UNCG 75, Appalachian State 74
BOONE, N.C. - Junior Aaron Brackett recorded a career- and game-high 28 points, while also bringing down a career-high 15 rebounds, as UNCG held on late to defeat Appalachian State, 75-74, to record its first win of the season on Thursday night in the Holmes Center.
In addition to his 28 points, Brackett shot an incredible 14-20 from the field for the Spartans (1-15, 1-5 Southern Conference). UNCG also received 18 points from senior Brandon Evans, with 10 of those coming in the opening half. Brian Cole was in double figures for the Spartans, as well, as he scored 10 points.
The Mountaineers (7-8, 3-2 SoCon) were led by SoCon preseason Player of the Year Donald Sims who scored a team-high 25 points on 10-19 shooting. Omar Carter was right behind Sims with 19 points and nine rebounds. Andrew Williamson had the lone double-double for the home team with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
A jumper by Brackett with 1:51 left in the second half extended the Spartan lead to 75-72. After Sims missed a 3-pointer for the Mountaineers, Carter came up with a steal and a fastbreak layup on the other end to make it a 75-74 contest with 65 seconds remaining.
After Cole missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key as the shot clock was winding down with 30 seconds remaining, the ball went into the corner where it was touched by a Mountaineer to keep possession with UNCG.
On the ensuing inbounds, the Mountaineers deflected it into the other corner of the Spartan end. On that inbounds, the Spartans turned it over with just 24 seconds remaining to give Appalachian State another chance.
On that possession, Carter drove hard to the rim with 12 seconds left, but David Williams blocked the shot and forced a jump ball. With the possession arrow in the Mountaineers favor, they inbounded the ball and Carter missed a jumper with eight seconds remaining as Brackett hauled down his 15th and final rebound.
Brackett missed the front end of his one and one, which fell into the arms of Andre Williamson. Williamson quickly gave it to Sims, but Sims' desperation half-court heave at the buzzer was only able to draw iron as the Spartans left victorious.
In the opening half, the Spartans found themselves trailing 26-18 with 6:55 left before halftime. UNCG then mounted a 10-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to tie the game at 28 at the four-minute media timeout.
The Mountaineers responded immediately though and went on a 13-0 run before the half to make it a 41-28 at the break.
The Spartans came storming out of the gate in the second half as they used a 9-0 run, capped off by a Trevis Simpson 3-pointer in the corner, to cut the ASU lead to 41-37. UNCG made it a 15-3 run to start the half to make it a one-point game at 46-45 on a layup by Evans.
UNCG wasn't able to take the lead in the second half until the 8:13 mark on a layup by Evans to give the Spartans a 61-59 advantage.
For the game, UNCG shot 42.6 percent from the field, including a 54.5 percent clip after halftime.
UNCG also outrebounded the Mountaineers 44-38 on the night, with 15 of those being offensive rebounds.
Chattanooga 69, The Citadel 68
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Omar Wattad's career-high 30 points propelled Chattanooga to a 69-68 Southern Conference road win at The Citadel Thursday night. The Mocs improved to 9-8, 5-0 leading the SoCon's North Division, while the Bulldogs drop to 5-12, 1-4 in the South.
Wattad's 30 came on career highs of 11 field goals made (19 attempts) and eight three-pointers (14). It's the Mocs first 30-point effort since Stephen McDowell's 32 against Samford in the 2009 SoCon Tournament semifinals (3/8/09).
DeAntre Jefferson had 10 points and eight rebounds to help key the win. All eight boards for Jefferson came in the second half. Ricky Taylor added 10 points, five rebounds and a season-high four assists.
Cameron Wells led the Bulldogs with 17 points, four rebounds and six assists. Zach Urbanus and Austin Dahn had 15 apiece.
The Mocs opened the second half with a Keegan Bell three-pointer for its largest lead of five, 38-33. It marked 10 unanswered points for UTC carrying over a 7-0 run to end the first half.
The Citadel answered with an 8-0 run of its own to re-take the lead 41-38 on an Urbanus trey at 18:25. The lead was extended to seven, 47-40, on a Wells jumper at 15:34.
Chattanooga battled back with a 10-0 run on another Bell three-pointer at 13:28 for a three-point advantage, 50-47. Urbanus was up to the task with the three-ball of his own just 23 seconds later to knot the game at 50-all.
The game continued its ebb and flow as back-to-back jumpers from Troy Cage and Chris Early gave the Mocs a 56-52 lead. But there was another response from the Bulldogs.
Brian Streeter and Mike Groselle scored on three of four possessions to give The Citadel a 58-56 lead with 5:46 to go. It was Wattad's turn.
The junior wing hit his seventh trey on the Mocs next trip down the floor to regain the lead 59-58 at 5:15. Then, it was Wells' time.
Honored as The Citadel's all-time leading scorer prior to the game, Wells gave the Bulldogs a one-point advantage, 60-59 with 4:49 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Wattad and Jefferson combined for heroics.
After what seemed like a rare three-point miss by Wattad, Jefferson grabbed one of his five offensive rebounds which set up Wattad's eighth downtown basket and a 62-60 Mocs lead at 4:10.
Matt Clark's two free throws at 3:55 tied the game at 62-all only to see Taylor drill a three-pointer 13 seconds later for a 65-62 UTC lead. Two Jefferson free throws pushed the margin to five, 67-62, at 3:15, but Clark was on task nailing a trey of his own from the left corner at 2:43 to make the lead a perilous two points, 67-65.
Wattad scored the Mocs final two with a runner in the lane with 2:05 to go, 69-65. A Wells free throw at 1:53 and layup at 1:10 provided a lot of drama as the Mocs clung to a 69-68 lead going into the final minute.
Dahn's three-pointer from the right corner was off the mark and Jefferson was once again big on the boards with 4.3 to play. Jefferson missed the front end of a one-and-bonus giving the Bulldogs the ball after a timeout with 3.5 to go and nearly the length of the floor to play with.
The ball was inbounded to Urbanus who hoisted a long trey under pressure from Bell and Wattad which was just off the mark into Jefferson's waiting arms for the one-point win.
It marked the second one-point win of the year for the Mocs with both coming on the defensive end. Both games saw the Mocs comeback from significant second half deficits with seven tonight and eight at Marshall.
Bell overcame strong flu-like symptoms from Wednesday to play tonight. He scored nine points with five rebounds managing to play 36 minutes.
Groselle added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. It was a clean game as the two teams combined for just 15 turnovers (7 for Chattanooga).
The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points in the opening frame. They led by eight, 25-17, when the Mocs went on a 16-6 run to close the half, seven unanswered.
The key play came with 23 seconds left in the half and the score tied at 33-all. The Citadel called timeout to set up a final shot, but Mocs head coach John Shulman had other ideas. He devised a half-court trap which shocked the Bulldogs and led to a steal by Taylor.
Taylor then found Jefferson underneath the basket for the lay-in and a 35-33 halftime lead for Chattanooga. Wattad scored 20 of his 30 in the first half including six threes.
Western Carolina 70, Elon 63
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina used strong guard play to stretch its current winning streak to three games, shooting past the Elon Phoenix, 70-63, Thursday night in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center. Senior Mike Williams paced three backcourt mates in double figures with a game-high tying 19 points in his 15th double-digit scoring outing of the season.
WCU, which won for the sixth-straight time at home dating back to last season, snapped Elon's three-game road winning streak. It was also the Catamounts' fourth-straight home win in the head-to-head series with the Phoenix.
Williams added five rebounds and a pair of steals to compliment his 19 points, while redshirt freshman Trey Sumler finished with 18 points for his sixth-straight, double-digit scoring performance. The Rocky Mount, N.C., native dished out a pair of assists, pulled down four rebounds and had a steal in the win. A third guard, Harouna Mutombo, tallied 10 points with seven rebounds and four assists in the win.
Senior post Richie Gordon just missed double figures with eight points and eight rebounds - six of which came on the offensive end.
Western Carolina (7-10, 3-2 SoCon) took control of the see-saw affair midway through the first half. The back-and-forth opening 20 minutes witnessed five ties and seven lead changes before intermission, with the Catamounts using a 7-to-1 spurt including five points by Williams to claim the lead for good at the 8:24 mark, and pull out to a five-point edge, 22-17, with seven and a half to play before halftime.
Elon pulled back within a point, 22-21, a minute and a half later, but WCU closed the half by outscoring the Phoenix, 10-to-4, to lead by seven at the break, 32-25.
Both teams came out of the halftime locker room shooting, trading buckets through the first five minutes of the second stanza as the WCU lead hovered between four-to-seven points. The two squads even traded 3-point baskets on four-straight possessions with the Catamount advantage ballooning to a game-high nine points in the process.
The Phoenix would not go away, though, as consecutive buckets by Drew Spradlin closed the margin down to just two, 58-56, with six and a half minutes to play in regulation. However, with leading scorer Williams on the bench with foul trouble, Sumler scored the next seven points for WCU to stem the tide and maintain the advantage.
Chris Long sank his lone 3-pointer of the contest with 1:43 remaining to close the deficit to four, but that was as close as Elon would get as WCU managed to hang on from the free throw line, making 3-of-4 in the closing seconds for the victory.
Elon (8-9, 2-4 SoCon) put two players in double figures as Spradlin matched Williams with 19 points including 3-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. Lucas Troutman chipped in 10 points off the bench with freshman Jack Isenbarger scoring eight while Long - Elon's leading scorer entering the game - finished with just five points along with eight assists.
Combined, Western Carolina's top four guards outscored their counterparts from Elon by 20 points, 52-32, in the final tally. The Catamounts limited Elon's top two scorers - Long and Isenbarger - nearly 12 points off their seasonal average entering the game.