Western Carolina 85, Samford 63
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Richie Gordon and Harouna Mutombo both scored 16 points while backcourt mates Mike Williams and Trey Sumler recorded 14 apiece as Western Carolina cruised past Samford, 85-63, on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center.
Gordon added four rebounds including three on the offensive end while Mutombo pulled down a game-high eight boards with three assists for the Catamounts who won their second game in as many days. Williams and Sumler combined for 13 of WCU's season-high tying 19 assists, doling out seven and six helpers, respectively.
Senior Blake Gallagher came off the bench to score six on 3-for-3 shooting while freshman Preston Ross also added six points as a reserve.
Including three made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, Western Carolina (13-13, 9-5 SoCon) connected on its first five field goal attempts in pulling out to a double-digit lead inside the opening two and a half minutes on Saturday afternoon. With the Catamount advantage at 13-2, back-to-back buckets by the Bulldogs trimmed the margin to seven, 13-6, at the 14:52 mark of the first half. But as it would turn out, that would be as close as Samford would get the remainder of the contest.
The Catamounts used a 14-to-2 run over a five and a half minute stretch midway through the opening 20 minutes to take a 20-point lead, 32-12, before carrying a 16-point cushion into intermission following a Jeffrey Merritt 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
WCU managed a double-digit margin throughout the final half, maintaining at least a 13-point edge with a game-high lead of 24 coming at the 2:34 mark as Mutombo converted a Sumler steal into an uncontested lay-up.
Samford (12-14, 4-10 SoCon), which lost for the sixth time in its last seven game, was led by Merritt with 17 points.
Western Carolina posted its second-best shooting performance of the season, finishing at 55.2-percent from the floor for the game. Samford likewise shot well from the field, making half of its shot attempts - the difference coming in the sheer numbers as WCU was 37-of-67 while the Bulldogs were just 23-of-46, a difference of 21 shot attempts.
The Catamounts also outscored the methodical Bulldogs, 32-to-12, in the paint.
College of Charleston 87, UNCG 69
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston went on a 26-6 run in a span of over 10 minutes in the second half to blow open a tight contest as UNCG fell to the Cougars, 87-69, on Saturday at Carolina First Arena.
The Cougars (19-7, 12-2 Southern Conference), who put all five starters in double figures, were led by Trent Wiedeman and Willis Hall, who each scored 18 points. Antwaine Wiggins put up 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the lone double-double of the game. Donovan Monroe also had 13 points, while Andrew Goudelock, the front runner for SoCon player of the year, was held to 12 points on 4-15 shooting.
Trevis Simpson led the Spartans (5-19, 5-9 SoCon) with 17 points and Brandon Evans added 14 points, all of them coming before halftime. Coming off a career-high 24 points on Monday night, Brian Cole was in double figures with 12 points and Aaron Brackett pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Trailing 43-40 coming out of halftime, UNCG and the Cougars traded some baskets in the early part of the second half before Simpson knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 49-46 with 16:09 left in the half.
That is when the Spartans went cold from the field and College of Charleston broke open the game. The Cougars blew open a close game with a 26-6 run over a span of 10 minutes and 26 seconds to take a commanding 75-52 lead. UNCG had only two field goals during that span with two separate droughts of over four minutes without a field goal.
Prior to that run, UNCG had shot 19-35 from the field for 54.3 percent, but during that span of over 10 minutes, the Spartans shot just 2-9 from the field and turned the ball over on multiple possessions.
After falling behind by 23 in the half, the Spartans were only able to cut the Cougar lead down to 15 on a layup by Cole, but that was as close as UNCG would get the rest of the night.
The opening 20 minutes of the game was action packed as the two teams swapped the lead seven times and were tied seven times.
The teams went shot-for-shot with each other in the opening minutes before College of Charleston was able to extend its lead out to six at 26-20 on a layup by Monroe. A pair of free throws by Wiedeman at the 5:49 mark gave the Cougars a six-point lead again at 32-26.
The Spartans then turned it on as they went on an 11-0 run over a three minute span to take a 37-32 lead. Evans contributed five points in that run, while Aloysius Henry had a pair of baskets too.
The Cougars would rally back to tie the game at 40 with 43 seconds before the half and then Goudelock hit a 3-pointer as he was floating to his right at the buzzer to give CofC a 43-40 lead at the half.
UNCG committed 17 turnovers in the contest, 10 of them coming after halftime, compared to just four for the Cougars. The Spartans outshot CofC from the field as they went 26-52 (50%) compared to just 30-68 (44.1%) for College of Charleston.
The Cougars also took advantage of UNCG's 10-for-20 mark from the charity stripe, while College of Charleston connected on 19 of its 22 attempts from the line.
Furman 88, Davidson 79
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Senior Darryl Evans poured in a career-high 24 points and Furman buried 13 consecutive free throws down the stretch to outlast Davidson, 88-79, in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday evening before a crowd of 2,782 at Timmons Arena.
With its 11th home victory of the season, Furman snapped an 11-game losing streak against the Wildcats and improved to 19-7 overall and 11-4 in the SoCon. The Paladins' 19 wins are their most since posting a 20-9 record during the 1990-91 campaign. Davidson fell to 13-13 overall and 7-8 in league play losing for the first time against Furman since a 70-66 decision on January 14, 2006, at Timmons Arena.
Furman, which converted on a season-high 32-of-46 free throws, was just 19-of-33 at the foul line before Brandon Sebirumbi's shot from the charity stripe with 2:27 remaining started a perfect 13-for-13 run that helped Furman maintain a margin of five or more points down the stretch.
Davidson held a 59-56 lead with under seven minutes left before Noah States scored in the paint and capped the three-point play at the foul line with 6:44 to play to tie the game at 59-59. Evans followed a JP Kuhlman three-point miss by notching a three-point play of his own. After Kuhlman's long range miss on the next possession, Justin Dehm extended the Furman to 65-59 by draining a three-pointer from left of the top of the key. The Wildcats briefly pulled back within four points, but Colin Reddick answered on the other end and Davidson could get no closer than five points over the final 4:41.
Evans connected on 8-of-9 field goal attempts, including 3-for-4 beyond the arc, and buried 5-of-7 free throws to finish with a game-high 24 points. Jordan Miller and States totaled 14 apiece while Amu Saaka tallied 13 points and eight boards before fouling out of the game in the final minutes. Reddick, who made 5-of-7 shots, recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Furman shot 56.8 percent (25-44) from the floor and connected on 6-of-13 three-point attempts. The Paladins, who shot 60 percent from the field in the second half, also managed a 43-32 rebounding advantage and blocked four shots.
Davidson forced Furman into 16 turnovers and scored 18 second chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds, but the Wildcats shot only 38.8 percent, including 7-of-24 from three-point range and 20-of-31 at the foul line.
Nik Cochran paced Davidson with 18 points with Brendan McKillop and De'Mon Brooks adding 16 each.
Furman opened up an early 21-10 lead before a 19-0 Davidson run gave the Wildcats an eight-point advantage. The Paladins outscored Davidson 16-8 over the final 3:30 of the first half to tie the contest at 37-37 at intermission.
There were 57 fouls whistled in the contest leading to a combined 77 free throw attempts.
Elon 79, The Citadel 72
CHARLESTON, S.C. - It was the Phoenix that pounced early and then withstood a late Bulldog run as the Elon men's basketball team earned a 79-72 victory over The Citadel at McAlister Field House in Saturday night Southern Conference action.
Elon (11-15, 5-10) led by as many as 27 points in the final period before the host Bulldogs (9-17, 5-9) made a late push on strong second half shooting to close the gap to as few as six with just under a minute to play. The Phoenix continued an impressive night from the line for all 40 minutes to hang on for the victory. Elon shot 24-of-27 (88.9 percent) from the stripe as it snapped a five-game losing skid.
Junior guard Drew Spradlin led the way for Elon with 22 points, while veteran point guard Chris Long came up one assist short of a double-double with 18 points and nine helpers. Ranking second on Elon's all-time assist list, the native of Charleston,W.Va. is averaging 7.5 apg in the last eight contests.
The Bulldogs' Cameron Wells had a game-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting while adding 10 assists and eight rebounds on the night. The Citadel racked up 20 assists on 27 baskets and shot 61 percent in the second stanza to forge a comeback. Austin Dahn also dumped in 22 points in the contest.
Up 6-4 early following a Lucas Troutman bucket, Elon went on a 15-5 run that included back-to-back Terrance Birdette three-pointers and gave Elon the 21-9 advantage with 11:47 remaining. Long had four assists on the six buckets during the run.
Bryan Streeter got The Citadel back on the board with a layup, but Spradlin answered with another Elon long ball to make it a 24-11 game at 10:03. The teams were rather quiet from the field over next four minutes, but then the Phoenix three ball rolled again.
Long found Sebastian Koch for a trey and then after a defensive stop, put the ball in the hands of Ryley Beaumont who knocked down another triple for the Phoenix and gave the visitors a 32-15 lead with 5:15 to play before halftime. Koch scored 11 off the bench for Elon.
Back-to-back Bulldog buckets trimmed the lead to 32-20 with 2:14 on the clock, but Elon would not allow another Citadel point before the break. A couple Phoenix free throws followed by a Long three-pointer as the final seconds ticked off the clock gave Elon its biggest lead of the half, 38-20, after 20 minutes of action.
The Phoenix scored the first five points of second period, including knocking down its eighth three of the game to go up 43-20 before The Citadel could get on the board. The lead would hover around 20 points over the next six minutes before a Spradlin jumper capped a 7-0 Elon run that gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game at 55-28 with 12:23 remaining. Then it became the Wells and Dahn show as the duo scored 35 of the final 44 Citadel points in the contest.
The Bulldogs began slowly chipping away at the lead, using a 20-10 run that spanned nearly six minutes. One of Dahn's five three-pointers made it an 11-point game, 67-56, with 2:41 remaining. Elon managed only two baskets during the stretch.
The Citadel's next three buckets came from beyond the arc as the Bulldogs got within six, 73-67, with a minute remaining. The Phoenix connected on 11-of-12 from the line over the final two minutes to close out the win.
Elon shot 47.9 percent from the field and hit nine three-pointers, but struggled to get the long range shot to drop in the final frame as the Phoenix finished with a 9-of-31 (29.0 percent) showing from downtown. Every Phoenix player tallied a rebound in the contest with Beaumont's seven boards leading the way.
The Citadel looked like a different team in each half as the Bulldogs shot only 8-of-31 (25.8 percent) in the opening period, but shot a blistering 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) in the last 20 minutes.
Wofford 69, Georgia Southern 61
SPARTANURG, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team opened up a nineteen point lead in the second half, but had to hang on in the final minutes for a 69-61 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The game marked senior night for five Wofford players in their final SoCon home game.
Wofford is 14-12 on the season and 11-4 in the Southern Conference and Georgia Southern is 4-23 overall and 0-14 in SoCon play. Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 17 points, Jamar Diggs with 16 points and Cameron Rundles with 13 points. Tom Johnson led all players with nine rebounds. The Eagles were led by Ben Drayton with 31 of his team's 61 points.
The game against the Eagles was Senior Night for Noah Dahlman, Jamar Diggs, Tim Johnson, Terry Martin and Cameron Rundles. All five players started the game and all five scored. Dahlman, Diggs and Rundles scored in double figures, while Johnson had nine rebounds and Martin added nine points and three rebounds.
The Terrier scored first and had an early 8-5 lead six minutes into play. Wofford was able to push the advantage to 13-7 after a three by Brad Loesing and a bucket by Tim Johnson at the twelve minute mark. A three by Kevin Giltner made it a nine-point game at 18-9 with just under ten minutes left in the half.
Wofford kept a nine point lead until 4:36 on the clock when the Eagles used a 6-1 run to cut the advantage to 23-19 with 2:05 left. The Terriers answered with back-to-back lay-ups by Noah Dahlman for an eight point lead. Drew Crowell added a jumper with two seconds left in the half for a 30-21 halftime lead.
To open the second half, Cameron Rundles hit a three for the Terriers. Over the first three minutes of the half, Wofford went on a 12-2 run and were up 42-23 with 16:47 on the clock. The lead was still 19 points with 13:34 left in the half, but the Eagles used six straight points by Ben Drayton to cut the advantage to 47-34 with 11:54 remaining.
The Eagles kept chipping away at the Wofford lead and at the five minute mark cut it to nine points at 55-46. Despite regaining a ten-point lead with a 60-52 score with 3:07 left, Georgia Southern was able to make it a 63-59 game with 1:03 left as Ben Drayton took over for the Eagles. Noah Dahlman hit a bucket and free throw, which was followed by two free throws by Jamar Diggs push the lead back to 68-59. Tim Johnson a late free throw for a 69-61 lead with 30 seconds left and then a steal by Jamar Diggs sealed the win for the Terriers.
Wofford shot 50 percent from the floor and was 33.3 percent from three. Georgia Southern shot 46 percent from the field and was 27.3 percent from behind the arc. Georgia Southern had a 33-23 lead on the glass, but the Eagles committed 23 turnovers in the game. Brad Loesing, Jelani Hewitt and Marvin Baynham fouled out of the game.
Appalachian State 78, Chattanooga 68
BOONE, N.C. --- The Chattanooga Mocs dropped its second game in as many nights losing 78-68 at Appalachian State (12-13/8-7) in the Holmes Center Saturday night. Despite the loss, Chattanooga still leads the Southern Conference North Division at 14-13 overall, 10-5 in league play.
Ricky Taylor led the Mocs with 21 points with five rebounds. DeAntre Jefferson added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Early chipped in 12 points.
Omar Carter and Donald Sims combined for 41 of the Mountaineers 78 points. Carter had a game-high 22 points, while Sims tossed in 19. Petey Hausley came off the bench to add 12 inside for ASU.
It was a back-and-forth game to start the second half. App State opened scoring the first nine points for a 40-32 lead at 16:55 as Sims made one of two free throws.
Taylor got the Mocs on the scoreboard with a layup at 16:16. He and Jefferson combined for a 9-0 run of their own as two Taylor free tosses at 14:43 made it 41-40 Chattanooga.
With the game tied 45-45, the Mountaineers took control of the game with a 14-0 run to go up 59-45 on a Carter jumper at 10:24. Carter scored seven of the 14 for ASU.
Early ended the run at 10:08. His jumper got the Mocs back within 12, 59-47. The two teams traded three-pointers as Taylor's trey at 8:34 made it 62-50.
Carter and Sims got the Mountaineers built the advantage to 16, 66-50, at 7:51. Keegan Bell's layup at 7:37 got the margin back to 14, 66-52. From there, the Mocs got defensive stops, but could not take advantage going nearly three minutes between points.
Chattanooga held ASU to just one field goal over 6:38 and just six points, but it suffered a shooting drought of its own. The Mocs went without a field goal for nearly four minutes in that stretch, a three-pointer by Omar Wattad.
There were 10 ties and 13 lead changes in the game. The final tie, 45-45, came at 12:25 on an Early layup. A 21-5 run over the next five-plus minutes gave the Mountaineers lead for good.
The Mocs got off to a good start scoring on five of their first six possessions en route to a 13-7 lead on the third of three straight three-pointers by Taylor at 16:34. But that hot start did not continue.
Chattanooga allowed App State to go an 11-2 run scoring just one field goal over the next 7:09. Nathan Healy capped the run with a put-back off an Andre Williamson miss inside to give ASU an 18-15 cushion at 9:25.
After Troy Cage scored three points in successive possessions to tie the game at 18-all, Early re-gained the lead, 20-18, for the Mocs with a layup off a nice feed from Bell at 8:25. The lead jockeyed back and forth the rest of the half as Chattanooga took a 32-31 lead into intermission.