South Carolina 57, Wofford 45
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team was defeated 57-45 by South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday night. The difference in the contest was three pointers, as the Gamecocks hit eleven on the night, including five from Bruce Ellington, and the Terriers were held to only 5-of-19 from behind the arc.
Wofford is now 7-6 on the season, while South Carolina is 6-6 overall. Wofford was led by Karl Cochran with 12 points and Kevin Giltner with ten points. Drew Crowell was the leading rebounder with seven. The Gamecocks were led by Bruce Ellington with 17 points as he was 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Damien Leonard added 14 points, including four three pointers. Anthony Gill had eight rebounds.
The Gamecocks scored the first six points of the game, all on dunks, before a lay-up by Karl Cochran at 15:21 made it a 6-2 game. Kevin Giltner hit a three, but Damien Leonard answered with a three and it was 10-6 at the twelve minute mark of the first half. A three by Brad Loesing cut the lead to 10-9 at 9:45 on the clock.
Wofford took an 11-10 lead after a bucket by Kevin Giltner and the Terriers had a 15-13 advantage at 7:13 after a lay-up by Brad Loesing. Wofford pushed the lead to 17-13 with a bucket by Aerris Smith, but Bruce Ellington hit a three to make it a 17-16 game with 6:41 left in the first half. With under three minutes to go, the Gamecocks regained the lead at 21-19 on a three by R.J. Slawson. Bruce Ellington added back-to-back three pointers for a 27-20 advantage with 45 seconds on the clock. At the half, the Gamecocks had a 29-21 lead.
After South Carolina hit a bucket to open the second half, Kevin Giltner hit a jumper which began a 9-0 run for the Terriers and it was a 31-30 game with 16:12 on the clock. The Gamecocks scored the next seven points to push the lead back to 38-30 at 13:35. Wofford then scored the next four points for a 38-34 score with 8: 53 remaining in the half. Bruce Ellington and Karl Cochran then traded three pointers for a 41-37 game a minute later.
South Carolina pushed the lead back to 46-37 before a three by Kevin Giltner with 6:20 left in the half. After a jumper by Drew Crowell, the score was 49-43 with 4:29 on the clock. The Gamecocks took a 52-43 lead after a three by Damien Leonard with 3:21 left in the second half. South Carolina added another three by Bruce Ellington on the way to a 57-45 final score.
The Terriers shot 36.0% from the floor for the evening, while South Carolina shot 44.4 percent overall. Wofford finished 5-19 from behind the arc. The Gamecocks went 11-20 from three. Wofford was 4-of-10 from the free throw line, while South Carolina went 6-of-10 from the charity stripe. Wofford held a 34-26 rebounding margin.
Sam Houston State 74, Samford 58
HUNTSVILLE, Texas --- The Samford University basketball team suffered its first loss in the state of Texas since Nov. 28, 2009 on Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped a 74-58 decision against the Sam Houston State Bearkats in a nonconference matchup held at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
In the setback, Samford (3-8) committed a season-high 25 turnovers and only shot 29.4 percent from 3-point range. The defeat proved to be the Bulldogs' first loss in Texas since a 74-53 decision at Texas Tech in 2009.
Sam Houston State (5-8) scored 28 of its 74 points from the free-throw line Wednesday as Samford was whistled for a season-high 29 personal fouls. In the second half alone, the Bearkats notched 20 of their 35 points from the charity stripe.
Despite trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, Samford rallied early in the second period to trim Sam Houston State's advantage to 47-43 with 11:47 left to play. During the Bulldogs' run, Jeffrey Merritt scored on a runner in the lane, Tyler Hood and Devin McNeil both knocked down deep 3-point baskets and Drew Windler buried a pair of free throws.
Samford's Kaylin Johnson and Merritt also went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to cut the Bearkats' advantage to 47-43.
Immediately following the Bulldogs' 12-3 scoring stretch, Sam Houston State's Steven Werner connected on a pair of free throws and Demarcus Gatlin scored five straight points to lift his squad to a 54-43 lead. A majority of the Bearkats' scoring in the second half came from the free-throw line, including 14 straight from the 5:01 mark in the game until Samford's final foul at 1:47.
Sam Houston State finished Wednesday's game with three players scoring in double figures. Gatlin led all scorers with 20 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. The Bearkats' sophomore guard also turned in a 10-of-13 outing from the free-throw line and played 34 minutes.
Darius Gatson and Marcus James followed with 17 and 10 points for Sam Houston State, respectively. James nearly finished with a double-double by adding eight points, while Gatson handed out five assists and registered three steals.
Samford was led in scoring Wednesday by true freshman Brandon Hayman. Hayman, the Bulldogs' athletic guard from Braselton, Ga., went 4-of-7 from the field and knocked down a key 3-point field goals in only 18 minutes of game action. Fellow true freshman McNeil followed with nine points, while Merritt and Hood each tallied eight points apiece.
Rounding out Samford's top scorers were Matthew Friday and Windler with seven points.
The Bulldogs outscored the Bearkats 36-35 in the second half of play, but couldn't overcome their 17-point, first-half deficit.
At the half, Sam Houston State held a 39-22 lead over the Bulldogs. Samford only shot 37.5 percent from the field in the opening period and turned in a 25-percent outing (2-of-8) from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs' leading scorer in the first half was Friday with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. Samford's 6-foot-8 senior from Grapevine, Texas, also knocked down a 3-point basket and tallied a rebound, assist and blocked shot. True freshmen Hayman and McNeil both followed with four points apiece.
Sam Houston State opened the game with an 8-2 lead and increased its advantage to 26-14 at the seven-minute mark in the first half.
Samford trimmed the Bearkats' early lead to 27-17 with a 3-point play from Hood, but Sam Houston State closed out the opening 20 minutes of play with a four-point possession to head into the locker room with its 39-22 advantage. The Bearkats' were led in scoring in the first half by Gatlin's nine points. He finished the period 2-of-6 from the field, but took advantage of four free throws.
The Bulldogs committed a season-high 25 turnovers Wednesday, surpassing their previous total of 20 turnovers in a 71-69 victory at UT Arlington on Nov. 27. Heading into its game with Sam Houston State, Samford was averaging 14.6 miscues per outing.
The Bearkats were able to capitalize on Samford's turnovers and outscored the Bulldogs 30-8 in points off turnovers. Samford outshot Sam Houston State, 48.8 percent to 40.8 percent, and out-rebounded the Bearkats 33-27, but the Bulldogs' miscues proved to be too much to overcome.
Western Carolina 86, UNC Asheville 67
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Redshirt senior Harouna Mutombo posted a double-double with 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to pace four Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina surged past mountain-rival UNC Asheville, 86-67, Wednesday night in nonconference action in the Ramsey Center.
Mutombo scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, recording his seventh-straight, double-digit scoring outing and sixth career double-double. Sophomore Brandon Boggs got the Catamounts off to a strong start with 14 first half points, finishing with 17 including a pair of 3-pointers. Both Boggs and Mutombo dished out four assists apiece.
Senior Keaton Cole came off the bench to score 13 points for the Catamounts. The Toronto, Ontario, native continued his solid shooting from beyond the arc, draining three 3-pointers to stretch his streak of three-or-more treys in a game to seven-straight.
Sophomore Ishmael Hollis recorded his first career double-digit scoring outing with 10 points, making his second career start - both coming in the past two games. Trey Sumler, who was saddled with early foul trouble, and Tom Tankelewicz both finished with eight points in the win with Tankelewicz recorded his career-high off the bench while Sumler also added four assists.
WCU (7-6) used a 14-to-0 run in the first half to take a double-digit lead in the opening 20 minutes. The Catamounts stretched the advantage to as many as 18 in the opening stanza on a Cole 3-pointer from the left wing, and carried a 15-point cushion at 40-25 into the halftime locker room.
All told, the Catamounts rallied from an early 9-7 deficit with a 26-to-7 run to build a 33-16 lead with 3:50 remaining before the half.
The Bulldogs chipped away at WCU's lead early in the second half, trimming the deficit to nine, 44-35, just over three minutes into the final frame. However, with every UNCA run, the Catamounts had an answer. The closest the Bulldogs were able to pull was eight points on three separate occasions.
Matt Dickey led UNCA with a game-high 23 points including 14 in the first half. Jeremy Atkinson added 16 points and Chris Stephenson recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Guard J.P. Primm, who scored 26 points in last year's 85-79 overtime game between the two, was held to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.