Chattanooga 74, Utah Valley 59
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (6-8) won their 14th Dr Pepper Classic title with a 74-59 win over Utah Valley (7-9) Friday night. Keegan Bell captured most valuable player honors leading UTC to the championship in the 22nd installment of the holiday tradition.
Bell had 15 points tonight with seven assists and four rebounds. He and his mates hit their first six shots in running out to an early lead. An Omar Wattad three-pointer at 4:22 in the first gave the Mocs a 29-18 advantage.
UVU battled back behind Holton Hunsaker. He hit two threes in the final minute-plus before the break to cut the UTC margin to just four, 30-26, at intermission.
Isiah Williams' three-pointer with 17:13 to go once again got the Wolverines within four, but that's as close as it would get. UTC methodically put the game away outscoring Utah Valley 36-21 over the next 13 minutes. The senior trio of Ricky Taylor (10, Brownsville, Tenn.), Wattad (8) and Bell (5) scored 23 of the 36.
Time and again, the Mocs answered whenever the Wolverines called. UVU did not go down without a fight. Geddes Robinson sparked a second half effort on the boards to keep it close. Robinson, who secured all-tourney honors, had 12 points and 11 rebounds, seven on the offensive end. The Wolverines posted 13 offensive rebounds in the second half, 14 for the game.
Wattad had a team-high 19 points making seven of 11 from the field including a five-for-nine performance beyond the arc. He made the all-tournament team along with Drazen Zlovaric who got his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for a second straight night. Taylor added 16 points and seven boards.
Hunsaker led all scorers with 21. Keith Thompson chipped in 12 points as he, Hunsaker and Robinson combined to shoot 16 of 33 from the field (.485), while their teammates were four-for-30 (.133).
For the second straight night, the Mocs were special in the second half. In the two Dr Pepper Classic first halves, UTC scored 62 points and shot 38.7 percent (24-62). After intermission, those numbers inflated to 59.6 percent (34-57) with 94 points tallied.
Tonight, Chattanooga shot 62.5 percent (15-24) after the break. More impressively, it was 11 of 14 (.786) inside the arc.
Darrion Pellum's 33 points led Hampton to an 82-79 win over Longwood in the consolation game. Pellum added seven rebounds and five assists. Antwan Carter paced the Lancers with 23 points and five rebounds. Both earned all-tournament status.
Richmond 78, UNCG 58
RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond closed the game on a 23-3 run en route to handing UNCG a 78-58 defeat, Friday at Robins Center.
With the game tied at 55-55, Richmond's Darien Brothers sparked the Spiders (9-6) by scoring 11 consecutive points including a trio of three-pointers, the last of which gave Richmond a 66-55 lead with 5:50 remaining.
A layup by Kendall Anthony and a dunk by Greg Robbins made it 70-55 with 4:28 to go before UNCG's Aloysius Henry temporarily stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws to pull the Spartans (2-12) to within 70-57 with 4:15 left. UNCG got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Richmond's closing run ruined an impressive second half start for the Spartans. Trailing 38-30 at halftime, UNCG scored the first 12 points of the half and grabbed a 42-38 lead on a three-pointer by Nicholas Paulos with 16:31 to play. Aiding UNCG's opening run was seven straight misses from the field by Richmond.
After a jumper by Trevis Simpson gave the Spartans a 44-40 advantage, Anthony single-handedly regained the lead for the Spiders by scoring their next 11 points as Richmond gained a 51-47 lead with 11:44 left.
But UNCG answered Anthony's spurt by scoring six straight points and taking a 53-51 lead on Derrell Armstrong's steal and fast-break dunk with 9:34 to go. But UNCG couldn't sustain its level of play as the Spartans suffered their ninth straight defeat.
Paulos led the Spartans with 12 points, his first double-figure scoring effort since a 25-point outing against Towson on Nov. 20. The freshman was 4-of-9 from three-point range. Simpson scored 11 but was just 4-of-18 from the floor.
Henry grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds to lead the Spartans.
Brothers led Richmond with 20 points, while Anthony added 17 off the bench. Darrius Sellers finished with nine points, 12 boards and six blocks.
UNCG shot just 35 percent from the field, but out-rebounded the Spiders, 46-35. Richmond shot 45 percent for the game, including 10-of-28 from 3-point range.
Miami 84, Appalachian State 54
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Miami (Fla.) used a 12-1 run near the end of the first half to break open a close game and went on to down Appalachian State University men's basketball, 84-54, on Friday evening at the BankUnited Center.
Appalachian (5-7) closed out the lion's share of its non-conference schedule with its fifth loss in six games and fell to 1-6 away from home this season.
Cold shooting was the primary culprit in Friday's loss. ASU, which came into the game shooting 43.8 percent for the season and made 52 percent of its shots in last Thursday's 77-74 home win over Campbell, was just 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the field on Friday, including an ice-cold 29 percent (9-of-31) in the first half.
Conversely, Miami (8-4) made 54.9 percent of its shots (28-of-51), including a blistering 60.9 percent (14-of-23) in the second half. The U also knocked down 7-of-16 three-pointers (43.8 percent), including 6-of-12 in the opening 20 minutes.
The Mountaineers opened strong, leading for much of the first eight minutes of the game and trailing just 19-16 with less than eight minutes to go before halftime. However, Miami scored 20 of the final 28 points of the opening period, including a back-breaking 12-1 run in the waning minutes of the half that gave Appalachian a 39-24 deficit going into the locker room.
ASU cut the deficit to 14 three minutes into the second half but the Hurricanes went on a 35-15 run over the next 15 minutes to stretch their lead to as large as 34 points.
Perhaps the lone bright spot for the Apps was the play of Andre Williamson. The junior forward was the only Mountaineer in double-figures with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. He also led ASU with seven rebounds and made what might have been the play of the season to date with a thunderous dunk following an authoritative drive down the lane early in the second half.
Freshman point guard Mike Neal nearly doubled a career-high with seven assists to lead an unselfish all-around effort that saw Appalachian dish out assists on 15 of its 20 field goals.
Durand Scott led five Hurricanes in double-figures with 17 points.
UNC Wilmington 72, Furman 61
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Freshman Adam Smith poured in 20 points and UNC Wilmington buried 8-of-14 chances from three-point range to down Furman, 72-61, in the final non-conference contest of the season for the Paladins on Friday evening at Trask Coliseum.
Furman, playing its final game of a four-game road trip, dropped to 6-7 on the season with its third consecutive defeat while the Seahawks improved to 4-7 on the year with a victory in the first ever meeting between the schools.
The Paladins fashioned a 15-8 lead on back-to-back baskets from Chris Toler and a Jordan Loyd bucket at the 12:53 mark before the Seahawks took control by outscoring Furman 32-10 over the remainder of the half to carry a 40-25 lead into intermission. Smith drained four first-half treys to score 18 of his 20 points in the opening 20 minutes as UNCW shot 7-of-11 beyond the arc in the period.
Senior Brandon Sebirumbi scored five points in the opening four minutes of the second half to help Furman trim the Seahawk lead to 46-34 with 16:00 to play, but UNCW answered with an 8-0 run to push its advantage to 54-34 on a pair of Trevor Deloach free throws with 12:35 remaining. The Paladins pulled with 12 points on three more occasions, but were unable to get any closer until David Brown buried a three-pointer with less than four second left for the final 11-point margin.
UNCW shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent from three-point range and committed just six turnovers on the night. The Seahawks outscored Furman 34-26 in the paint and converted 12 Furman turnovers into 13 points.
Tanner Milson joined Smith in double figures with 11 points while Keith Rendlemen netted nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. KK Simmons connected on 3-of-4 three-point attempts to add nine points.
Bryant Irwin and Charlie Reddick tallied 11 points apiece to lead four Paladins in double figures. Sebirumbi registered 10 points while Colin Reddick finished with 10 points and seven boards to match his brother for team-high rebounding honors.
Furman shot just 33.8 percent from the floor and connected on only 6-of-26 triples. The Paladins managed a 46-35 rebounding edge and converted on 11-of-15 trips to the foul line.
George Mason 84, College of Charleston 76
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Led by a career-high 35 points from Ryan Pearson, George Mason captured a 84-76 victory over College of Charleston in non-conference action held Friday night at TD Arena.
The Patriots (9-4, 1-0 CAA) halted the Cougars' (10-3, 2-0 SoCon) 15-game home-court winning streak which dated back to an 87-66 rout of crosstown rival The Citadel on Jan. 15, 2011.
Pearson shot 15-of-25 from the field to score the most points (35) by a single player against CofC this season. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and tallied the game's only double-double.
After a slow first half with only four points, senior Antwaine Wiggins finished with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds as he tried to rally the Cougars from an eight-point halftime deficit.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman tallied 15 points and freshman Adjehi Baru scored 12 points and brought down seven rebounds. Reserves Matt Sundberg and Anthony Stitt each turned in 10 points, while junior Andrew Lawrence scored seven points and dished six assists, but turned the ball over five times in the loss.
George Mason shot over 50 percent for the game (31-of-60) and made 8-of-16 three-pointers against the Cougars' zone defense. The Patriots also forced 13 turnovers and converted those into 25 points. CofC shot 26-of-60 from the field and just 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from three-point land.
The Cougars jumped out to leads of 8-2 and 19-12 in the first half, but the Patriots responded by forcing turnovers and shooting at a high clip from the three-point line.
George Mason went on a 9-0 run to gain a 21-19 advantage at the 11:06 minute mark and never trailed by more than one for the rest of the half, eventually leading 41-30. A pair of three-pointers from Sundberg broke CofC's shooting slump, but Mason led 46-38 at halftime.
After a jumper from Wiedeman and an offensive rebound and put back from Wiggins, the Cougars cut Mason's lead to 48-44 at the 16:48 minute mark of the second half. George Mason responded with baskets from Vertrail Vaughns and Erik Copes, but another offensive put back from Wiggin closed the margin within two, 54-52, with 12:53 left on the clock.
The Patriots were resilient, going on an 8-0 run, capped by two baskets from Pearson, to go back up 62-52. Mason responded to every Cougar basket over the next six minutes, before two three-pointers from Stitt electrified the crowd and made the margin just two points at 74-72 with 3:09 remaining in regulation.
Pearson found his range on the offensive end again, quickly quieting the sell-out crowd of 5,008 with two buckets to push the lead back to 78-72 with 1:49 left. Several long-range shots from CofC fell short in the final two minutes, and the Patriots emerged victorious, 84-76.
Auburn 78, Georgia Southern 75
AUBURN, Ala. - Georgia Southern closed 2011 with one of its best performances in a 78-75 loss to the Auburn Tigers on Friday night at the Auburn Arena. The Eagles led for large stretches of the game and carried a lead as late as 2:24 in the second half. The loss closes a four-game road swing as the Eagles return to Hanner Fieldhouse on Monday evening for a date with Brewton-Parker.
Senior Willie Powers III led all scorers with a season high 23 points to go with five assists. Sophomore Eric Ferguson scored 20 points to match his season high to go with a team-high six rebounds. He was 6-of-8 from the free throw stripe as the Eagles finished the night shooting 76.5 percent from the line.
Senior Ben Drayton III completed the trio of double figure scorers with 12 points with three steals. The Eagles shot a season-high 29-of-53 from the field. Georgia Southern scored 42 of its 75 points, outscoring Auburn by a deuce from inside.
The Eagles posted a season-low 11 turnovers on the night and only allowed two blocked shots for Auburn, off of their average of 6.0 blocks per game. Sophomores Jelani Hewitt and Tré Bussey each posted five points on the night while Marvin Baynham earned his third start of the season and had two points and four rebounds.
The Eagles carried a nine point advantage into the halftime break and led by as many as 14 in the opening period. Georgia Southern was spurred by 12 from Ferguson. The Eagles shot 16-of-25 from the field in the opening period for a 64.0% mark.
Auburn narrowed the gap to two points before Powers keyed the Eagles to a 10-point lead at 11:28 with 10-straight points of his own. Auburn closed the lead back to three points over the next five minutes.
The Tigers earned their first lead of the season half with 2:24 left in the game as Chris Denson made his only three-pointer of the night. The Eagles, however, would not be able to regain the lead as the Tigers opened up leads of three and four points as late as 12 seconds remaining. Powers drained a layup with six seconds left to cut the lead back to two points and a quick foul put the Tigers on the line.
Auburn's Frankie Sullivan made the first, but missed the second as Baynham grabbed the rebound. Drayton drew a foul with three seconds left and made both from the stripe and cut the lead to one point. The Tigers held serve on the other end as the Eagles set up for a Hail Mary play with 2.1 seconds left.
Freshman Chad Waddell delivered a perfect pass to fellow Freshman Tyrone Brown. The local product went for layup which was no good to cement the three-point loss.