Davidson 72, Wofford 69
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Jake Cohen and De'MonBrooks combined for 49 points, and Davidson went 19-for-24 from the free throw line en route to a 72-69 victory over Wofford in the Southern Conference men's basketball opener for both teams Thursday night in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Cohen led Davidson (5-1, 1-0 SoCon) with a season-high 26 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and hitting 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, while also adding five rebounds and two blocks. Brooks scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting (2-of-3 three-pointers) and pulled in six boards. JP Kuhlman also had six rebounds and added nine points.
Wofford (3-4, 0-1 SoCon) held the edge in shooting, hitting 52.7 percent (29-for-55) of its shots from the field to the Wildcats' 47.1 percent (24-for-51), but Davidson sank 19 free throws to Wofford¹s seven. Cohen led Davidson at the line by hitting 8-of-9 attempts.
The Terriers had four scores in double figures, with Drew Crowell leading the way with 17 points. Karl Cochran had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Kevin Giltner also had 15 points. Brad Loesing scored 13 points and led the team with five assists.
The score was tied at 51-51 with 9:16 remaining, but a pair of free throws from Brooks gave Davidson a lead it would not relinquish. The Wildcats' lead grew no larger than six points and the Terriers cut it down to just one point five times, but the OCats were able to remain on top.
Cochran fed the ball inside to Crowell for a layup with 47 seconds remaining to bring the Terriers back within one, but Brooks was able to slash baseline and score at the other end with 14 seconds remaining to extend the lead to three. Crowell shot a three-ball in the final seconds, but the shot went off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Davidson held a one-point lead at halftime after Brooks scored with a minute remaining. Davidson led by as much as nine with 9:25 remaining in the first stanza, but Cochran keyed an 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers to make to leave theOCats with just a 20-19 lead with 7:29 to go in the frame. The teams traded baskets before Wofford built a lead as large as four points with 2:57 to go before the break, but Davidson finished the half on a 6-1 run for a 34-33 advantage.
Wofford came out of the gates strong with a 6-0 run, forcing Davidson to take an early timeout. The Terriers' advantage grew as large as six points with 15:19 remaining after Giltner sank a three-ball, but Davidson was able to tie the game at 48-48 with 11:44 remaining with a 10-4 run, led by a pair of Cohen layups and two free throws. Cochran scored the next basket for a 50-48 Wofford lead, but it was the last lead the Terriers would hold.
Appalachian State 78, UNCG 64
BOONE, N.C. - Senior Omar Carter broke out of a scoring slump with a season-high 24 points to lead Appalachian State University men's basketball to a 78-64 win over visiting UNCG in the Southern Conference opener on Thursday night at the Holmes Center.
Carter shot 9-of-15 from the field and matched a career high with 12 rebounds to notch his first double-double of the young season. He added three assists and a 5-of-6 mark from the free-throw line.
The Mountaineers (4-2, 1-0 SoCon) shot 49.1 percent from the field and matched a season high with 10 three-pointers in 22 attempts. The Appalachian defense held the Spartans (2-5, 0-1) to just 31.3 percent shooting and a 5-of-18 mark from beyond the arc.
Isaac Butts scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and added seven rebounds as ASU's second leading scorer. The big man played a season-high 34 minutes and notched a block and an assist.
Appalachian fell behind in the rebound category, 22-11, at halftime before attacking the glass at both ends of the floor after the intermission to end the game with a 41-40 lead. G.J. Vilarino and Andre Williamson hauled in six boards each to give the Apps a balanced effort on the boards.
Williamson battled early foul trouble to score seven points and swat four shots for a second game in a row. The senior added two assists and a steal. Vilarino dished out four of ASU's 16 assists in the contest and added four points in the win.
Appalachian's solid all-around effort led to a 24-9 advantage in bench points, as three reserve players recorded double-figure minutes. Rodney Milum found his stroke from downtown, scoring all nine of his points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep.
Tab Hamilton notched eight points, including a pair of three-pointers as well as two rebounds and a steal. Mike Neal added four assists of his own to accompany seven points and a pair of rebounds off the bench.
Appalachian fought back from an early seven-point deficit with a 10-point run and eventually worked up to a 10-point halftime lead at 43-33. The Apps also battled early foul trouble as Williamson and Jamaal Trice each picked up two early and combined for just 15 minutes in the opening frame. Trice scored nine points with two rebounds and a block in 19 minutes on the court.
UNCG cut the Mountaineer lead down to five points on two occasions early in the second half before the Apps used a set of runs to regain a comfortable lead at 16 points with three minutes to play.
Aaron Brackett and Trevis Simpson led UNCG with 17 points each. The Spartans converted 19 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points and scored 18 points off of 17 ASU turnovers.
Georgia Southern 84, Chattanooga 76
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Chattanooga Mocs dropped an 84-76 decision in its Southern Conference opener at Georgia Southern in Hanner Fieldhouse. UTC saw its furious late comeback fall short in the end.
Ricky Taylor scored 12 of his team-high 16 in the second half. Ten of the 12 came in a three-minute spurt that saw the Mocs cut a 16-point deficit to six just inside a minute to play.
Taylor started his run off a nice feed from Omar Wattad with 3:44 left to make it 72-58. Tre Bussey responded for GSU, but the Mocs began to pick up momentum as Taylor drained his first three-pointer of the game on UTC"s next possession.
Back-to-back layups by Keegan Bell and Lance Stokes cut it to six as Stokes' basket made it 80-74 with 49 seconds remaining. Down eight, 82-74, after two Willie Powers free throws, the Mocs' Dontay Hampton had his three-pointer waved off after an official called him for being out of bounds upon receiving the pass. The Eagles held on for the eight-point win from there.
Wattad and Drazen Zlovaric each added 11 points for Chattanooga. One positive was the play from the bench which out-scored its counterparts 31-15. Stokes had eight, Hampton seven and Ronrico White six in leading the reserves.
GSU was led by Jelani Hewitt and Ben Drayton with 20 points apiece. Eric Ferguson added 17 points with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
It was a nip-and-tuck game early until a 6-0 mini-run gave the Eagles a 27-18 lead on a Drayton layup at 8:08. The Mocs answered with a 9-2 run of their own as Hampton scored all seven of his points over a 1:12 stretch to slice the lead to two at 5:34.
Hewitt and Drayton combined for three three-pointers in the last four-plus minutes to send Georgia Southern into the break with an 11-point cushion, 42-31. Early in the second half the Mocs tried to make runs only to see the Eagles answer.
Both teams shot impressively from the floor. Chattanooga had a season-best 50 percent shooting night making 62.1 percent (18-29) in the second stanza. The Eagles' 51.7 percent performance was a season-high by an opponent with 11 three-pointers made, six by Hewitt in eight attempts.
The Mocs were beat 35-30 on the boards despite Chris Early's game-high seven. GSU claimed 13 on the offensive end resulting in 19 second chance points. Fourteen of the 19 second chance tallies came in the first half.
College of Charleston 83, The Citadel 64
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston used a career-and game-high 22 points from sophomore big man Trent Wiedeman to take an 83-64 victory over The Citadel in both team's Southern Conference opener on Thursday night in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,101 at TD Arena.
The Cougars improved to 6-1, 1-0 on the season, while The Citadel fell to 2-4, 0-1. They have now won the last three-straight meetings in the crosstown rivalry series with the Bulldogs.
Wiedeman shot 11-of-16 from the field and corralled 10 rebounds for his sixth career double-double and second of the season. Senior Antwaine Wiggins scored 20 points for the fourth time this year, while junior Andrew Lawrence netted 14 points while dishing seven assists and pulling down five rebounds.
The Bulldogs were led by Mike Groselle who scored 20 points and pulled 19 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass. Three other Bulldogs scored in double figures as Barry Smith, C.J. Bray and Ashton Moore each contributed 10.
Both teams started the game on shooting droughts with only four combined field goals made in the first four minutes of the contest. The Bulldogs built their largest lead of the first half with a three-pointer from Moore to make it 13-9.
However, the Cougars quickly responded with two three-pointers from redshirt junior Matt Sundberg off the bench and a jumper from Lawrence to take a 17-15 lead at the 12:06 minute mark. After trading buckets for several minutes, the Cougars went on an 8-2 run punctuated by a Lawrence-to-Wiggins finish on the fast break to lead, 34-27.
The Citadel went on a 6-0 run of its own, but CofC responded with a 7-0 run to finish the half leading 41-33, as Lawrence found Wiggins for a layup at the buzzer.
The Bulldogs never pulled closer than their halftime margin of eight points throughout the second half of play. CofC built its biggest lead of 21 with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.
The Cougars shot 51.4 percent in the second half and finished the game at 50 percent from the floor. For the game, the CofC defense forced The Citadel to commit an opponent season-high 21 turnovers and converted those into 22 points. The Cougars were especially effective in the paint, scoring 34 points on 30-of-46 shooting from inside the three-point arc.
Western Carolina 75, Samford 71
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team trailed by as many as eight points Thursday in its Southern Conference opener against the Western Carolina Catamounts, but battled back to take a five-point lead with 9:17 to play in the game, 50-45, before coming up short in a 75-71 decision held at home in the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford (1-4, 0-1 SoCon) suffered its first conference-opening loss in three seasons and dropped to 2-6 in its all-time series with Western Carolina (4-4, 1-0 SoCon).
The Bulldogs were buoyed Thursday by career-high performances from sophomore center Drew Windler and true freshman guard Devin McNeil. The pair combined to score 39 points as 64 of Samford's 71 total points were scored by underclassmen.
Windler, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-9 native of South Milwaukee, Wis., used an impressive array of post moves to score a career-high 20 points Thursday. He also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and added two 3-point baskets, a pair of blocked shots and a steal. Windler proved to be a key contributor for Samford in the first half and led the team with 12 points at the intermission.
McNeil, a member of the Bulldogs' up-and-coming freshman class and home-grown native of Birmingham, finished Thursday's contest with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. McNeil came off the bench to play a team-high 31 minutes and tallied three rebounds, three assists and a trio of 3-point baskets.
Western Carolina used a balanced attack Thursday to register its second straight victory. The Catamounts finished the SoCon opener with four players scoring in double figures and were paced by 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from leading scorer Harouna Mutombo.
Mutombo, who is the nephew of former NBA great Dikembe Mutombo, played 36 minutes and added five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. He scored 11 of his 18 points down the stretch in the second half to spark Western Carolina's comeback.
Following an acrobatic back-door layup from Tyler Hood and a 3-point basket from Will Cook with 9:17 remaining in Thursday's game, Samford held a 50-45 advantage over the Catamounts. Western Carolina then used a 3-point play from Mutombo, as well as a dunk and a layup from Trey Sumler to take a 55-54 lead with 7:34 left in the game.
The Catamounts would continue their streaky shooting to take a late 66-59 advantage, but then Samford countered with a deep 3-pointer from McNeil, a free throw from Windler and a driving layup from McNeil to cut Western Carolina's lead to 66-65 with 1:47 to play.
On the Catamounts' ensuing possession, with the shot clock winding down, senior guard Keaton Cole knocked down his team-high fourth 3-point field goal of the game to lift his squad to a 69-65 advantage. Cole, a native of Toronto, Ontario, finished with 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field.
Following Cole's momentum-shifting 3-pointer with 1:10 left to play, Samford would get no closer than four points, 75-71, as McNeil knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from half court.
Samford's Cook chipped in with 12 points, five rebounds and four 3-point baskets Thursday, while Western Carolina's Brandon Boggs tallied 17 points and six rebounds in a game-high 39 minutes of playing time. The Catamounts' Sumler tallied a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He also finished 11-for-12 from the free-throw line.
As a team, Western Carolina shot 20-of-28 from the charity stripe for a 71.4 shooting percentage. Samford turned in a 14-of-22 outing, which was good for a 63.6-percent mark.