovers in the last two games.
Davidson 75, Western Carolina 72
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Freshmen Jake Cohen and Nik Cochran each scored 14 points to lead Davidson as the Wildcats held on for a 75-72 SoCon men's basketball victory at Western Carolina Saturday night.
Cohen knocked down the first of two free throws to give the Wildcats (13-12, 8-5 SoCon) a three-point lead with six seconds left. He missed the second, and the Catamounts' Jake Robinson missed a contested 3-pointer as the horn sounded for the final margin.
Ben Allison netted tallied 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench as the Davidson reserves put up 35 points, including 28 in the first half. JP Kuhlman finished with 11 points, and Steve Rossiter scored 10.
Bryant Barr posted nine points and four rebounds, and Brendan McKillop had a game-high nine assists with no turnovers.
Harouna Mutombo led the Catamounts (18-8, 8-6 SoCon) with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. Brandon Giles scored 13 points, and Robinson finished with 11.
Appalachian State 111, Georgia Southern 83
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball shot a season-high 67.2 percent from the field en route to a 111-83 win over Georgia Southern Saturday night in the Holmes Center.
Both teams started the game on fire, as the Mountaineers shot 77.8 percent while the Eagles connected on 58.8 percent of field goals and 7-of-10 three-pointers before the intermission. GSU opened a 10-point lead early on at 30-20 midway through the half, before Appalachian scored 19 of the next 23 points to take the lead for good.
ASU scored a season-best 57 first half points but only held a three-point lead as Georgia Southern scored 13 points off of 10 Mountaineer turnovers.
Colby Wohlleb made the Apps pay from downtown with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Donald Sims led the Mountaineers with 15 points before the break.
Sims ended the game with 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting, to go along with five rebounds and an assist. Wohlleb led the Eagles with 22 points while Antonio Hanson added 15 for GSU.
The Mountaineers continued to stretch the lead in the second half by scoring the first five points of the half on a jumper by Sims and a three-pointer by Kellen Brand.
Brand joined Sims in double figures with 17 point on 7-of-10 shooting.
Appalachian broke open the game with an 11-0 run with seven minutes to go to build a 25-point lead.
Furman 87, Chattanooga 78
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Junior Jordan Miller poured in a career-high 31 points to help Furman down Chattanooga 87-78 in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday evening at the McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The win, Furman's fourth road victory of the season and fifth away from Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena, helped the Paladins improve to 12-13 overall and 6-8 in the SoCon. Chattanooga fell to 13-14 overall and 5-9 in league play.
Miller connected on 10-of-18 shots from the floor, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, as the Paladins converted on a season-best 53.7 percent (29-54) of their field goal attempts. Furman made 9-of-20 three-point attempts and 20-of-32 free throw attempts to secure its third win in its last five trips to the McKenzie Arena.
Chattanooga jumped out to a 5-0 advantage and led 25-21 with 2:41 remaining in the first half before the Paladins, behind eight points from junior Amu Saaka, pieced together an 11-2 run to carry a 32-27 lead into intermission.
The Paladins blistered the nets in the second half shooting 63.0 percent (17-27) from the field to score a season best 55 second half points. Furman pushed its advantage to as many as 16 points at 67-51 before settling for a nine-point win.
Saaka, 7-of-11 from the floor, joined Miller in double figures scoring 19 points to go with seven rebounds. Neil Duval came off of the bench to hit 4-of-5 shots and score eight points. The Paladins held a 37-33 edge on the boards.
DeAntre Jefferson led four Mocs in double figures with 15 points. Keegan Bell and Ricky Taylor netted 14 points apiece while Ty Patterson added 12 points. Chattanooga shot 45.9 percent (28-61) from the field, but managed to hit just 6-of-19 three-point attempts and only 16-of-28 free throws.