The Citadel 72, College of Charleston 65
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Zach Urbanus scored a team-leading 17 points, including a three-pointer that gave the Bulldogs a five-point lead with 36 seconds remaining, as The Citadel snapped the College of Charleston's 12-game home-winning streak with a 72-65 victory in front of 5,154 fans at the Carolina First Arena. Charleston's last loss at the arena was a 72-58 decision against the same Bulldogs, Feb. 14, 2009.
The Citadel snapped Charleston's three-game winning streak and improved to 13-12 overall and 7-6 in the Southern Conference. The Cougars fell to 16-9 and 11-3 in the league. The 5,154 fans was the fourth largest crowd in Carolina First Arena history.
The second half saw four ties and four lead changes with The Citadel taking the lead for good at the 2:56 mark off a layup by Bryan Streeter, who ended the game with eight points. After Urbanus hit a three at the 2:19 mark to give the Bulldogs a four-point lead, Casaan Breeden scored two of his eight points of the night to cut the margin to two, 65-67, with 1:16 to go.
With seven seconds to go on the shot clock, The Citadel lost control of the ball and as it was going out of bounds a Bulldog player knocked it into a CofC player to retain possession and set up Urbanus, who with three seconds to go on the shot clock and 36 seconds to go overall, connected on the three-pointer for the five-point lead. Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his third career double-double, missed the ensuing three-point attempt with 23 on the clock, forcing the Cougars to foul. Harrison DuPont hit both free throws with nine seconds remaining to help the Bulldogs seal the 72-65 win.
The Citadel built a 19-10 lead with 10:57 to go in the first half before Charleston went on an 11-2 run, led by Jeremy Simmons who scored five of his 14 points during the stretch, to knot the game at 21-21 with 6:08 remaining before intermission. All told, the College of Charleston outscored the Bulldogs, 21-8, after being down 10-19, and went into the locker room with the four-point, 31-27 lead. The loss was just the second this season for the Cougars when leading at the half; they are now 14-2.
The Cougars tied their season-low with six three-pointers, shooting just 26.1 percent for the game, while The Citadel was seven-for-13. The Cougars shot 44.3 percent overall from the field, while The Citadel shot 50.8 percent. The Bulldogs out-rebounded Charleston 37-39 and had four more turnovers, 13-9.
Following Urbanus' 17 points was DuPont and Cameron Wells, who each had 15 points. Dupont also led in rebounds with six. The other Cougar in double-figures, behind Simmons and Goudelock, was Tony White, Jr., with 15 points.
Appalachian State 75, UNC Greensboro 69
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Kellen Brand scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to boost Appalachian State University men's basketball past UNC Greensboro, 75-69, on Monday evening in front of 4,198 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Spartans (5-19, 4-9 SoCon) held a narrow two-point lead with seven minutes to play before Brand sparked a 7-0 run to give the Mountaineers the lead for good.
UNCG pulled back within 65-62 with 4:19 on the clock before Isaac Butts tipped in a miss to help the Apps back to a five-point cushion with two minutes to play. Butts finished the game with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting, seven rebounds and ASU's lone block.
Ben Stywall responded with a pair of free throws to cut the home team's deficit back to three points before sending the Mountaineers to the free throw line on each of the next three possessions.
Donald Sims sank all four attempts in the final two minutes and Butts added another one to seal the win, as UNCG never got closer than five points down the stretch.
Sims scored 10 points in the first half and finished the game with 16 points on 4-of-13 shooting in addition to four rebounds and an assist. He drained all six free throw attempts to improve to an astounding 95.1 percent from the line on the season (116-122).
Josh Hunter scored 10 points - including a fast-break layup with 25 seconds to play - and hauled in a team-high 11 boards to tally his third double-double of the season. The senior has reached double figures in scoring in three-straight games.
The Spartans were led by Kyle Randall's 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and two of the team's five assists, while Stywall grabbed 12 of the UNCG's 25 rebounds. The Mountaineers recorded 35 boards, including 12 on the offensive end.
ASU shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 46.9 percent, compared to 40.7 for UNCG. The Apps were also proficient from the charity stripe, sinking 22-of-26 attempts. Over the last two games, ASU is 46-of-54 from the free throw line, an 85.2 percent mark.
The contest saw nine first-half lead changes and 13 total, in addition to 12 ties. Andre Williamson and Marcus Wright scored seven points each to account for 14 of the team's 17 bench points and Wright added three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Rounding out the starters, Jeremi Booth scored eight points with a pair of treys and shared the team lead with two assists.
Elon 81, Western Carolina 76
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's basketball team staved off a furious Western Carolina comeback to knock off the Southern Conference North Division leader, 81-76, on Monday night at Alumni Gym. The Phoenix (6-17, 4-8) has won its last two contests and six straight home games against the Catamounts. Western Carolina (18-7, 8-5) dropped back-to-back contests for the first time this season.
Elon had five players in double figures - the Phoenix is 4-1 this year when at least four players produce 10+ points. Drew Spradlin led the charge with 16 points, while adding five assists to his totals. Chris Long finished with 13 points on 8-of-8 from the free throw line. The guard also dished eight assists and racked up five rebounds and three steals.
Adam Constantine was 7-of-11 from the field for 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. TJ Douglas hit 4-of-6 from three-point land for 14 points and Terrance Birdette added 10. Douglas is a combined 12-of-16 from long range in the last three games.
Western's Brandon Giles scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Harouna Mutombo came off the bench to add 15 points and seven boards.
A strong shooting performance in the first half gave way to a 16-point Elon halftime lead, its largest against a Division I opponent this season. But, the Catamounts had quite a bit of fight left in them for the final 20 minutes of action. The visitors opened the second half on an 11-4 run to cut the Phoenix advantage to 43-35 with 14:14 to play. Long's first points of the night came from beyond the arc as he ended Elon's four-minute drought from the field. The guard drove the lane on the next play, slicing between defenders to push the Elon advantage back to 11, 48-37, at 12:49.
Again, Western clawed back, scoring seven unanswered to make it 48-44. The Catamounts full court pressure frustrated Elon and Phoenix turnovers allowed Western to get within one, 50-49, with 9:48 on the clock.
Elon continued to find a way to answer the Catamounts' charge, either from the charity stripe or from beyond the arc. Clinging to a 66-64 lead with 4:08 to play, Douglas drained one of his four three-pointers to stretch the lead to 69-64 at 3:50. Douglas tacked on another triple and Long was perfect from 15 feet over the final three minutes of the contest to ensure the Phoenix victory.
For the game, both teams shot 49 percent and combined for 21 three-pointers. With 12 treys, Elon has hit no less than nine three-pointers in each of its victories. Western edged Elon on the glass, 32-30. After shooting about 50 percent from the line in the last three games, Elon hit 21-of-29 (72.4) compared to Western's 11-of-20 (55.0).
Elon jumped on Western Carolina early, nailing six of its first seven attempts from long range. The Phoenix got three triples from Spradlin in a 21-5 stretch that gave Elon a 24-11 lead with 12:22 on the clock. Western used a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to cut into the advantage, 26-20, with 10:03 to go.
The Phoenix turned up the defense, allowing only three Catamount points over the final 10 minutes of the half. With 1:40 on the clock, Constantine spun around his defender in the lane and slammed a monster dunk to cap a 13-2 Elon streak and give the Phoenix its biggest lead of the half at 17. Elon went into the locker room holding a 39-23 advantage.
Elon shot 50 percent (15-of-30) in the opening 20 minutes, while holding Western to a 36 percent (9-of-25) showing.