Appalachian State 79, Georgia Southern 51
BOONE, N.C. - An early scoring burst allowed Appalachian State University to take a large first-half lead against Georgia Southern and a solid defensive stand in the second half carried the Mountaineers to a 79-51 win on Saturday at the Holmes Center.
Omar Carter had the hot hand early with 15 first-half points to help the Mountaineers to an early 28-14 advantage. Carted added 10 more after the intermission to lead all scorers with 25 on the afternoon. The junior guard was 8-of-15 on the day with five three-pointers to accompany five rebounds and three steals.
Georgia Southern (4-13, 0-4 SoCon) cut its 14-point deficit to as close as five points before the break, before the Apps stopped the rally to hold a 40-31 lead after 20 minutes of play.
ASU's shooting touch cooled over halftime as the Mountaineers converted just one of their first eight shots to open the second half. GSU took advantage and climbed back within four points at 42-38. ASU then regained a double-figure cushion when GSU's Cameron Baskerville converted a layup to cut ASU's lead to 56-49 with eight minutes to play.
With the game in the balance, Appalachian then took off on a 20-0 run spanning the next five and a half minutes to lock down the victory. GSU scored just two points in the game's final eight minutes.
Appalachian (7-7, 3-1) shot 46.9 percent from the field in the game and, after allowing GSU to make 13-of-24 shots in the first period, the Mountaineers locked down to keep the Eagles to 7-of-27 shooting in the second half.
Donald Sims was 7-of-15 from the field for 19 points in addition to five rebounds and a team-high five assists. Sims was one of five players with at least five rebounds for the Black and Gold as the team held a 43-29 advantage on the glass.
Jeremi Booth came off the bench to score 17 points with three rebounds and a pair of steals in 23 minutes for ASU.
Andre Williamson led the Apps with seven rebounds, in addition to four assists, three points and a block. Nathan Healy scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 19 minutes.
Georgia Southern was led by 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting by Ben Drayton. The guard added four assists and four of the squad's nine steals.
Rory Spencer added 15 points and seven rebounds but committed four of GSU's 18 turnovers. The Eagles added nine assists and three blocks in the game.
Western Carolina 81, Davidson 73
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Trey Sumler posted his fifth-straight double-digit scoring outing, finishing with a career-high 24 points including 4-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc to lead a trio of Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina upended Davidson, 81-73, Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center.
Sumler, who posted his second-consecutive, 20-point scoring performance, helped WCU halt a seven-game slide in games against the Wildcats in Cullowhee. The Catamounts also evened their SoCon record on the year at 2-2, improving to 6-10 on the season while Davidson dropped to 7-8 overall, 1-3 in league games.
Davidson's Jake Cohen sank a jumper to pull the Wildcats to within five points, 62-57, with seven minutes remaining in regulation. However, that was as close as the visitors would get as Western Carolina managed its lead, pulling ahead by a dozen on a slam dunk by Harouna Mutombo with just over a minute left in the game.
WCU connected on six of eight free throws inside the closing moments to seal the win, its second-straight on the year and fifth-consecutive at home dating back to last season.
Senior Mike Williams tallied 13 points and four assists off the bench for WCU, while Harouna Mutombo also scored 13 in the winning effort for the Catamounts. Freshman Tawaski King and Preston Ross both finished with eight points and combined for nine boards, six by Ross.
Western Carolina broke an early 3-3 tie with 10-straight points including five by Mutombo to race out to a 13-3 lead. The Wildcats were able to close to within four, 21-17, before the Catamounts mounted a 14-to-3 run to take a game-high lead of 15, 35-20, two and a half minutes before the break.
WCU led by 11 at intermission, 38-27.
Davidson outscored the Catamounts, 8-2, out of the halftime locker room to pull back within five points, 40-35, three minutes into the final stanza. The Wildcats would trim WCU's edge to five on four separate occasions, including the final time on Cohen's jumper with seven minutes left in the contest.
Davidson put three in double figures led by J.P. Kuhlman and Nik Cochran with 13 points apiece while De'Mon Brooks posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Catamounts shot 50-percent from the floor (26-of-52) including 6-of-15 (40%) from beyond the arc while limiting Davidson to 41-percent shooting and seven made 3-pointers.
Elon 67, Samford 54
ELON, N.C. - Drew Spradlin scored a season-high 26 points and Elon got off to a strong start as the Phoenix men's basketball team earned its first Southern Conference victory of the season with a 67-54 win over the visiting Samford Bulldogs in front of a capacity crowd at Alumni Gym on Saturday afternoon. Elon (7-8, 1-3) built an 18-point advantage at the half, holding the Bulldogs (10-6, 2-2) to seven field goals and outrebounding the visitors 22-10 in the first 20 minutes.
Spradlin did a good job driving to the rim and, as a result, got to the line and knocked down 11-of-14 free throws. As a team, Elon attempted 34 shots from the charity stripe, shooting 79.4 percent for the game. All nine Phoenix players who saw action scored and had a rebound in the contest. Sophomore Roger Dugas had a game-high eight boards to go along with six points in 22 minutes. Freshman guard Jack Isenbarger pulled down seven rebounds and added five points. Elon dominated the glass, 44-25, including a 15-4 edge on the offensive end of the floor.
Samford's Drew Windler tallied a team-best 13 points while Josh Davis contributed 10 points.
With the game tied 4-4 in the early minutes, Elon went on a quick 7-0 run with buckets by rookies Lucas Troutman, Sebastian Koch and Ryley Beaumont. A Davis three-pointer halted a near five-minute scoreless stretch for the Bulldogs, making it an 11-7 game with 11:55 on the clock. Following two more Samford triples, the game was tied at 13 at the 9:54 mark.
An 8-0 Phoenix streak that featured back-to-back long balls from Dugas and Spradlin jump-started Elon, as the home team closed out the first half on a 25-7 run. Spradlin scored all 15 of his first-half point during the run and Elon took a 38-20 lead into the locker room.
Samford did not go down easily in the second half, and despite a 20-point deficit with 16:43 to play, the Bulldogs outscored the Phoenix 16-5 over the next seven minutes to make it a nine-point game, 45-36, with 9:44 remaining.
The Elon lead would hover between 10-12 points until a Davis trey trimmed the advantage to seven, 49-42, at 5:23. Spradlin would answer with a three of his own and the Elon offense kept pace to win its third game in the last four contests.
The Elon defense held Samford to 35.4 percent shooting and racked up eight steals. The Bulldogs were shooting 44.0 percent from the field for the season heading into this afternoon's contest.
Chattanooga 70, UNCG 65
GREENSBORO, N.C. --- Junior guard Omar Wattad scored a career-high 26 points in leading the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to a 70-65 win at UNC Greensboro (0-14, 0-4 SoCon) Saturday afternoon. Chattanooga is now 4-0 in the Southern Conference, 8-8 overall.
Wattad's 26 paced three Mocs in double digits. Keegan Bell had 13 points and a season-high seven rebounds, while Ricky Taylor had 19 points and five boards.
Chattanooga out-rebounded the Spartans 45-31 for the game led by Jahmal Burroughs with a career-high eight. Wattad tied his career best with seven boards of his own.
UNCG was led by Aloysius Henry's 17 points and 11 rebounds. Kyle Randall chipped in 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Brian Cole added 10 points off the bench.
Taylor put the Mocs up 15, 42-27, with 18:40 to play as UTC scored the first four points after intermission. The Spartans began to chip away at the lead cutting it to nine, 42-33, on two Randall free throws. Wattad's three at 14:54 pushed the lead back to 12, 47-35.
UNCG went on a 9-0 run to get within three, 47-44, on Cole's layup with 12:29 left. Wattad had an immediate answer knocking down yet another three nine seconds later giving the Mocs a 50-44 lead.
That started a mini-run (8-2) for Chattanooga as it built the lead back to nine, 55-46 on another Wattad three-pointer at 10:13. The Spartans would not wilt.
Aaron Brackett's jumper following an offensive board of his own missed free throw diced the lead to four, 57-53. Taylor and Wattad scored layups to double the cushion to eight, 61-53 at 7:01.
UNCG continued to battle. Henry's dunk with 5:03 to go made it a three-point contest, 61-58, Korey Van Dussen hit a jumper at 2:19 to get the Spartans within two, 63-61, Henry tied it at 63-all on the Spartans next possession, but the Mocs made the plays down the stretch.
After Henry's basket tied the score, Chattanooga got the ball in quick and Bell found Taylor streaking upcourt. Seven seconds after the score was tied, Taylor calmly sank two free throws to give UTC the lead for good. Wattad made three of four free throws in the final 10 seconds to cement the five-point win.
Wattad made five three-pointers on eight attempts. He and Bell (4-6) combined to shoot nine of 14 from three-point range, while the rest of the team shot one for 13.
Both teams played strong defensively. While the Mocs managed to shoot just 37.9 percent (22-58) from the floor, they also limited the Spartans to 35.2 percent (19-54), 25.0 percent (5-20) from three-point range.
UNCG scored the first eight points of the game, but the Mocs turned it around with a phenomenal defensive run. Chattanooga limited the Spartans to just one field goal for 10:17 to go on a 27-4 run.
The Mocs led by as many as 15 points in the first half. Bell and Wattad scored 12 apiece as they combined for 24 of the team's 38 points before the break.
Furman 88, The Citadel 67
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Furman shot a season-best 59.3 percent from the field, including 65 percent in the second half, to hand The Citadel its third straight defeat, 88-67, in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
The Paladins improved to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the SoCon while The Citadel slipped to 5-11 overall and 1-3 in the league. With the victory, its sixth in seven games at home this season, Furman claimed its 15th win in its last 20 meetings against the Bulldogs.
Furman used a 14-0 run midway through the first half to erase an early Bulldogs lead and take control of the game with a 37-26 advantage at intermission. Amu Saaka and Jordan Miller buried back-to-back treys to open the second half and key a 10-0 Paladin run that pushed the margin to 47-26 less than three minutes into the period.
The Citadel answered several minutes later with a 15-2 spurt of its own on the strength of seven foul shots to close within eight points at 55-47 with 11:12 remaining. Furman responded by connecting on nine of its next 12 shots, including five three-pointers, to build as large as a 26-point advantage on its way to the final 88-67 margin.
Saaka led the way for the Paladins with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 at the foul line. Miller connected on 7-of-14 shots to total 18 points while Colin Reddick came off of the bench to score 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Saaka and Reddick each grabbed a team-high five boards and Darryl Evans and Miller contributed six and five assists, respectively. Brandon Sebirumbi chipped in with nine points and four boards.
Furman made 15-of-23 second half field goal attempts to shoot a season-high 59.3 percent and hit 7-of-12 treys after intermission to finish 8-of-19 from long range. The Paladins continued their strong work at the line and on the boards by connecting on 16-of-21 foul shots and fashioning a 31-28 rebounding edge. The Paladins matched Thursday night's season-low of eight turnovers.
Senior Cameron Wells scored 22 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists to lead The Citadel. Zach Urbanus netted 12 points while sophomore Mike Groselle added 11. The Bulldogs shot 43.4 percent and converted on 18-of-23 trips to the charity stripe, but made only 3-of-11 three-point attempts.
College of Charleston 77, Wofford 73
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - On Saturday night, the Wofford men's basketball team was defeated 77-73 by the College of Charleston at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The game was tied with 11:47 left in the game and the Cougars won a back-and-forth battle down the stretch for the victory.
Wofford is 6-9 on the season and 3-1 in the Southern Conference and the College of Charleston is 11-5 overall and 4-0 in SoCon play. The Terriers were led by with Noah Dahlman with 25 points and eleven rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Jamar Diggs added 23 points for Wofford. The Cougars were led by Andrew Goudelock with 18 points and Willis Hall with eleven rebounds.
The Cougars were able to take an early 5-0 lead and had a seven-point advantage at 12-5 four minutes into the game. Wofford was able to go on a 6-0 run to make it a one point game just 90 seconds later. However at the 11:34 mark, the Cougars hit a three to push the lead back to nine at 25-16. The College of Charleston had a 34-26 lead with 5:08 on the clock, but the Terriers had seven straight points by Jamar Diggs to cut the lead to one at 34-33 with 3:08 left in the half. At the break, the Cougars had a 43-39 advantage.
Wofford scored first with a lay-up by Noah Dahlman to open the second half. At the 15:15 mark, the score was tied at 49 after another lay-up by Dahlman and he added a free throw for the Terriers first lead of the night. Jamar Diggs had two free throws at 13:48, which gave Wofford a 52-51 lead.
College of Charleston broke a tie at 53 with a three pointer. Wofford kept the game within a possession for the next four minutes. The Cougars were able to build a seven-point lead at 70-63 with 3:05 left on the clock. The Terriers used a 8-2 run that included four points by Cameron Rundles and two each by Dahlman and Diggs to make it a 72-71 game with just 13 seconds on the clock. The squads traded free throws but the Cougars had a 76-73 lead with five seconds remaining. Wofford had a chance at a three, but it was rebounded by the Cougars and they added a foul shot for the 77-73 final score.
Wofford shot a 44.4 percent from the floor and were 23.1 percent from three-point range. The Terriers shot 75.9 percent from the free throw line. The College of Charleston was 50.9 percent overall and was 43.8 percent from behind the arc. The Cougars had a 31-28 lead in rebounds. Wofford had won 13 straight conference games prior to the loss.