Wake Forest 82, Georgia Southern 71
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Georgia Southern had a golden opportunity on Wednesday (November 16th) night to spring the upset over Wake Forest, but fell 81-72 to the Demon Deacons. After trailing by nine points at the break, the Eagles battled back to trail by just five, midway through the second half. Jelani Hewitt and Eric Ferguson led the Eagles with 18 points each.
"Our goal was to see tremendous growth from game one to game two," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "We did a great job of out-rebounding them and out-shooting Wake Forest tonight. I'm excited to get these guys back to Statesboro for Friday's game against Webber International."
Ferguson matched a career high with four blocks in the game while Hewitt was 5-of-7 from downtown in the game. Junior Cameron Baskerville led the Eagles with seven of Georgia Southern's 35 blocks en route to an Eagle win on the rebounding glass, 35-30. Georgia Southern also out-shot Wake Forest 48.1% to 42.9% from the field and from beyond the arc at a 36.8% clip.
Georgia Southern's senior duo of Ben Drayton III and Willie Powers III both reached double-figures with 12 points from Powers and 12 from Drayton. Powers grabbed six rebounds and made seven assists on the night. Drayton had a balanced night with five rebounds, five assists and four rebounds.
The Eagles trailed 34-23 at the halftime break and stayed within reach of the Deacs throughout the second half. Georgia Southern made major strides on consecutive 3-pointers by Hewitt with just 9:21 remaining in the second half. The buckets cut the lead to 50-45.
Wake Forest, however, responded with a run of six points on one trip up the floor thanks to an intentional foul by Baskerville just inside eight minutes. The Eagles would cut the lead to seven points with 3:41 remaining, but that would be as close as the Eagles would get on the night.
The Eagles were tagged for 22 turnovers on the night which became 29 Wake Forest points. Georgia Southern, however, met its goal of taking five charges in the game, challenging the Wake Forest offense.
Following the return trip to Statesboro, Georgia Southern gets just a day's rest before returning to the hardwood against Webber International at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Clemson 73, The Citadel 50
CHARLESTON, S.C.- The Citadel's junior center Mike Groselle recorded his fourth straight double-double, 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it was ACC foe Clemson that emerged with a 73-50 victory at McAlister Field House in front of 5,186 in attendance. Groselle, the lone Bulldog in double figures, was joined alongside teammates Cosmo Morabbi and Bo Holston, who netted eight points, respectively.
The Citadel (1-2) struggled to find their offensive rhythm, converting 19-of-63 (30.2%) from field goal range, including 5-of-19 (26.3%) from beyond the arc. Groselle scored 14 of his game-high 16 points by virtue of hitting 7-of-13 from the field. He crashed the offensive boards for five of 11 total rebounds and along the way became just the third player in Citadel Basketball history to post four straight double-doubles in his career. Morabbi led the way for the Bulldogs from beyond the arc, hitting 2-of-4 attempts, which accounted for six of his eight total points. Meanwhile, Holston knocked down 3-of-9 field goals and hauled in five rebounds for the Cadets.
Clemson (2-0) took advantage of double figures from the trio of Devin Booker (14 pts.), Tanner Smith (11 pts.) and Milton Jennings (10 pts.). The Tigers were 29-of-54 (53.7%) from the floor as a unit, due in large part to hitting better than 50% for each half. Four Clemson players hit one 3-pointer each, including Booker and Smith. Smith posted a team-high seven rebounds, while T.J. Sapp and Catalin Baciu added six each to give Clemson a 40-38 edge on the boards.
"Clemson is a very good basketball team and they are excellent at defending," said Citadel Head Coach Chuck Driesell. "They took us out of the things we wanted to do and the pressure bothered us. We have to have guys show up and produce. We just didn't do that tonight. We come in averaging 91.5 points a game against two pretty good teams and we knew Clemson is a tough team. I was really disappointed in our offensive output, but we still gave up too many points defensively because Clemson had too many easy lay-ups. Those are things we have to take away, if we are going to win games like this."
Facing a 39-23 deficit at the intermission, DeVontae Wright opened second half scoring with a 3-pointer just over two minutes into the frame. The Tigers answered with a 16-0 run that spanned 8:15 of the contest, highlighted by five points from Booker and four by Jennings, to assume a 55-26 lead.
A layup by P.J. Horgan followed by a 3-pointer from Lawrence Miller gave the Dogs five quick points, before Clemson expanded its lead to 62-33 at the 8:23 mark.
Behind eight points from Holston and five by Groselle the Cadets outscored Clemson, 17-10, over the final 5:26 of the contest. Among Holston's eight points included a 3-pointer on a pass from Morabbi, making for the third 3-pointer of the second half.
The Citadel opened the first half by hitting 8-of-26 (30.8%) from the field, including just one conversion from beyond the arc in six attempts. Groselle managed 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting en route to a Bulldog team-high in points. Smith, his Clemson counterpart, also scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including one 3-pointer.
The Bulldogs defense opened strong, allowing just four points over the first 3:30 of the game, before a Morabbi trey pulled the deficit to one. The Tigers answered with a 7-0 run, sparked by a long distance shot from T.J. Sapp, to assume an 11-3 lead at the 11:45 mark.
The inside tandem of Groselle and Horgan trimmed the deficit to 11-8 with a series of points in the paint. The Tigers responded with a 17-6 run, pushing their lead to 28-14, behind five points from Smith and four from Sapp.
Groselle scored the final seven Bulldog points of the first half, however six points from Smith allowed Clemson to take a 39-21 lead as the two teams headed into the half.
The Bulldogs return home on Monday, Nov. 21st at 7:05 p.m. when they host Florida Christian to complete the brief two-game homestand.