Davidson 80, #12 Kansas 74
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Nik Cochran scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half to lead Davidson to an 80-74 men's basketball victory over No. 12 Kansas Monday night in the Sprint Center.
It was the Wildcats' first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 6 Wisconsin in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and the fourth victory over a ranked team in head coach Bob McKillop's tenure.
JP Kuhlman finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists for Davidson (7-3), and De'Mon Brooks scored 13 points. Jake Cohen netted 12 points.
Thomas Robinson led the Jayhawks (7-3) with 21 points and 18 rebounds, while Tyshawn Taylor tallied 15 points and seven assists. Elijah Johnson posted 15 points and six assists.
With Davidson leading by three with 1:33 left in the contest, Cochran drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to put the Wildcats ahead, 71-65.
Taylor missed a triple try on Kansas¹ trip down the floor and the Jayhawks were forced to foul with 1:16 to play. Cochran and Kuhlman went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe for the rest of the game to seal the win.
The score was tied 55-55 with 6:33 remaining, when Kuhlman sparked a 7-1 mini run with a jumper and then nailed a triple from the corner. Cohen capped the stretch with a layup off a feed from Tom Droney to put Davidson up six points.
Robinson got a conventional 3-point play for the Jayhawks, but Cohen answered with another layup, this time off a Kuhlman assist, making the score 64-59 with 3:40 left. Travis Releford got a tip-in on Kansas¹ trip down the floor, and Davidson called a timeout to set up a play. Cochran was fouled on a backdoor cut and calmly sank both free throws, pushing the margin back to five.
Taylor hit a jumper for the Jayhawks, and after each team had an empty offensive possession, Droney was fouled and sank two free throws. Taylor knocked down two free throws on the other end to make the margin 68-65 with 2:07 remaining and set up Cochran¹s late-game heroics.
Brooks scored seven points as Davidson jumped out to a 9-3 lead early in the game. The margin grew to as many as 11 on a Chris Czerapowicz triple with 7:08 left in the half.
Trailing 26-15, Kansas scored 13 consecutive points and took its first and only lead of the game on a Conner Teahan 3-pointer with 3:40 to play. But Kuhlman helped Davidson right the ship with three straight baskets, and the OCats led 33-32 at halftime. Davidson, which finished the game with 12 turnovers, committed all 12 in the first half.
#5 Duke 90, UNCG 63
DURHAM, N.C. - Three players scored in double figures and UNCG led for much of the first half but No. 5 Duke proved too much as the Spartans suffered a 90-63 setback, Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Kyle Randall led UNCG with 12 points, while Derrell Armstrong had 11 and Aaron Brackett chipped in with 10 points.
UNCG (2-10) frustrated the Blue Devils (10-1) for most of the first half, holding Duke to just two field goals in the first nine minutes. Armstrong capped a 9-3 run with a layup at the11:58 mark to give UNCG a 16-11 lead.
Duke briefly regained the lead when Mason Plumlee's jumper with 9:32 left in the half made it 17-16. But the Spartans didn't go away. Back-to-back jumpers by Brackett and a three-pointer by Randall made it 24-21 with 7:31 left before halftime.
But the Blue Devils slowly regained control of the game in the final five minutes. After Ryan Kelly gave the Blue Devils a 25-24 with a pair of free throws at the 6:50 mark, Duke closed the half by out-scoring the Spartans 20-10 and taking a 45-34 lead into the break.
The Blue Devils pulled away early in the second half, taking their first 20-point lead of the night when a jumper by Quinn Cook made it 59-38 with 12:51 to go.
Duke eventually led by as many as 35 points (80-45) before settling for the final margin. The Blue Devils shot 59 percent from the field in the second half, while holding the Spartans to 35 percent over the final 20 minutes.
The Spartans shot 41 percent for the game, and were just 11-of-22 from the free throw line. UNCG forced the Blue Devils into 18 turnovers and picked up 10 steals. David Williams led the Spartans with four thefts.
Duke ended up shooting 54 percent for the game, including a 10-of-21 from three-point range. The Blue Devils out-rebounded UNCG, 46-27.
Mason Plumlee led Duke with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Cook and Austin Rivers each scored 14.
James Madison 67, The Citadel 69
Harrisonburg, Va. - Citadel junior Mike Groselle posted his seventh double-double of the season, 11 points and 11 rebounds, but it was James Madison that emerged with the decisive 67-49 victory on Monday evening at the JMU Convocation Center. Groselle was joined in scoring by teammates Lawrence Miller (eight points) and Bo Holston (seven points).
The Citadel (2-8) was unable to find consistency in their shooting, hitting 19-of-53 (.358) from the floor and 6-of-21 from 3-point range. The one bright spot came in the form of rebounding, as the Bulldogs tallied 30 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive glass. Groselle was one of five Cadets to post an offensive rebound, finishing with six. Meanwhile, the tandem of Holston and Miller gave the Dogs a 23-18 edge in bench scoring.
James Madison (5-3) took advantage of 27-for-52 (.519) shooting, which included eight 3-pointers, to win their fourth game in their last five contests. Humpty Hitchens and Julius Wells scored 12 points apiece for game-high honors, while Andrey Semenov poured in 11 points. The trio was responsible for all eight Duke 3-pointers, as Wells and Semenov hit three each. Wells posted seven rebounds, while Semenov added six to give JMU a 33-30 edge on the glass. Hutchens and teammate Devon Moore were the catalysts to the offense with four assists each.
The Dukes scored the first five points, on conversions by Semenov and Alioune Diouf, within 1:07 of the second half to mount a 39-21 lead. Barry Smith answered with a Citadel free throw before teammate Ashton Moore drained a 3-pointer to pull the Dogs within 39-25 at the 17:09 mark.
JMU's offense answered with a brief 11-4 run that spanned the next 3:46 of the contest, which included 3-pointers by Wells, Hitchens and Semenov to make for the 50-29 lead.
The Citadel bounced back with a Marshall Harris III free throw and five straight points by fellow freshman C.J. Bray to pull within 52-35 at the 8:24 mark.
Four points apiece from Groselle and Cosmo Morabbi were not enough to keep James Madison from maintaining its double-digit lead, 62-43, as Diouf and Davis combined for 10 points for the Dukes.
The Dukes allowed just six Citadel points over the final 3:26 of the contest, which were split evenly between Groselle and Holston, as they completed the 67-49 victory.
The Bulldogs managed just 8-of-28 (.286) shooting in the opening half, knocking down 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. The backcourt combination of Miller and Wright, who closed with eight and six points respectively, were the offensive leaders for The Citadel. Groselle manned the boards with five rebounds, including two offensive, as the Dogs scored three second chance points.
Meanwhile, James Madison closed the frame by hitting 14-of-28 (.500) from the floor, also 4-of-10 from 3-point range. Hitchens led all scorers with nine points at the intermission, followed by Moore (8 points) and Wells (6 points). The Dukes finished with an 18-14 edge on the glass behind five rebounds from Wells.
James Madison established an early 9-0 lead behind five points by Hitchens, holding the Cadets scoreless until the 14:10 mark when Groselle dunked a Smith pass.
Just under two minutes later Harris III floated a jump shot from just outside the lane to make for the 13-4 JMU advantage.
At the 10:46 mark of the first half, Miller scored the first of two 3-pointers as he singlehandedly drew The Citadel within 19-12 of the lead with eight consecutive points.
James Madison responded with a jumper by Hitchens and a 3-pointer off the hand of Semenov to stretch the lead to 24-12 with 7:15 remaining.
Wright regained his shooting touch for The Citadel, knocking down a series of 3-pointers over a 1:08 span to trim the Dukes advantage to 26-18.
James Madison closed out the half on an 8-3 run, including four points by Moore, to take a 34-21 into the locker room. The Citadel countered with two points from Holston and a free throw by Jordan Robertson in that stretch.
South Alabama 70, Georgia Southern 57
MOBILE, Ala. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball came up short on Monday evening against South Alabama, falling 70-57 to the Jaguars. The Eagles rallied from a 13-point deficit at half time, but could not get closer than eight points in the second stanza.
Willie Powers III paced the Eagles (3-6, 2-0 SoCon) with a season high 16 points despite posting just one assist on the night. He was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line as the Eagles went 23-29 (79.3%) from the stripe as a squad, with 19 coming in the second half.
Senior Ben Drayton III reached double figures with 11 points and added a team-high five assists. Sophomore Jelani Hewitt had nine points in the contest with five rebounds.
South Alabama (7-3) was led by a pair of double-doubles from Antione Lundy and Augustine Rubit. Lundy scored 16 with 12 rebounds while Rubit posted 17 points and 10 boards. The Jaguars as a team out-rebounded the Eagles 42-28 on the night with 26 on the defensive glass.
Eric Ferguson scored less than 10 points for the first time this season with eight and Tre Bussey posted seven points. Top rebounding honors went to Marvin Baynham with six as he led the Eagles for the first time this season.
Georgia Southern trailed by 13 points at the intermission after leading by as many as four in the opening minutes of the first half. The Jaguars strung the advantage to 16 by the 16:55 mark before the Eagles started chipping away at the lead.
The Eagles cut the lead to eight points on numerous occasions, but could not get past that mark. The task was made tougher by the fact that the Eagles went over 10 minutes in the second half without a field goal despite scoring 12 free throws over the stretch.
Georgia Southern was dominated in the paint, trailing 38-8 in the lane and saw the Jaguars score 23 second chance points on the night. USA took advantage of 16 Georgia Southern turnovers for 22 points to the Eagles' 11 off 17 Jaguar miscues.