Vanderbilt 87, Davidson 83
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Vanderbilt forward Jeffery Taylor scored 30 points, and guard John Jenkins added 22 to lead the Commodores to an 87-83 men's basketball victory over Davidson Wednesday night in Belk Arena.
De'Mon Brooks led the Wildcats (6-2) with 24 points and nine rebounds, scoring 18 of his total in the second half. Jake Cohen added 18 points and seven rebounds, converting on 10-of-11 free throws. JP Kuhlman scored 13, and Chris Czerapowicz scored 10.
Festus Ezeli, playing in his first game of the season after suffering a knee injury in late October, recorded 15 points and six rebounds for Vanderbilt (6-3), and Brad Tinsley collected eight points and five rebounds.
Davidson trimmed an 18-point Commodore second-half lead down to seven points after a Brooks 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:49 left. After Clint Mann got a steal for the Wildcats, Kuhlman added a 3-pointer from the wing, making the margin 81-77.
Kuhlman got a steal on Vandy's next possession, and Mann was fouled on Davidson's trip down the floor. The junior missed both free throws, and Ezeli tipped in a Jenkins' miss on Vandy¹s possession to make the lead six with 43 seconds left.
The teams traded free throws until Tinsley was fouled with eight seconds left and Vandy ahead 86-83. The senior made the second of two free throws to ice the game.
Leading by eight points early in the second half, the Commodores used a 14-4 run to open the 18-point cushion with 7:59 remaining. Taylor scored six points during the stretch.
Davidson, which entered the game third in the country in team free-throw percentage, finished the game at an 80 percent clip (24-of-30). The Wildcats struggled from beyond the 3-point arc, however, making five of their 22 attempts and hitting one of their first 17.
Each team led by as many as eight in the first half with the Wildcats opening up their largest advantage of the contest at 16-8 on a Tom Droney driving layup with 12:27 remaining in the period.
With the game tied 21-21, Jenkins scored the last five points in a 10-2 Vandy spurt that opened its eight-point cushion with 4:41 left in the half.
Davidson opens a three-game road trip at Charlotte Saturday at 7 p.m. in Halton Arena.
Mercer 83, Samford 78 (OT)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team finished with four players scoring in double figures Wednesday, but only received 13 points from the remaining six Bulldogs in a hard-fought 83-78 overtime loss to the Mercer Bears in a nonconference showdown held at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford (1-6) received 65 of its 78 points from the combination of Tyler Hood, Drew Windler, Jeffrey Merritt and Will Cook.
Merritt and Cook both sparked the Bulldogs' offensive attack with 17 points apiece, while Windler added 16 and Hood tied his career-high with 15 points. Windler, Samford's 6-foot-9 center from South Milwaukee, Wis., provided the heroics at the end of regulation as he knocked down two key 3-pointers in the final minutes to send the game into overtime.
With 45 seconds remaining and the Bulldogs trailing, 73-70, Windler connected on a deep 3-point basket from the top of the key to even the game at 73-73.
Late in the contest, Samford had possession with 29 seconds remaining in the game. On the Bulldogs' final play of regulation, true freshman Devin McNeil was looking for Windler down the post, but overthrew the pass and turned the ball over. Mercer's Justin Cecil missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
"Both Devin and Raijon (Kelly) committed some costly turnovers for us tonight and those were just a couple of plays that turned the game," Tillette said. "I thought that we made progress. We got better, but we need to continue to improve. We need to play hard just to have an opportunity. If we don't play hard, then we don't have any opportunity to win."
In overtime, Mercer (6-3) outscored Samford, 10-5, to take the final 83-78 victory. The Bears scored the first seven points in overtime and were boosted by six points from Langston Hall in the extra period. Hall led Mercer in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field.
Samford's Windler recorded the first double-double of his career with 16 points and a personal-best 11 rebounds.
Purdue 65, Western Carolina 60
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Balanced scoring and a strong defensive effort in the first half led Western Carolina to an eight-point edge halfway through Wednesday night's nonconference tilt with Purdue. However, a 10-0 spurt out of the halftime locker room by the Boilermakers erased the Catamounts' edge and Purdue held off upset-minded WCU for a 65-60 win at Mackey Arena.
WCU limited Purdue to just 23 percent (7-of-30) shooting over the open 20 minutes, while also holding the Boilermakers to their fewest first half points of the season with a 29-21 edge. Purdue, which has won 23-straight home games, outscored the Catamounts, 44-to-31, in the second half en route to the victory.
Redshirt senior Harouna Mutombo led three Catamounts in double figures with his first double-double of the season, tallying 18 points for the third-straight game and adding a career-high tying 12 rebounds. The Pickering, Ontario, native finished with eight points from the free throw line and paced the squad with three steals. Redshirt sophomore Trey Sumler and senior Keaton Cole both recorded 15 points apiece, both draining three, 3-pointers. Sumler added eight boards including three on the offensive end, while Cole dished out three assists.
Catamount second leading scorer, sophomore Brandon Boggs, was limited to five points on just 17 minutes of court time, battling on-going foul trouble before being disqualified with his fifth at the 11 minute mark of the second half.
Preseason All-America selection Robbie Hummel led the Boilermakers with 19 points, adding seven rebounds and four assists. Lewis Jackson chipped in 15 points including nine from the charity stripe. Ryne Smith added nine points on three made 3-pointers, finishing 3-of-7 as a part of the team's collective 6-of-18 (33.3%).
Trailing by five, 11-6, WCU outscored Purdue 21-to-9 including five-straight points to initially tie the game at 11 in the opening stanza to take a seven-point lead, 27-20, with two minutes to play until the break. Sumler then hit his patented mid-range floating jumper as time expired on the first half clock to give the Catamounts the 29-21 edge at halftime.
WCU's eight-point edge over Purdue at the half marked the largest intermission deficit of the season for the Boilermakers.
However, out of the halftime locker room, Purdue scored the first 10 points while holding WCU off the scoreboard until just before the 15 minute mark to reclaim the lead, 31-29. During the Boilers' run, WCU missed all four shots it attempted while also committing four costly turnovers that prevented the squad from even getting a look at the basket to try and stop the run.
Mutombo made 1-of-2 free throws at the 15:08 mark for WCU's first points of the second half. A Sumler 3-pointer off a feed by Cole gave the Catamounts a short-lived advantage at 37-35, but an Anthony Johnson lay-up at the 10:39 mark handed the Boilermakers the lead for what proved to be for good.
Purdue (8-2) twice stretched its lead to nine points, doing so on a Hummel 3-pointer with three minutes remaining on the clock. But Sumler answered with a trey at the other end as WCU continued to claw. The Catamounts would scratch back within four points three times inside the final minute but could get no closer as Purdue held on from the free throw line.
The Catamounts held their own on the glass on Wednesday night, matching Purdue's 39 rebounds including 17 offensive boards as compared to 18 by the home squad. Neither squad was able to manage a double-digit lead with WCU leading by eight at intermission and the Boilermakers taking a nine-point edge in the second half.