College of Charleston 73, Appalachian State 72
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Andrew Goudelock's two free throws with 19 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner as the College of Charleston men's basketball team survived a second-half rally by Appalachian State to defeat the Mountaineers, 73-72, in front of 5,122 fans at Carolina First Arena.
Charleston, South Division leaders in the SoCon, improved to 18-9 overall and 13-3 in the Southern Conference, while Appalachian State, North Division leader, fell to 16-11 and 10-5 in the league.
With the Cougars leading by 10, 51-41 with 15:53 remaining, the Mountaineers used six of Donald Sims' team-leading 18 points and six of Josh's Hunter's 14, to outscore CofC 24-14 the next 11 minutes to take a two-point lead, 65-63 at the 4:41 mark. Casaan Breeden, who had 15 points on the night, nailed one of his two three-pointers at 4:17 to give the Cougars back the lead.
With 40 seconds to go, Kellen Brand hit his only three-pointer of the night to give the Mountaineers the one-point lead, 72-71. On the ensuing possession Goudelock was fouled, sending him to the line with 19 seconds remaining. He nailed both of them and the Cougar defense held at the other end of the court as CofC took the 73-72 win.
Tied 11-11 at the 15:41 mark of the first half, the Cougars took an 11-1 run to take a 21-12 lead with 11:21, before Appalachian staged a comeback to cut the lead to two, 21-19 with 9:36 to go, off its own 7-0 run. Charleston responded with an 18-6 run to go up by its largest margin of the game and led 39-25 with 1:50. Appalachian State was able to cut into that lead and went into the locker room down by eight, 41-33.
Jeremy Simmons scored a career-high 20 points, and with a team-leading 10 rebounds posted his sixth career double-double.
Isaac Butts paced the Mountaineers with seven rebounds.
The Cougars shot 41.2 percent from the field for the game, while the Mountaineers shot 50.9 percent. It marked the first time this season the Cougars have won with the opposition shooting over 50 percent.
The Cougars were eight-for-29 in three-pointers, compared to six-for-13 by Appalachian State. The Mountaineers out-rebounded the Cougars, 41-31, but had eight more turnovers, 15-7.
Elon 70, UNC Greensboro 65
ELON, N.C. - Senior forward Ben Stywall recorded his 12th double-double of the year, but it wasn't enough to help UNC Greensboro climb out of a 16-point hole in a 70-65 loss at Elon on Wednesday night in Southern Conference men's basketball action.
Elon had four players in double figures, led by Drew Spradlin's 14 points. Terrance Birdette added 12 points, including 5-of-6 from the foul line. Adam Constantine added 11 points and Chris Long chipped in with 10 points and five assists.
UNCG cut a 16-point lead down to five midway through the second half and were as close as four in the closing seconds, but dropped its fifth-straight and saw its winning streak against the backyard rival Phoenix snapped. UNCG had won seven straight overall and three in a row at Alumni Gym.
Stywall finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for his league-leading 12th double-double of the year and the 24th of his career. Stywall pulled his 900th career rebound in the game, making him just the third Spartan to achieve the mark. He now has 910 in his career.
Mikko Koivisto added 19 points, including six three-pointers, before fouling out in the final seconds. He scored nine of his points in final four minutes as UNCG tried to pull together one more late rally.
Kendall Toney, who added 11 points, cut the Elon lead to five with 43 seconds left on a three-pointer from the right wing. But the Phoenix hit 13-of-16 from the free throw line over the final 4:36 to hold on for the win.
UNCG led wire-to-wire in the first meeting three weeks earlier. The Spartans found themselves out of an early hole, however, on Wednesday night, trailing by as many 12 in the opening half.
Both teams were slow out of the gates, Elon making 2-of-8 from the floor to open, while the Spartans missed their first eight attempts before a Koivisto trey more than five minutes into the game.
Drew Spradlin's three-pointer with 4:57 left in the first half was part of a 13-4 run and gave the Phoenix the first double-digit lead of the night, 28-18. A dunk by Adam Constantine a little more than a minute later extended the lead to 12.
The Elon lead stayed at 12 at the intermission and Elon scored the first two buckets of the second half to stretch the lead to 39-23 nearly two minutes in.
The Spartans rallied to cut the margin to five with an 18-5 run, with Stywall scoring eight of the points, including the first six to start the run. His last bucket made it 46-41 with 10:22 to play.
But the Phoenix slowly stretched the lead back to 10 as T.J. Douglas knocked down a three-pointer from the right corner with 4:36 to play.
That was Elon's final field goal of the night, but the Phoenix made 13-of-16 from the charity stripe to hold off one more late Spartan charge.
Wofford 73, Davidson 51
DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team reached the 20-win mark with a resounding 73-51 win over Davidson at Belk Arena on Wednesday night. The Terriers defense held the Wildcats to 29.5 percent shooting from the floor, as Wofford won 20 games for the first time since moving to NCAA Division I.
Wofford has won seven in a row and is 20-8 on the season and 12-3 in the SoCon. Davidson is 13-13 overall and 8-6 in the conference. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 19 points and Jamar Diggs added ten points as thirteen different players scored for Wofford. Tim Johnson led the team with eight rebounds. Davidson was led by Jake Cohen with 17 points, including ten from the free throw line. J.P. Kuhlman had 13 points and six rebounds.
The Wildcats opened the game by scoring the first five points, but then the Terriers began a 7-0 run with a tip-in by Noah Dahlman to take the lead at 16:42. Wofford was able to push the lead to 14-7 after a three by Kevin Giltner at the 11:56 mark. The Terriers continued the run and scored a total of 14 straight points on the way to a 21-7 lead after a three by Junior Salters at 9:45.
Davidson ended a seven-minute scoreless stretch with a pair of free throws by Steve Rossiter, but Brad Loesing answered with a lay-up for a 23-9 score with eight minutes left in the half. Wofford kept up the defensive pressure and built a 34-11 lead after two free throws by Tim Johnson and a floater by Cameron Rundles. The Wildcats would then go on a 6-0 run to cut the advantage to 34-17 with three minutes remaining. Wofford scored only four points in the final three minutes, but were able to head into the half with a 38-22 advantage.
To open the second half, the Wildcats cut into the lead and after a three by Nik Cochran, the score was 44-31 at the 15:44 mark. Terry Martin scored the next four points for Wofford to make it a 48-33 score at the twelve minute media time out. The Terriers then went on a 12-3 run to take a 60-36 lead at 6:32 after a bucket by Corey Godzinksi.
A three by Junior Salters gave Wofford their largest lead of the game at 27 points. With three minutes remaining in the game, the Terriers were up 66-44. Davidson cut the lead to 22 points twice in the final minutes and a three by Bryant Barr with 22 seconds made it a 71-51 game. Taylor Wagener hit two free throws with twelve seconds on the clock for the final 73-51 score.
The Terriers made their first eleven free throws in the game. Wofford held the Wildcats to just 20.8 percent from the floor in the first half and limited Davidson to only five field goals. Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 28th time this season and has a streak of 41 games with ten or more points.
With the victory, the Terriers have 20 wins on the season which is the most since moving to NCAA Division I. It marks only the eighth 20-win season in school history and the first since the 1993-94 season. Wofford has won thirteen of their last fourteen games. It was the first win at Davidson since December 19, 1990 (74-63) and the first time with back-to-back wins over the Wildcats since 2003 and 2004.
Georgia Southern 79, Furman 77
STATESBORO, Ga. - Four Eagles scored in double figures as Georgia Southern pulled out a 79-77 win at Hanner Fieldhouse Wednesday night. Junior guard Willie Powers III went 5-7 in the second half for 14 points and led GSU with 21 total. Guards Antonio Hanson and Ben Drayton III each had 11 points in the second period with Hanson finishing with 15.
Powers scored seven of Georgia Southern's points during a 12-2 run late in the second half with his clutch three-point basket tying the game at 67 to begin the spurt. The Eagles pulled to out to a seven-point lead off Drayton free throws and then held on for the win.
With the score knotted six times in the second half, Furman pushed out to a seven-point margin off four Paladin free throws and baskets by Brandon Sebirumbi and Amu Saaka, 56-63. GSU battled back, getting key turnovers and forcing missed shots. A three-pointer by Drayton followed by a jumper by Spencer and free throws by Hanson pulled the Eagles to within one, 64-65.
The second half began with Furman adding to its 34-32 halftime lead with free throws from Jordan Miller before Hanson scored five straight points with a three and a jumper to put the Eagles up by one, 37-36. Drayton picked up a steal, scored the layup and converted the three-point play to put Georgia Southern up by four, 40-36. The Paladins fired right back with Amu Saaka and Neil Duval hitting jumpers to tie the game at 40 all. GSU pulled back out to a 45-42 lead after the two teams traded turnovers and missed shots.
A back-and-forth game for the first 10 minutes of the game, Furman held a five-point lead 23-18 and 25-20 at the 7:55 mark in the game. Eagles Powers, Drayton and Rucker hit jumpers to tie the score at 26 before Saaka hit a jumper followed by States' field goal and free throws to put the Furman lead back to six, 26-32. Powers hit a jumper in the paint and Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) scored a layup to put the Eagles down one, 31-32, with 1:27 left in the first half. Powers made the first of two free throws to tie the score again, 32-32, before Saaka scored with six seconds left for a 34-32 Furman lead.
Georgia Southern, now 7-20 and 4-10 on the year, defended Furman's Jordan Miller well with the Paladin guard going 2-10 from the field for 10 points. The Eagles allowed Furman only two three-point baskets and held the Paladins to 20 percent shooting from behind the line. Saaka was the game-high scorer with 27 and three other Paladins scored in double figures. States had the high rebound total with 10.