Wofford 74, College of Charleston 68
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team claimed at least a share of the Southern Conference South Division championship with a 74-68 win over College of Charleston on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. In front of a sold-out crowd, the Terriers used a 14-0 run to take the lead in the first half and held on for the win.
Wofford has won nine in a row and is 22-8 on the season and 14-3 in the SoCon. College of Charleston is 19-10 overall and 13-4 in the conference. With the win, the Terriers have claimed the No. 1 seed in the South Division in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament. In addition, Wofford has claimed the conference's automatic bid to the NIT Tournament if they do not reach the NCAA Tournament as the regular season champion.
The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 20 points and Tim Johnson with 15 rebounds. Jamar Diggs added 19 points and Cameron Rundles had 15 points for Wofford. The Cougars leading scorer was Andrew Goudelock with 24 points and Jeremy Simmons had ten rebounds.
The Terriers scored the first five points of the game, but the Cougars responded and took an 8-7 lead at the 16:48 mark. A jumper by Andrew Goudelock at 14:18 gave the College of Charleston a 12-8 lead. Donavan Monroe gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 17-11 with 11:20 remaining in the first half. Wofford quickly cut the lead in half with a three by Jamar Diggs.
After Wofford tied the game at 21 with a lay-up by Noah Dahlman, Andrew Goudelock added a three for a 24-21 lead. After College of Charleston took a 26-22 lead with 5:17 left in the half, Wofford began a 14-0 run with a bucket from Terry Martin. Five different Terriers scored during the run, which included threes from Cameron Rundles and Corey Godzinski. The Wofford defense did not allow a basket for over five minutes during the run. The Cougars hit a bucket with one second left in the half to make it a 36-28 score at the break.
To open the second half, the Cougars scored the first five points and a three by Tony White, Jr. made is a 36-33 game. Wofford answered with two dunks by Tim Johnson and a lay-up by Noah Dahlman to push the lead back to 42-33 with 15:43 left on the clock. After College of Charleston cut the lead to nine at 46-37, Wofford scored the next seven points and had a 53-37 lead after a three by Junior Salters at 9:01.
The Cougars answered with a 7-0 run to make it a nine-point game at 53-44 with seven minutes on the clock, but a three by Cameron Rundles at 4:41 gave the Terriers a 60-48 lead. Andrew Goudelock hit a three with a free throw for a four-point play to make it an eight-point game. Brad Loesing hit two key free throws at 1:25, followed by two free throws by Jamar Diggs with just 41 seconds left to take a 70-58 lead.
However, the Cougars would use a three by Andrew Goudelock to make it a 71-63 game with 31 seconds remaining. Wofford missed three-of-four free throw attempts and College of Charleston added a bucket for a 72-65 score with 20 seconds on the clock. Cameron Rundles hit two free throws with 12 seconds remaining to seal the win before Ton y White, Jr. hit a three at the buzzer for the 74-68 final score.
Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 30th time this season and has a streak of 43 games with ten or more points. Jamar Diggs' 19 points ties his Wofford career high.
Furman 59, The Citadel 44
Greenville, S.C. -- Furman held The Citadel to a season-low 24 percent shooting from the field and Jordan Miller and Amu Saaka tallied 16 and 14 points, respectively, to lead the Paladins past the Bulldogs 59-44 in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Thursday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
With the victory, Furman snapped a three-game skid against The Citadel and improved to 13-15 overall and 7-10 in SoCon play. The Citadel dipped to 15-14 overall and 9-8 in the league.
The Paladins, who limited The Citadel to 12-of-50 shooting from the floor on the night, fashioned a 26-14 halftime lead holding the Bulldogs to 16.7 percent shooting in the first half. Furman opened the second half on a 7-2 run to up its lead to 33-18 with 16:21 left before The Citadel used a 15-4 spurt to trim the deficit to 37-33 with 10:07 remaining.
From that point, Brandon Sebirumbi pushed the Paladins back into a seven-point lead and answered back-to-back Bulldog baskets with buckets in the paint. Furman upped its advantage to 52-41 and Justin Dehm put the game away by burying a trey from the right corner to give the Paladins a 55-41 advantage with 2:00 minutes to play.
Miller connected on 7-of-12 shots to total 16 points and seven rebounds. Saaka notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards while Darryl Evans made good on 5-of-6 trips to the foul line to tally 10 points. Sebirumbi scored all of his nine points in the second half.
The Paladins, who held a 37-34 edge on the boards, shot 42.2 percent (19-45) from the field and 17-of-27 from the charity stripe. Furman committed just eight turnovers and recorded five blocked shots.
Harrison DuPont led The Citadel with 15 points and eight rebounds while Cameron Wells added 11 points and six boards. The Bulldogs made just 2-of-12 three-point attempts.
The Citadel travels to face Wofford at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C. Furman will conclude the 2009-10 regular season hosting College of Charleston on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Georgia Southern 98, Elon 88
STATESBORO, Ga. - It was a tale of two halves as the Georgia Southern Eagles erased an 11-point halftime lead to steal a 98-88 victory over the Elon Phoenix in a high-energy Southern Conference men's basketball game from Hanner Fieldhouse on Thursday night. Led by Antonio Hanson's career-high 39 points, the Eagles netted 66 second-half points to improve to 9-21, 6-11 on the year. Elon dropped only its second game this season when scoring at least 80 points, falling to 8-21, 5-12 in the league.
Elon's Devan Carter led five Phoenix players in double figures, tying his season-high with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Adam Constantine recorded his ninth double-double of the year with 16 points and a game-high 12 boards. Josh Bonney contributed 15 points, TJ Douglas added 13 and Chris Long tallied 11.
Hanson drained 9-of-15 three-pointers in his final game at Hanner Fieldhouse. Ben Drayton dumped in 18 points and Willie Powers posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists.
On the strength of a 15-3 first-half run, Elon held a 43-32 advantage after 20 minutes of action. The Phoenix had managed to handle the Georgia Southern press in the first half, but the Eagles turned up the defense after the break. The Eagles cut the lead to one, 45-44, on the strength of a 12-2 run that spanned only two and a half minutes.
Elon managed to push its lead back to five, 53-48, before a Drayton three and a Rory Spencer dunk tied the game with 14:36 on the clock. After an empty Phoenix possession, Hanson drained a long ball and gave Georgia Southern its first lead, 56-53, since the midway point of the first half.
The teams traded buckets before Douglas nailed a shot from beyond the arc to put Elon ahead, 60-58, with 12:36 on the clock. Unfortunately, Elon would manage only two baskets in the next four minutes as Georgia Southern went on a 21-4 run that gave the home team an 80-64 lead at 7:17. The Phoenix would get no closer than seven as Georgia Southern sent out six seniors with a victory on senior night.
Elon turned the ball over 20 times in the contest, 13 in the final half. The Phoenix shot the ball well from the field, but once again had challenges at the free throw line. Elon was 19-of-30 (63.3) from the charity stripe. Both the Phoenix and the Eagles connected on an impressive 55 percent of their field goal attempts. The biggest difference on the stat sheet was the numbers from downtown. GSU sank 13-of-25 (52.0) from three-point land compared to a 5-of-14 (35.7) clip by the Phoenix.
Hanson didn't miss on his first four field goal attempts and scored 11 of the Eagles' first 15 points as the home team jumped on top 15-9 at 16:23. Georgia Southern would push its lead to as many as 10, 22-12, at the 13:57 mark, before the Elon defense came alive.
Elon forced the Eagles to turn the ball over 11 times in the final 14 minutes of the first half while the offense, sparked by the driving penetration of Carter and Terrance Birdette, connected on better than 50 percent of its field goal attempts. Elon held a 43-32 advantage at the half.
Appalachian State 80, Chattanooga 74
BOONE, N.C. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga lost 80-74 to Appalachian State in the Holmes Center Thursday night. The loss dropped the Mocs to 14-16 on the year, 6-11 in the Southern Conference North Division and pushed App State to 19-11, 12-5 in the North.
Ricky Taylor led Chattanooga with his second straight 22-point effort. Ridge McKeither added 12 points and a team-high five rebounds scoring all his points in the second half.
ASU's Donald Sims and Kellen Brand combined for 40 points with Sims matching Taylor's 22, while Brand added 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. Isaac Butts was big for the Mountaineers with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
Down 35-29 at the break, Ty Patterson opened the second half with a three-pointer to cut it to 35-32 at 19:32, It was 40-36 at 17:15 when App State went on a 18-9 run to push to its largest lead (13), 58-45 on a layup by Josh Hunter at 11:46.
The Mocs were down but not out. UTC responded with a 19-6 run of its own to close within one, 65-64, on a Patterson layup going coast-to-coast off a steal with 4:27 remaining.
It was not to be for the Mocs. Hunter's three-point play at 4:07 ended the run and the Mountaineers held on from there. Two Sims three-pointers down the stretch made the difference as Appalachian held on for the six-point win.
App State held a 36-26 advantage on the glass including 11 offensive rebounds. The Mountaineers' 15-7 advantage in second chance points was key to the win. Jeremi Booth had 12 points for ASU as Hunter tossed in 11.
Patterson scored 10, all in the second half, for the Mocs and made a career-high four steals. Keegan Bell added 10 assists which is his highest total in a league contest.
Western Carolina 61, Samford 44
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Senior Brandon Giles led three Catamounts in double figures with a game-high 19 points as Western Carolina held Samford to 18 points in the second half to pull away for a 17-point home victory, 61-44, Thursday night in the Ramsey Center.
The win - which halted both a two-game seasonal slide and consecutive home losses - also propelled the Catamounts over the 20-win mark for the first-time in 38 seasons - and is the first since WCU moved to the NCAA Division I level in 1976-77.
Giles scored 11 of his 19 points after halftime with a combined four 3-pointers on the night, while sophomore Keaton Cole connected on three treys for 11 points for Western Carolina (20-10, 10-7 SoCon). Junior Richie Gordon finished with a solid stat line of 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, five rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.
Brigham Waginger just missed double figures with seven points, five assists and a pair of steals in the victory.
Gordon bookended a 10-0 spurt for the Catamounts early in the second half, punctuating it with the first of two second half dunks as WCU reclaimed the lead it would not again relinquish in the second half, 39-30. The Bulldogs closed the gap to just four, 39-35.
However, the Catamounts used a 16-to-5 run over the next six minutes to build a game-high 15 point lead as the margin never dropped below double digits. During the decisive six minute stretch, 12 of WCU's 14 points were scored by seniors, with a Gordon steal and one-handed breakaway slam dunk representing the lone underclassmen points.
Samford (11-18, 5-12) put two in double figures as Josh Davis hit three, 3-pointers for 13 points and Trey Montgomery added 10 points and five assists for the Bulldogs, which lost for the eighth time in their past 10 games.
Cole gave WCU a nine-point edge - its largest of the opening 20 minutes - with a triple at the 7:29 mark of the first half as the Catamounts led, 21-12. However, Samford outscored the home squad by a 14-to-5 margin to close the half and knot the game at 26 headed into the halftime locker room. It was the first time that WCU has been tied at the break this season.