Elon 56, Princeton 55

PRINCETON, N.J. - It came down to the wire, but the Elon men's basketball team staved off every Princeton run, including a last second heave, to come away with a 56-55 victory over the host Tigers at Jadwin Gym on Tuesday evening. The win was the third straight for the Phoenix as Elon (3-1) is off to its best start since the 2002-03 season. Princeton dropped to 1-3 on the year.
 
"This is a great victory for our maturing team," said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. "A team win - a hard fought, physically tough battle between similar teams. We won it on the defensive end."
 
After building an eight-point halftime advantage, Elon saw its lead dwindle to as few as one point on four occasions in the final period. Sebastian Koch drilled a dagger from beyond the arc with 3:57 to play and pushed the Elon advantage back to 56-49.
 
But the Tigers weren't going down without a fight, scoring the next six points over a three-minute span to make it a 56-55 game with 40 seconds glowing on the clock. An Elon turnover with 13 ticks remaining put the ball back in the home team's hands for a final shot. But it was a stifling Phoenix defense that didn't give Princeton a good look and Douglas Davis' hoist clanged off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
 
In the low scoring affair that is typical of games against the Princeton offense, Elon got a team-high 13 points from senior Drew Spradlin. The guard also came away with five rebounds in the winning effort. Koch added 11 points and Egheosa Edomwonyi contributed 10 points off the bench for the Phoenix in 12 minutes of action. Lucas Troutman was a beast on the glass, grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds and blocking three shots.
 
A tightly called game disrupted the flow of the contest, especially in the second half. Princeton was already in the double bonus with over 10 minutes remaining in the game. But, neither team benefited much from trips to the stripe as Princeton managed only 15-of-29 (51.7) and Elon shot 12-of-23 (52.2) at the line.
 
Elon put up another stellar defensive performance, holding its third straight opponent to less than 33 percent shooting from the floor. The Tigers were 19-of-58 (32.8) and a dismal 2-of-8 (25.0) from downtown.
 
The Phoenix connected on 45 percent from the field and won without relying on the three-point shot. Elon, who averages 10 made three-pointers per game, attempted only seven triples but the four that dropped came at critical times in the contest.
 
Trailing 7-5 at the 14:48 mark, Edomwonyi hit a jumper to tie the contest. Rookie Austin Hamilton connected on the Phoenix's next trip down the floor and Elon would never trail again in the contest. With the game tied at 15, an Edomwonyi layup started a stretch of 13 unanswered points as the Phoenix opened up its biggest lead of the game at 28-15 with 3:40 to go before the half. Princeton managed to make a little run, but Elon still maintained a 33-25 advantage heading into the locker room.  
 
Defense was the key in the final 20 minutes as Elon pushed back against every Princeton surge. Elon overcame foul trouble and had got big minutes from Brett Irvin and Edomwonyi under the basket. The Phoenix had the answer each time the Tigers got within one and never relinquished the lead.
 
Elon will look to extend its winning streak to four straight on Friday evening when the Phoenix heads down the road to Reynolds Coliseum for a battle with NC State.

Wofford 70, Bradley 66

PEORIA, Ill. - The Wofford men's basketball team used a career-high 29 points from Kevin Giltner on the way to a 70-66 victory at Bradley on Tuesday night at Carver Arena. The Terriers had a twelve point lead with six minutes remaining, but needed to withstand a late surge by the Braves for the four-point win.

Wofford is 2-2 on the season and Bradley is 3-1 after their first home loss of the season. The Terriers were led by Kevin Giltner with 29 points, including five three pointer, and twelve each from Karl Cochran and Drew Crowell. Crowell had his first career double-double with ten rebounds. The Braves were led by Dyricus Simms-Edwards with 22 points and Taylor Brown had a double-double with 16 points and eleven rebounds.

"I am thrilled with the win and proud of our group of puppies," said head coach Mike Young. "They did bend some, but they played with great passion and they try like crazy to do the right things. What you saw there late is just a product of youth. To see those eyes wide as big as saucers in an unbelievable environment when things start to roar could have been a problem, but they stuck with it and helped us get a very nice road win early in the year."

The Terriers opened the game with a 4-0 lead after a bucket from Drew Crowell and two free throws by Kevin Giltner. Bradley tied the game at four and it was tied at six three minutes into the contest. The teams traded three pointers for nine points each at the first media time out. Wofford used three pointers by Kevin Giltner and Brad Loesing for a 15-12 lead and the Terriers had a 17-16 advantage with 10:47 left in the first half.

Back-to-back threes by Kevin Giltner and Karl Cochran increased the Wofford lead to 23-18 with 8:26 on the clock. Another shot by Giltner made it a 25-18 lead as the Terriers were on a 10-2 run. With less than four minutes left in the first half, Giltner hit a jumper for a 29-21 advantage. The Braves went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two, but Kevin Giltner ended the run with a three. Drew Crowell added a jumper and a put-back for a 36-27 lead at the break.

The Terriers scored first to open the second half and after a shot by Kevin Giltner, Wofford had a 42-31 lead with 16:59 on the clock. Bradley scored the next six points to make it a 42-37 game before a shot by Drew Crowell ended the run. With the score 44-40, neither team scored for the next two minutes until the Braves cut the lead to two points with ten minutes on the clock.

Wofford was then able to use a quick 9-2 run that included a three by Karl Cochran to make it a 53-46 game with nine minutes left in the second half. The Terriers were up 57-48 with 7:37 remaining after a bucket by Aerris Smith was good after a goaltending call. Kevin Giltner added back-to-back threes to push the Wofford lead back to 63-51 with six minute left. Bradley though responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead, but Drew Crowell ended the run with a shot to make it 65-57 with 3:07 remaining.

A three pointer by Karl Cochran with 1:59 left gave the Terriers a 68-59 advantage. Bradley though would go on a quick 5-0 run to cut the lead back to 68-64 with 1:23 on the clock. After two free throws, the Braves were within two points. Wofford turned the ball over with twenty seconds left, but a shot by Bradley with seven seconds was missed and Brad Loesing got the rebound. Loesing added two free throws with four seconds on the clock to ice the game with a 70-66 final score.

Wofford shot 45.9% from the floor while Bradley shot 38.7% overall. The Terriers were 10-of-23 from three, while the Braves were 4-of-17 from behind the arc. Wofford was 4-of-10 from the line and Bradley was 14-of-22 from the line. The Terriers had a 44-36 lead in rebounds, but had 19 turnovers in the contest.

The Terriers will continue play in the Chicago Invitational Classic on Friday at 3:30 pm ET against UMKC at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates. The Tournament concludes on Saturday against either Longwood or Prairie View A&M. Wofford returns home on December 1 against Davidson in the SoCon opener for both teams.

East Carolina 67, Appalachian State 47

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Despite 27 points from Jamaal Trice, Appalachian State University men's basketball shot just 26.1 percent from the field and dropped a 67-47 decision to East Carolina in front of 3,719 on Tuesday evening at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Trice became Appalachian's (2-2) first 20-point scorer of the season on 8-of-14 shooting. However, the rest of the Mountaineers made just 6-of-30 shots (20 percent) in the loss.

Appalachian missed its first four shots and turned the ball over four times before getting on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, ECU (3-1) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead four minutes into the contest. 

A layup from point guard G.J. Vilarino and free throw from Charlotte native Omar Carter pulled the Mountaineers back within four points towards the end of the first half. Just as the Apps closed the gap, ECU responded with back-to-back threes to bump the lead back to double figures and secure a 30-17 halftime advantage.

Carter added five rebounds and two of ASU's eight steals while Vilarino notched four rebounds and an assist in his Mountaineer debut.

The Mountaineers gathered momentum in the second half and found a rhythm to shoot 45.5 percent on three-pointers in the period and force 10 East Carolina turnovers.

Trice led the barrage with 5-of-8 treys on the night, but only Rodney Milum also found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc in the contest as ASU shot 6-of-19 from downtown.

Milum was ASU's second-leading scorer with seven points, while Carter and Isaac Butts chipped in four each.

Andre Williamson led ASU with six of the team's 30 rebounds, as the Apps were outrebounded for just the second time this season, 34-30. ASU scored five second-chance points off of 11 offensive boards.

Guard Miguel Paul led ECU with 19 points including a 9-of-9 mark at the free-throw line. He dished out five of his team's 13 assists and grabbed five boards. Darrius Morrow also reached double figures with 15 points.

ECU shot 49 percent from the field, including a 7-of-12 mark from downtown. The Pirates sank 12-of-16 free throws while ASU struggled at the stripe, making just 13-of-25.

ASU returns to the Holmes Center on Saturday to host Milligan at 2 p.m.

Georgia State 55, Samford 47

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team charged back to within six points late in the second half of play Tuesday, but Georgia State used four quick points from Jihad Ali to hold on for a 55-47 nonconference victory at the Pete Hanna Center. Ali paced the Panthers with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

"This was a tough loss for us tonight, but I thought we competed," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "This is a group that demonstrates a lot of character in every game and we just need to get better. I haven't had a chance to look at the film yet, but a lot of our mistakes were self-imposed. We just shot ourselves in the foot. We need to correct some little things as the season goes on and by that time our freshmen will have grown up a bit."

Samford (0-3) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before battling back to cut Georgia State's lead to 26-21 at the intermission. The Bulldogs only shot 30 percent from the field in the opening period, but the Panthers didn't shoot much better at 38.1 percent.

Georgia State (2-3) out-rebounded Samford 25-12 in the opening half and closed out the game with a 43-27 advantage on the boards.

"In the first half, I thought that we just didn't get into the best position to rebound the ball," Tillette said. "Our guys were getting too close to the goal and the ball was just going over their heads. We told them to make some adjustments at halftime and then in the second half I thought we did much better rebounding the ball."

Samford rallied back from a 13-point deficit early in the second half to move to within six points, 46-40, at the 6:24 mark. The Bulldogs' John Peterson knocked down a key 3-point basket to trim the Panthers' lead to six. Peterson, a senior forward from Boca Raton, Fla., scored a team-high 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. He also knocked down three 3-point field goals.

"I thought John did a really nice job of shooting the ball tonight," said Tillette. "He really gave us a spark, and then he also had a couple of 3-pointers rim out. He had one from the corner that just rolled out and Will Cook also had one that just rimmed out."

Following Peterson's 3-point basket at 6:24, Georgia State's Ali knocked down a key 3-point basket of his own to increase the Panthers' lead to 49-40. The teams then traded baskets down the stretch as Georgia State held on for the 55-47 victory.

For the first time this season, Samford's bench was outscored by an opponents' as the Panthers' reserves finished with 25 as compared to 15 from the Bulldogs. Georgia State's Ali came off the bench to score 20 of the team's 25 bench points.

Peterson proved to be the only Samford player in double figures Tuesday. Guards Devin McNeil and Cook both followed with seven points apiece, while Drew Windler added six on 2-of-6 shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs' Brandon Hayman and Matthew Friday came off the bench to tally four points apiece. Samford senior Jeffrey Merritt led the team in rebounds with six.

"Right now, we have three more practices to get better and to get ready for another road trip," Tillette said. "We'll see who wants to put in the effort to work hard in practice this week and then we'll look to get a win on the road against UT Arlington."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs face off against the UT Arlington Mavericks in a nonconference showdown to be held at Texas Hall (3,600) in Arlington, Texas.

Northern Iowa 59, Western Carolina 39

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Harouna Mutombo paced Western Carolina with a game-high 21 points while Trey Sumler chipped in 10, but that was nearly the extent of the Catamounts' offensive output on Tuesday night. Northern Iowa never trailed in handing WCU a 59-39 loss at the McLeod Center as a part of the on-campus portion of the South Padre Island Invitational.

Leading by 12 at the break, 29-17, UNI scored the first 10 points of the second half to build a 22-point lead it would never relinquish as the Panthers held WCU scoreless for over four and a half minutes out of the second half locker room. The Catamounts missed their first six shots from the field and turned the ball over twice before Mutombo connected on a jumper at the 15:18 mark of the half.

The Panthers' lead grew to as much as 35 points in the closing 20-minutes, but the Catamounts never gave in, scoring the game's final 15 points and keeping UNI off the scoreboard over the last 7:20 to provide the final tally.

Mutombo finished 8-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line, adding five rebounds on the night. Sumler scored seven of his 10 points in the second half, netting both of WCU's season-low two 3-pointers.

All told, the Catamounts shot a season-worst 29.8-percent from the field and just 12-percent from long-range in the loss.

Sophomore Preston Ross came off the bench to lead the team with seven rebounds including three on the offensive end while classmate Brandon Boggs scored five points and boarded five missed shots.

Nine of the 12 Panthers that saw action recorded points for UNI (3-1) with freshman Seth Tuttle leading the way with a career-high 14 points and seven boards. Jake Koch finished with nine points and nine rebounds, adding four of UNI's five blocked shots and three steals and three assists.

Tied at six early in the first half, UNI used a 15-to-2 run to surge ahead by 13, 21-8. Eight of the Panthers' points during the run came in the paint. A short-lived, 7-to-1 spurt by the Catamounts closed the deficit to seven with possession of the basketball, but a missed jumper by Boggs was capitalized on by UNI and Koch with a 3-pointer to push the margin back to double-digits where it would remain.

UNI outscored the Catamounts 32-to-10 in the paint and held a slim, 32-26, edge in rebounding overall.

Western Carolina (2-3) travels to South Padre Island, Texas, for two games in tournament play at the SPI Convention Center. The Catamounts face Northern Colorado at 3:30 pm on Friday, Nov. 25 and either Florida A&M or Southern in the second game on Saturday afternoon.