Elon 58, South Carolina 53
ELON, N.C. - Phoenix fans stormed Robertson Court in Alumni Gym as the final horn sounded and the scoreboard glowed Elon 58, South Carolina 53. After taking an 11-point halftime advantage, the Elon men's basketball team did not trail en route to its first-ever victory against an SEC team, handing the Gamecocks (1-1) their first loss of the young season.
"This is a great win for us to beat a BCS school," Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. "We talk a lot about wanting to elevate this program. While this is just one victory, it gives our guys the belief that it can be done."
A stifling defensive effort by the Phoenix (1-1) opened its home campaign in style and limited the Gamecocks to a 31.3 percent shooting percentage. Elon sophomore Lucas Troutman led a well-rounded Elon effort with a game-high 16 points while rookie Austin Hamilton gave the home crowd much to look forward to with 12 points in his first collegiate start.
"We played well enough defensively to win the game," Matheny noted. "We need to play for 40 minutes and rely on our defense at times. When we did struggle to score, we were able to get consecutive stops. The game was won on the defensive end of the floor."
South Carolina, who led for only three seconds in the contest, was limited to 3-of-27 from three-point land and did not connect from long range until the second half. Elon had a strong shooting performance in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, including three triples from junior Brett Ervin.
Malik Cook and Anthony Gill each tallied a team-high nine points for South Carolina. Damontre Harris pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds.
After a 15-3 run to end the first half gave Elon a 34-23 lead at the break, South Carolina kept chipping into the lead and clawed within one, 45-44, with 8:55 on the clock. But with every Gamecock surge, Elon had an answer. Hamilton converted an old fashioned three-point play on the next trip down the floor and Troutman scored the next four Phoenix points to push the advantage to eight, 52-44, with 5:36 on the clock.
Elon held on to an eight-point lead when Hamilton capitalized on a tipped offensive board from Sebastian Koch with 4:58 remaining to make the score 54-46. Despite not hitting another field goal in the contest, the Phoenix defense stifled the Gamecocks as Elon held on for it first-ever win against South Carolina.
"We did a great job pressuring the ball and when you do that it makes the offense rush," stated Hamilton. "We played great team defense and if we do that we can be competitive with anyone in the country."
Nine different Elon players scored in the win and 41 of Elon's 58 points were scored by freshmen or sophomores. The Phoenix shot 40 percent for the game and hit 20-of-28 from the charity stripe. South Carolina was a dismal 10-of-17 (58.8) from the foul line and held a slight edge on the glass, 40-38.
Elon will take on Rutgers-Camden in a double-header with the Phoenix women on Friday evening in Alumni Gym.
Butler 57, Chattanooga 46
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (0-2) dropped a hard-fought 57-46 defensive struggle at Butler (1-1) in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday night. The two teams traded blows all night as neither shot better than 37 percent from the field.
Ricky Taylor led UTC with 13 points, four rebounds and three steals. Omar Wattad had 10 points for the Mocs.
Andrew Smith led all scorers pacing the Bulldogs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The 2011 NCAA Runner-up banner was raised prior to the game.
Leading 28-27 at the break, Butler opened the second half with a 13-4 run to go up 41-31 on a Ronald Nored three-pointer at 15:11. With the old building rocking, it seemed the Mocs were about to get run out of the gym by the mid-major darlings.
But Taylor and his teammates responded. He scored on a three-point play to stop the bleeding, and then Wattad hit a huge three to get the Mocs within six, 43-37, at 14:12. Taylor would cap a 9-2 run with a jumper at 13:32 to get UTC to down just three at 43-40.
A Smith jumper with 9:46 to go got the lead back to six, 47-41, as Taylor's jumper was the last field goal of the game for the Mocs. Even so, two Keegan Bell free throws got Chattanooga within three at 47-44 (6:07), but the Bulldogs would not be denied.
A 7-0 run was capped by a Chase Stigall dunk at 1:26 put the lead at 10, 54-44, with 1:26 to go. It cemented the Butler win.
Neither team found its stride on the offensive end. The Mocs shot 36.4 percent while holding Butler to just 37 percent itself. It was simply a defensively-charged game from start to finish.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a six-point lead early, 13-7, on a Chrishawn Hopkins jumper at 12:54. The lead rose to seven, 21-14 at 6:37, on two Smith free throws. Chattanooga bounced back with a 10-2 run to take its first lead since early in the contest, 24-23, on a Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) layup at 3:03.
Zlovaric scored all eight of his points in the first half on a myriad of post plays. He helped spark the Mocs into trailing by one, 28-27, at intermission.
Chattanooga returns home for four games beginning Friday night at 7 p.m., against Kennesaw State.
East Tennessee State 81, Appalachian State 68
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - After falling behind by double figures early in the contest, Appalachian State University men's basketball clawed its way back against ETSU before falling, 81-68, on Tuesday night at the MSHA Athletic Center.
The Mountaineers (1-1) struggled with shooting in the cavernous domed arena in the first half and converted just 6-of-26 attempts from the field in the opening 20 minutes. While ETSU's full-court press was successful in forcing 20 turnovers before the intermission, it yielded 13 fouls by the home team and allowed Appalachian to sink 10-of-11 free throws. ASU's success at the foul line kept it within striking distance at 39-23 at the break after trailing by as many as 19 points in the early going.
In the second half, Appalachian shook off its shooting woes and methodically worked back within seven points at 67-60 with five minutes to play. The Bucs (1-1) then stole back the momentum with a three-point play and a seven-point run to put the game virtually out of reach. Shortly after closing the gap, ASU lost one of its hot hands when Andre Williamson fouled out after scoring 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting. The forward added three rebounds to go along with his perfect shooting night.
Appalachian shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half to balance out the early misfires and finish at 39.1 percent for the game. ASU's former Southern Conference rival shot 47.4 percent from the field and added three longballs on 10 attempts.
Jamaal Trice led the Apps with 18 points, all in the second half. The junior added five rebounds and an assist before fouling out late in the contest. Trice sank four of ASU's five three-pointers on the night.
Isaac Butts converted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds to accompany two blocks and a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the free-throw line.
Omar Carter added 14 points, eight rebounds and four of ASU's 16 assists. He was matched by Mitch Woods, who dished out four of his own assists to accompany four rebounds and two points.
ASU owned the glass for a second-straight game with 46 rebounds, including 23 on the offensive end for 24 second-chance points. ETSU hauled in 33 rebounds.
ETSU's Tommy Hubbard led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and led his team with seven rebounds. Three other starters also reached double figures for the Bucs in their home opener. ETSU scored 48 points in the paint and converted 32 points off of turnovers, compared to ASU's 18.
Off the bench for ASU, newcomers Tab Hamilton and Rodney Milum scored five points each while Mike Neal.
Appalachian concludes a two-game trip through the Volunteer State with a Saturday night contest at Tennessee Tech.
Western Carolina 109, Montreat College 63
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Sparked by an 11-0 start off the opening tip, Western Carolina put five players in double figures as it cruised past Montreat College, 109-63, Tuesday night in nonconference action the Ramsey Center. In addition to securing its first victory of the 2011-12 season for the Catamounts, the win was also the 600th in career of head coach Larry Hunter.
It was the first-time the Catamounts had reached the century mark since lighting the scoreboard for 100 points in the thrilling 100-90 home victory over the College of Charleston on Jan. 25, 2010 - two seasons ago. The win also extended WCU's home-court win streak over nonconference foes to 10.
Sophomore post Preston Ross scored a team and career-high 19 points off the bench for the Catamounts who saw all 12 players record both minutes and points. Ross tallied eight his points from the free throw line, shooting 8-of-10 from the stripe. Second-year players Trey Sumler and Tawaski King both added 14 points with Sumler also dishing out six assists while King netted his career-best scoring performance.
Brandon Boggs - who was the first to double-digits on Tuesday night - chipped in 13 points while senior Keaton Cole scored 11 in the sixth-straight, home-opening victory for WCU. Harouna Mutombo added eight points and four helpers while freshman James Sinclair scored a career-high eight including a pair of 3-pointers.
Western Carolina (1-1) connected on four of its first five shots including three, 3-pointers as a part of the 11-0 spurt out of the gates. Montreat tallied its first points on 1-of-2 free throws at the 17:24 mark of the first half, posting its first field goal less than 20 seconds later. All told, the Catamounts blitzed the Cavaliers with a 21-to-5 start just six minutes into the game.
Montreat closed the deficit to 13, 21-to-8, after three-straight free throws, but it would prove to be as close as it would get the remainder of the game. A 12-0 run headlined by two players - classmate Ross and Boggs - stretched the margin into the 20s for the first time and where it would stay until the closing minutes of the opening half.
Leading by 26 points, 49-23, the Catamounts closed the half on a 10-to-2 spurt to lead by 34 at the break.
In the second half, WCU continued to methodically pull away, cresting the 40-point margin five minutes into the half and building it to as high as 46 with a minute remaining in the contest. Ross toed the free throw line for a pair of successful attempts with 4:59 remaining on the clock to put WCU into triple-digits and again igniting the Ramsey Center crowd.
Western Carolina outrebounded the Cavaliers, 47-to-35, and held a 20-point advantage in the paint with 40 points over Montreat's 20 in the three-second area. The Catamounts converted 28 turnovers into 33 points, but did commit 15 giveaways of their own.
Montreat (1-6) landed three players in double figures as guard Tyler Buff finished with a game-high 20 points including 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. Dustin Harris added 16 points and seven rebounds while LaBris Adams turned in a solid stat line with 12 points, a game-high eight rebounds and four assists.
Western Carolina travels to Presbyterian on Thursday night for a Southern Conference - Big South Conference showdown in Clinton, S.C.