Appalachian State 89, Western Carolina 77
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Led by 29 points by Donald Sims, Appalachian State shot 60-percent from the floor including 65-percent in the second half alone to down Southern Conference North Division-leading Western Carolina, 89-77, Saturday afternoon in the Ramsey Center.
The loss snapped WCU's 15-game home winning streak and gave ASU the regular season sweep over the Catamounts.
In addition to the solid shooting performance by the Mountaineers (30-of-50, 60%), Appalachian State was near flawless from the free throw line making 24-of-28 from the stripe including 11-straight in the closing three minutes for 85.7-percent overall.
Seniors Jake Robinson and Brandon Giles each scored 19 points to lead four Catamounts in double figures with Robinson connecting on five of WCU's 10 3-pointers on the afternoon. Harouna Mutombo scored 15 on 6-of-12 shooting while Mike Williams rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points while also dishing out four assists.
Western Carolina (18-6, 8-4 SoCon) rattled off 10-straight points including consecutive 3-pointers by Robinson and an exclamation point dunk by Giles off a diving steal by Mutombo to break open a one-point affair and give the Catamounts an 11-point, 28-17, lead inside an electric Ramsey Center.
However, the Mountaineers were able to stem the tide, responding with a 16-0 run over a four-minute stretch to erase the 11-point deficit and build a five-point advantage, 33-28. During the run, Western Carolina was 0-for-5 from the floor, 0-for-2 from the free throw line and committed four turnovers and allowed Appalachian State to eventually carry a two-point, 36-34, lead into the break.
Neither team was able to pull away in the second half as the game see-sawed between six points either way. With ASU leading 69-63, Giles drained a 3-pointer to close the gap back to three, with Robinson pulling the Catamounts to within a couple, 71-69, with his fifth triple of the game two possessions later. But, that was as close as Western Carolina could get as Sims answered with a 3-pointer on the other end.
Western Carolina was able to pull within three, 74-71, on a Williams' lay-up, but a two-minute scoring drought allowed the Mountaineers to pull out to its first double-digit lead at 82-71. Appalachian State was able to hold the Catamounts at bay from the free throw line, connecting on all 11 attempts inside the final three minutes.
ASU's Sims was joined in double figures by Isaac Butts with 14 on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting while also boarding a game-high nine. Josh Hunter and Marcus Wright each added 10 for the Mountaineers which snapped a two-game seasonal slide with the win.
College of Charleston 75, Samford 54
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Andrew Goudelock scored 25 points off a career-high seven three-pointers to lead the College of Charleston men's basketball team to the 75-54 win in front of 5,031 fans at the Carolina First Arena. Charleston earned its third win in a row and its 12th straight at home.
The Cougars improved to 16-8 overall and 11-2 in the Southern Conference, while Samford dropped to 9-15 and 3-9. The 5,031 fans was the sixth highest at the arena.
Twenty one of Goudelock's 25 points came in the second half as the Cougars built a 27-point lead on several occasions, the last coming at 11:17 off a three-pointer, by Matt Sundberg. Trey Montgomery scored 11 of his team-leading 23 points in the second half while Andy King and Josh Davis posted all of their points, seven and six respectively in the final 20 minutes, as Samford outscored the Cougars 39-36 in the second half. The Bulldogs were unable to come back from its 24-point, 39-15, half-time deficit as the Cougars kept the margin to over 20 for the entire second half.
Leading by nine, 19-10 with 8:13 remaining in the first half, the Cougars broke open its single-digit lead and outscored the Bulldogs 20-5 over the next eight minutes, and went into the locker room leading 39-15. Charleston matched its season-high with nine three-pointers in the half, with four of them coming from Tony White, Jr. who ended the game with five threes and 15 points.
The Cougars held Samford to 54 points, which was a season-low for CofC and the 18 three-pointers was just one shy of the school record set at Western Carolina earlier this season. Charleston out-rebounded Samford with a season-high 47 to 31 and shot 40.0 percent from the field, compared to 39.6 for the Bulldogs. CofC ended the game with a 42.9 three-point shooting percentage after going 18-for-42. Samford was five-for-24.
Casaan Breeden posted six points and a career-high and team-leading nine rebounds. Donavan Monroe was the only other Cougar in double-digits with 12 points. Bryan Friday led Samford in rebounds with six.
Wofford 77, UNC Greensboro 59
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Wofford shot a season-best 58 percent from the floor for the game and had five players score in double figures to beat UNC Greensboro, 77-59, in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
UNCG (5-18, 4-8 SoCon) was led by senior Ben Stywall with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Kyle Randall added 10 points, going a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line, and Kendall Toney chipped in with nine points. It was Stywall's seventh straight game with 10 or more points and the 18th in 23 games this season.
Kevin Giltner led the way for Wofford (17-8, 9-3 SoCon) with 14 points. Noah Dahlman added 10 points to score in double-digits for the 38th consecutive game for the Terriers. Wofford shot 30-for-52 from the field on the night and also got 13 points from Junior Salters and 10 points each from Tim Johnson and Jamar Diggs.
Wofford led wire-to-wire in earning its 10th win in the last 11 games. The Terriers made six of their first nine from the floor in jumping out to a 14-4 lead in the game's first seven minutes. The Spartans got back to within seven midway through the first half on a Stywall bucket that made it 18-11, but got no closer on the night.
Wofford stayed hot throughout the first half, shooting 63 percent from the field (17-of-27). The Terriers led by as many as 15 in the opening half. The Spartans got on track after missing seven of their first eight from the floor. UNCG finished the half shooting just 38 percent from the field (11-of-29), but managed to keep the deficit at 10 at the intermission, 39-29.
An 11-3 run by the Terriers midway through the second half stretched the lead to 19. Giltner converted a conventional three-pointer play and knocked down a three-point field goal from the right corner during the run that made it 62-43 with 10:19 to play.
UNCG tightened up the defense to hold Wofford to just six points in the next six minutes, but the hole was too deep to climb out of. The Spartans got back to within 12 with four minutes to play, but could not get closer.
Davidson 84, Georgia Southern 74
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Freshman JP Kuhlman poured in a career-high 24 points, and classmate Jake Cohen scored 18 to lead Davidson to an 84-74 SoCon men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday night in Belk Arena.
Kuhlman went 7-for-9 from the floor and 10-for-14 from the free-throw line for the Wildcats (12-11, 7-4 SoCon), who won their third straight game. Will Archambault collected 12 points and five rebounds, while Brendan McKillop scored 15 points. Freshman Nik Cochran added nine points off the bench.
Willie Powers led the Eagles (6-19, 3-9 SoCon) with 23 points and seven assists, and Rory Spencer posted 18 points, five boards and four blocked shots. Colby Wohlleb scored 14.
The OCats withstood the Eagles' frantic pressure to shoot 55.1 percent from the field while holding Georgia Southern to 40.4 percent, including 12-for-32 in the second half.
The Eagles stayed in the game by making the most of their free-throw opportunities, shooting 22-for-26 from the line. Davidson controlled the boards, outrebounding Georgia Southern 38-27, and knocked down 25-of-35 free throws.
The first half featured 10 ties and 12 lead changes. Down by three points with 2:12 left in the half, Davidson finished the frame with an 8-0 run and scored the first five points of the second stanza to open a 47-37 cushion.
The margin grew to 13 points, but Davidson could not get away, and a Rory Spencer three-point play made the score 72-65 with 5:11 to go. It was as close as the Eagles would get.
Cohen scored four of the Wildcats' next five points from the charity stripe, and Cochran added a nifty reverse layup later to push the lead to 13. Meanwhile the Wildcat defense allowed just three field goals the rest of the way to hold off the Eagles.
The Citadel 68, Chattanooga 60
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel snapped an 11-game losing streak to Chattanooga with a 68-60 victory on Saturday night at McAlister Field House. Led by Zach Urbanus' game-high 24 points and a double-double from Cameron Wells (11 points, 10 rebounds), the Bulldogs move to 12-12 overall and 6-6 in Southern Conference action. The win gives back-to-back wins in conference action for the first time this season, setting the stage for Monday's meeting with the College of Charleston.
Urbanus hit 7-of-16 from 3-point range and tied a career-best which was coincidentally set against the Mocs on Dec. 1, 2007. The hot shooting Urbanus now has three 24 point outings against Chattanooga in his career. He also dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds. Wells completed the duo in the backcourt by scoring 11 points, eight from the free-throw line, while hauling down 10 rebounds. The junior point dished out seven assists for the second time in as many games.
Teammate Austin Dahn rounded out double figure scorers with 11 points and four assists. Dahn finished the game by shooting 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Bo Holston gave The Citadel a lift off the bench with seven points, finishing a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe, along with nine rebounds. As a team the Bulldogs hit 12-of-33 from 3-point range, marking their second straight game in double-digits (10 vs. Samford, Feb. 4). They finished 18-of-55 from the field and converted 20-of-29 from the line.
Chattanooga (13-12, 5-7) was paced by the offensive efforts of Ty Patterson (19 points) and Ridge McKeither (13 points). Patterson scored 15 points in the second half, scoring 12 of those points from beyond the arc. Ridge McKeither, the key Mocs post presence, finished with a game-high 18 rebounds. Chris Early came off the UTC bench to added 10 points and five caroms. As a unit Chattanooga was successful on 21-of-59 field goals and held a 48-38 edge in total rebounds.
Leading 28-25 at the break, The Citadel went on a 13-7 run capped off by a Harrison DuPont trey to open up a nine-point advantage. The two teams traded baskets with the Bulldogs holding to a 49-40 lead with 8:49 remaining in the contest. Patterson sparked the Mocs when he scored four straight points and combined with Ricky Taylor's 3-pointer the lead was sliced to 49-46.
Following a made Wells free throw, Patterson knocked down another 3-pointer to make the score 51-50 with just under five minutes remaining. Dahn gave the Bulldogs some breathing room with a three-pointer at the 3:59 mark which was quickly followed by a series of points by Holston that moved the score to 61-53. The combination of Dahn, Wells and Urbanus converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 45 seconds to make for the 68-60 final.
Elon 66, Furman 55
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Senior TJ Douglas totaled 21 points and 13 rebounds to guide Elon past Furman, 66-55, in Southern Conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 2,231 Saturday evening on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
The victory, just the second in the last 13 outings for Elon, improved the Phoenix to 5-17 overall and 3-8 in SoCon play. Furman, which had its three-game home court winning streak snapped, slipped to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in the league.
The Phoenix connected on 9-of-18 three-point attempts and shot 41.2 percent (21-51) from the field on the night while Furman made just 2-of-19 shots from long distance and converted just 33.3 percent (19-57) of its field goal attempts.
Douglas posted a near perfect night, connecting on 6-of-6 field goals, including 5-for-5 beyond the arc, and made 4-of-5 free throw attempts. He was joined in double figures by Drew Spradlin with 14 points and Chris Long with 11. Scott Grable came off of the bench to total seven points and 11 rebounds as the Phoenix out-rebounded Furman 43-37.
Elon shot 46.7 percent in the first half to forge a 35-25 lead at intermission. Furman trimmed the margin down to five points on several occasions and trailed just 51-49 with 4:52 left before the Phoenix went on a 12-1 run to open up a 63-50 advantage on Long's free throw with 1:28 remaining. Following Justin Dehm's three-pointer, the first of the game for Furman, at the 4:52 mark, the Paladins failed to score another basket until Amu Saaka drained a three with 1:08 left.
Saaka led Furman with a game-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Jordan Miller added 11 points, three assists and three rebounds, but connected on just 5-of-17 shots from the floor.
Elon returns home to host Western Carolina on Monday at 7 p.m. Furman hosts Wofford on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on WMYA My 40.