College of Charleston 72, Clemson 69
CLEMSON, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's basketball team held on in the final seconds of regulation to claim its first-ever road win at Clemson, 72-69, on Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
The Cougars are now off to a 3-0 start for the first time in eight seasons and first under head coach Bobby Cremins, who picked up his first road win at an ACC school since his days at Georgia Tech.
After a perfect first half where CofC shot 51.5 percent from the floor (17-of-33) and found and made the open shot, Clemson (2-1) couldn't seem to find an answer to break into the Cougars' double-digit lead. The CofC defense forced the Tigers into nine first-half turnovers and 36.7 percent shooting from the field (11-of-30).
Senior Antwaine Wiggins scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Clemson chipped away at its deficit and got it down to two with 1:18 remaining on a tip-in by Devin Booker.
Freshman Adjehi Baru made a big block on a missed layup by Andre Young and freshman reserve Anthony Stitt, whose older cousin Demontez Stitt finished out his career with the Tigers a year ago, pushed up the ball and was fouled on the layup in the lane with 14 seconds left in play.
Stitt made one-of-two from the charity stripe giving Clemson one more chance at the tie, 72-69. Young attempted the three-pointer, but missed after being heavily-guarded by junior point guard Andrew Lawrence, who was one of three Cougars including sophomore Trent Wiedeman in double figures with 15 apiece.
CofC led by double figures for most of the first half and a gutsy layup in traffic by Stitt gave CofC a 39-24 advantage at halftime. Still ended the night with eight points and two assists with no turnovers in 27 minutes of action versus the Tigers.
The Cougars will participate in the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis tournament to be held on Nov. 24-26 at the Atlantis Resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas. CofC will face Central Florida in its first game on Thursday, Nov. 24 at 2 p.m. (ET).
Appalachian State 68, Tennessee Tech 63
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Appalachian State University men's basketball fought off a late Tennessee Tech rally to earn a 68-63 win on Saturday night in the Eblen Center. Omar Carter and Jamaal Trice led the Mountaineers with 19 points each in the close victory.
After the Golden Eagles (1-2) erased an eight-point deficit in the second half, the Mountaineers (2-1) responded with an 11-2 run spanning nearly five minutes in the middle of the period. Appalachian then kept its lead to at least four points until the game's final minute and closed out the contest with free throws to pick up its first road win of the young season. ASU shot 14-of-19 from the foul line in the game.
TTU cut the ASU lead from five to two points with 47 ticks left in regulation before Isaac Butts padded the narrow lead with a free throw with 18 seconds on the clock. The Apps then forced a difficult TTU three-pointer with four seconds left and Rodney Milum hauled in the rebound. The junior transfer sank two ensuing free throws to ice the win.
The Mountaineers worked out from a slow start and early eight-point decifit to take a 39-33 lead into the intermission. The first-half comeback was all the more impressive due to the foul discrepency, as TTU shot 15 free throws before ASU shot its first. Big men Butts, Petey Hausley, Brian Okam and Andre Williamson picked up two fouls each in the opening 20 minutes.
Leading the way, Carter sank 6-of-14 shots with two treys to accompany four rebounds and an assist. All five of Trice's baskets came from downtown, where he was 5-of-9 on the night to accompany three assists.
In addition to his clutch rebound, Milum scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Butts led ASU with seven rebounds in addition to his six points and an assist. Williamson scored six points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a pair of shots before fouling out.
Appalachian was out-rebounded by its opponent for just the first time this season as the Golden Eagles owned a narrow 33-30 edge on the glass. TTU converted 15 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. The home squad dished out just seven assists in the game.
The Apps dished out 14 assists on 22 field goals in the game, led by Mitch Woods' team-high four. ASU shot 51.2 percent (22-43) from the field and 10-of-22 from downtown. Tennessee Tech converted just 34.5 percent of its shots (19-55) for the night and only 3-of-12 three-pointers.
Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year Kevin Murphy led TTU with 28 points to accompany eight rebounds and teammate Jud Dillard notched a double-double with 22 points and 11 boards.
The Mountaineers host East Carolina on Tuesday at Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena. The 7 p.m. contest marks the return of the in-state rivalry, which has been dormant for 10 years.
Middle Tennessee 82, UNCG 60
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.-Middle Tennessee placed four players in double figures and the Blue Raiders shot 60 percent in the second half to pull away from UNCG for an 82-60 win in the EA Sports Maui Invitational Mainland Region, Saturday at Murphy Center.
UNCG next plays Towson in Sunday's consolation bracket at 2 p.m. The Tigers lost to Belmont, 87-41, earlier Saturday.
After playing perhaps their most competitive half of the season, the Spartans (1-3) trailed MTSU (4-0) by two points, 29-27, at halftime. But in the second half the Blue Raiders turned up the defensive pressure and started making shots.
MTSU tried to pull away early in the half, but the Spartans stayed in it. The Blue Raiders took a 39-31 lead with 16:16 left but UNCG cut the lead in half after a three-pointer by Nick Paulos and a free throw by Derrell Armstrong made it 44-40 with 14:03 left.
But MTSU responded with a 14-0 run over the next 4:02, forcing UNCG into seven turnovers during that span. A three-pointer by Raymond Cintron gave the Blue Raiders a 58-40 advantage with 10:02 to play. The Spartans never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
UNCG started the game strong, jumping out to a 21-12 advantage on an Aloysius Henry layup with 9:55 left before halftime. But much like would happen in the second half MTSU stifled the Spartans' offense and regained the lead before the break.
Henry led the Spartans with 12 points and seven rebounds. The senior center was 6-of-10 from the field and added two steals and two assists. Kyle Van Dussen chipped in with 11 points.
Marcos Knight led MTSU with 17 points, while J.T. Sulton added 16. Shawn Jones chipped in 12 points and Bruce Massey had 11.
The Spartans out-rebounded the Blue Raiders, 34-30, but also committed 23 turnovers and shot just 9-43 percent from the field.
The Blue Raiders shot 49 percent for the game, including 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
Free throws were a major factor in the outcome. UNCG was just 9-of-18 from the line while MTSU was 28-of-36.
Wisconsin 69, Wofford 33
MADISON, Wis. - On Saturday night, the Wofford men's basketball team was defeated 69-33 by Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. The Badgers are ranked #13 in the nation and used a 19-0 run in the first half to take the lead in front of a crowd of 17,230 fans.
Wofford is 1-2 on the season and Wisconsin is 3-0. Kevin Giltner and Karl Cochran led the Terriers with ten points each. Cochran also had five rebounds to tie for the team high with Lee Skinner. The Badgers were led by Josh Gasser with 16 points and Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans with 13 points each. Mike Bruesewitz led both teams with eight rebounds.
Both teams opened the game with three pointers, but the Badgers were up 11-5 at the 13:10 mark. Wofford cut the lead to 13-10 after a three by Karl Cochran at 9:51, but the Badgers would then score the next 19 points. Drew Crowell ended the run with a lay-up at the buzzer for a 32-12 score at the half. Wofford was 5-of-25 from the floor in the first half.
Early in the second half, Kevin Giltner hit two three-pointers for the Terriers and the advantage was cut to 42-20 after a bucket by Brad Loesing with 14:31 on the clock. However the Badgers would slowly extend the lead and the score was 58-27 after a three by Josh Gasser. With three minutes left in the game the score was 62-33 after a lay-up by Kevin Giltner, but the Badgers scored the final seven points of the game for the 69-33 margin.
Wofford shot 26.5% from the floor while Wisconsin shot 50.0% overall. The Terriers were 4-of-19 from three, while the Badgers were 9-of-23 from behind the arc. Wofford was 3-of-9 from the line and Wisconsin was 4-of-4 from the line. The Badgers had a 43 to 22 lead on the glass.
The Terriers will continue play in the Chicago Invitational Classic on Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. at Bradley.