Davidson 75, College of Charleston 64
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Nik Cochran scored 21 points to lead five Davidson players in double figures in the scoring column as the Wildcats posted a 75-64 Southern Conference men's basketball victory over College of Charleston in Belk Arena Saturday afternoon.
Cochran was 6-of-9 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line for the Wildcats (9-12, 3-7 SoCon). The sophomore guard also added seven rebounds and four assists.
JP Kuhlman scored 15 points, and Brendan McKillop finished with 11. Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks each tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.
Andrew Goudelock scored 21 points to lead CofC (15-7, 8-2 SoCon), while Trent Wiedeman and Jeremy Simmons each scored 11 points. Andrew Lawrence finished with 10.
After missing all 10 3-point attempts in the first half, Davidson hit 9-of-14 in the second half. Despite the scoring output by Goudelock, who came into the game as the league's leading scorer, the Wildcats made him work for his points as the senior shot 9-for-24 from the floor and 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
After trailing by 14 points early in the second half, Davidson used a 15-4 spurt, capped by a Cohen triple, to get within three points 5:29 into the period. The 'Cats then scored 12 straight points midway through the frame to turn a six-point deficit into a six point lead with 7:53 to play.
The Wildcats' final run came with the score tied at 55-55, when Cohen's triple sparked an 11-3 spurt, capped by another 3-pointer, this time from Brooks, that gave the 'Cats a 66-58 cushion with 2:55 remaining. Davidson hit 7-of-10 from the free-throw line in the last two minutes to seal the win.
The Cougars opened the game with a 13-4 run and maintained the nine-point advantage to lead 33-24 at the break. Lawrence scored the last five points of the spurt, and the Wildcats were 2-for-10 from the field during the run.
The Wildcats have a short turnaround as they travel to Georgia Southern for a 7 p.m. SoCon South Division game Monday.
Game Notes: The win broke a four-game conference losing streak for the Wildcats... Davidson splits the season series with College of Charleston for the second consecutive year... Bob McKillop needs eight wins to reach 400.
Furman 81, Appalachian State 61
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Senior Amu Saaka poured in a season-high 31 points and Furman buried 12 three-pointers en route to an 81-61 victory over Appalachian State in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 2,135 at Timmons Arena.
The Paladins improved to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in SoCon play while Appalachian State slipped to 8-13 overall and 4-7 in the league. The win was Furman's fifth in its last six games and upped the Paladins' home record this season to 9-1.
Saaka, who connected on 11-of-17 field goal attempts and made good on all six of his trips to the charity stripe, netted 17 first half points to help the Paladins forge a 37-29 lead at the break. The Mountaineers trimmed the margin to five points early in the second half before Furman pushed its lead into double digits for good as Justin Dehm and Noah States buried threes on a 10-0 run that put the Paladins in front 54-39 with 12:02 remaining.
States totaled 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds while fellow senior Darryl Evans registered 11 points to go with four assists. Saaka added five rebounds and three assists to his season-high 31 points. Redshirt freshman Charlie Reddick followed his career-high tying six points on Thursday with seven points and four boards against Appalachian.
Furman shot 48% from the floor and posted its second best percentage of the season from long range burying 12-of-22 (54.5%) treys. The Paladins managed a 39-25 rebounding edge leading to 22 second-chance points.
Omar Carter led the Mountaineers with 25 points and six rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Andre Williamson and Donald Sims with 12 points apiece. Appalachian State shot just 38.8% from the field and made only 5-of-16 three-point attempts in losing their fourth straight game.
Furman returns to action this coming Thursday when it opens a two-game road trip to Charleston, S.C., with a 7:05 p.m. battle at The Citadel. The Paladins remain in the lowcountry to face College of Charleston on Saturday, February 5, in a game that will be televised live on CSS beginning at 4 p.m.
UNCG 91, Samford 72
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team allowed a season-high 91 points Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped a 91-72 decision to the resurgent UNCG Spartans in a Southern Conference matchup held at the Pete Hanna Center. With the win, UNCG (4-16, 4-6 SoCon) tallied its fourth triumph in five outings.
Heading into the game, Samford (11-11, 3-7 SoCon) was leading the conference with an average of only 64.5 points allowed per contest. The Spartans' 91 points scored Saturday surpassed Wofford's previous high of 81 points scored against the Bulldogs on Jan. 22.
UNCG shot 58.3 percent from 3-point range in the first half and jumped out to a quick 17-9 lead at the 12:43 mark in the opening period. The Spartans connected on 14 field goals in the first half and took a 42-23 advantage into the intermission.
Early in the second half, UNCG tallied the first six points of the period to earn a 48-23 lead, its largest of the game.
Despite sleepwalking through the early portion of Saturday's contest, Samford battled back in the second half to trim the Spartans' lead to 60-54 with 7:51 remaining in the game. During the Bulldogs' 27-11 run, junior forward John Peterson and sophomore guard Gregg Wooten came off the bench to combine for 15 of Samford's points.
Wooten tallied eight points during the Bulldogs' rally, while Peterson scored seven. Samford's Drew Windler and Andy King both added key 3-point baskets for the Bulldogs as they put together their best run of the game.
Once Samford trimmed UNCG lead to six points, the Spartans bounced right back and used a pair of free throws from Trevis Simpson and a momentum-shifting 3-pointer from Kyle Randall to extend their advantage back to 65-54.
The Bulldogs tried to fight back later in the game as Windler drained another 3-point shot and Wooten made a free throw to cut UNC Greensboro's lead to 69-60, but the Spartans' Simpson dunked home an offensive rebound and Randall hit a deep 3-pointer to bring their lead to 76-61.
Samford wouldn't get any closer than 11 points down for the remainder of the game.
In a losing effort, Samford's Peterson equaled his career-high total of 16 points in back-to-back games. The Bulldogs' junior from Boca Raton, Fla., shot 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Peterson leads Samford with a 50-percent shooting total from beyond the arc this season. Against UNCG, he also went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and pulled down four rebounds.
The Bulldogs' Wooten scored 12 points for a second straight game. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Wooten shot 5-of-8 from the floor, while Windler finished with 12 points on 3-of-3 shooting from long range and picked up a pair of blocks and a steal.
UNCG was led in scoring by Brandon Evans' 26 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He was also 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Spartans knocked down 31-of-35 attempts from the free-throw line.
Simpson, UNCG's freshman guard from Douglas, Ga., came off the bench to pour in 22 points, while Randall added 17 and Korey Van Dussen finished with 11 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Samford shot a tepid 2-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half and finished the game with a 29.2 mark from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs, who were ranked fourth in the nation with an average of 9.5 3-pointers per game this season, closed out Saturday's contest with seven.
Samford's bench players combined to score 43 points in the game and outscored UNCG reserves 43-27.
Despite Saturday's loss, the Bulldogs still hold a 6-2 all-time record against the Spartans. Both of Samford's losses have occurred in lopsided fashion at the Pete Hanna Center.
Chattanooga 85, Elon 76
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - It was another intense battle in the Southern Conference on Saturday night as the Elon Phoenix couldn't overcome a poor first-half shooting performance, falling to the North Division leading Chattanooga Mocs, 85-76, in men's basketball action from McKenzie Arena.
Elon (10-12, 4-7) shot 29 percent in the first half, and despite shooting over 50 percent in the second period, could not overcome a 15-point first-half deficit. Chattanooga improved to 13-10 on the year and maintained a comfortable lead atop the conference standings at 9-2.
Junior Drew Spradlin led the Phoenix with 21 points, 17 coming in the second half. The guard drained 5-of-11 from beyond the arc and finished with a team-leading eight rebounds. The native of Wheelersburg, Ohio has scored in double figures in 11 consecutive contests. Senior Chris Long piled in 17 points while dishing off eight assists and forcing four UTC miscues.
Four Mocs scored in double digits with Chris Early's 21 points on a 7-of-12 shooting performance leading the way. UTC had 23 assists on 29 baskets and connected on 47.5 percent of its shots in the contest.
Down 40-25 after 20 minutes, Elon came out of gates quickly, scoring 10 of the first 12 second-half points. Two triples by Spradlin and a reverse lay-in by Terrance Birdette made it a 42-35 game and forced a Chattanooga timeout with less than two minutes gone by.
Elon extended its run to 15-5, closing the score to 45-40 after a Lucas Troutman layup at 17:05. Both teams scored in bunches in the fast-paced contest and in a span of only three minutes, Chattanooga managed to build its lead back to12, 55-43, at 14:09.
The teams were letting it fly from long range - the squads combined for 23 made three-pointers - and a stretch of three straight treys by Elon put the Phoenix within four, 58-54. Spradlin hit five three-pointers in the first eight minutes of the final period.
Thirteen unanswered Phoenix points capped by a Ryley Beaumont layup tied the game at 58 apiece at the 9:46 mark. Despite two straight stops, Elon was unable to tip the score in its favor and Chattanooga eventually went on an 8-0 run of its own that shifted the score, 68-60, and momentum back to the home team with seven minutes to play.
Elon didn't go down easily and netted six quick points to make it 68-66 with 4:45 on the clock. Unfortunately that was as close as the Phoenix would get, going scoreless from the field over the next three minutes as Chattanooga pulled ahead. The Mocs converted free throws down the stretch to keep the Phoenix comeback at bay.
Both squads shot above 50 percent in the final period. The whistles were quiet for the majority of the game until Elon was forced to foul to extend the game. UTC ended up going to the line 26 times compared to only eight trips by the Phoenix.
Elon and Chattanooga were even on the glass in the final half, but the Mocs were the aggressor in the opening 20 minutes of action. Chattanooga dominated the glass, 30-18, and scored 11 second-chance points on 10 offensive rebounds.
The Phoenix opened up an 11-7 lead to begin the game, hitting three of its first four buckets from downtown. With his eighth point of the contest, Long gave Elon a 13-10 advantage with 12:40 to play. UTC's Chris Early answered on the other end, nailing one of six first-half Chattanooga triples to jumpstart a 14-2 run by the home team. The Phoenix went scoreless for more than four minutes during the stretch and the Mocs pulled out to a 24-15 lead at the 7:50 mark.
Spradlin finally put a dent in the Chattanooga lead and Long followed with a free throw that made it a six-point game, 24-18, with 6:28 on the clock. Early hit again from long range on the next possession and teammate Omar Wattad matched him after Elon came up empty.
Out of an Elon timeout, Phoenix sophomore Roger Dugas connected from long range to put the visitors within nine, 30-21, at 5:23. Unfortunately that would be the last points Elon would score during the half until a Sebastian Koch layup in the final seconds of the period. UTC held the 40-25 advantage as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
Wofford 75, Western Carolina 66
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Noah Dahlman poured in 34 points as the Wofford men's basketball team defeated Western Carolina 75-66 on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers used an 18-2 run in the first half to take the lead and the Catamounts could not recover.
Wofford is 12-10 on the season and 9-2 in the Southern Conference and Western Carolina is 9-13 overall and 5-5 in SoCon play. With the win, Wofford moves into first place in the SoCon South Division, a half-game ahead of the College of Charleston. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 34 points on 15-of-17 shooting. Cameron Rundles added 19 points and Tim Johnson led all players with seven rebounds. The Catamounts were led by Trey Sumler with 16 points and Harouna Mutombo with 15 points.
The Terriers scored the first four points, but the Catamounts took an 8-7 lead four minutes in to the game. The score was tied at twelve points when Wofford went on a 10-0 run to take a 22-12 lead. After a jumper by Western Carolina at 11:36, the Terriers stretched the run to 18-2 for a 30-14 lead with 9:26 left in the first half.
Western Carolina was able to answer with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 32-25 with 6:29 on the clock. The Wofford lead was at eleven points with 3:21 left in the half and at the break the score was 40-30 in favor of the Terriers.
In the second half Wofford was able to push the lead to 47-34 with 16:23 on the clock. The Catamounts cut the lead to nine, but after a lay-up by Kevin Giltner with 13:19 remaining the lead was 51-39. With six minutes left, Western Carolina was able to chip away and make it a six-point game. Eventually the Catamounts would cut the lead to four points at 59-55 with five minutes left. Wofford scored two quick buckets to push the advantage back to eight points.
With just over a minute remaining, Cameron Rundles hit a lay-up, which was followed by a steal by Jamar Diggs who added two points for a 68-57 lead. After a three by the Catamounts, Brad Loesing hit two free throws for a 72-60 score with 44 seconds remaining. The Terriers struggled from the free throw line in the final 35 seconds, going 3-6, but were able to come away with a 75-66 win.
Wofford shot 57.7 percent from the floor and was 25.0 percent from three-point range. From the free throw line, the Terriers shot a season-low 52.2 percent. Western Carolina finished 46.4 percent overall from the field and was 15.4 percent from behind the arc. Wofford had a 33-32 lead on the boards and had 19 assists in the game. Jamar Diggs set a new career-high with four blocks on the night and Brad Loesing tied his career-best with eight assists.