Appalachian State 85, College of Charleston 70
BOONE, N.C. - Donald Sims scored 32 points and Appalachian State University men's basketball shot 63 percent after halftime to pull away from Southern Conference regular season champion College of Charleston, 85-70, on Thursday night at the Holmes Center. It was ASU's 100th win in the building, which opened in 2000.
Sims' third 30-point outing of the season came on 11-of-16 shooting with 6-of-9 three-pointers and four free throws. He added six of the Mountaineers' (14-14, 9-8 SoCon) 10 assists to accompany five rebounds and a steal.
After shooting 38.2 percent in the opening period, the Apps connected on 19-of-30 attempts from the field after the intermission to finish at 50 percent for the night.
Senior Jeremi Booth also shot well, connecting on 5-of-9 attempts for 14 points. The guard added three treys, four rebounds and a pair of steals in 37 minutes.
The Cougars (22-8, 14-3) hung with the Apps in the first period and led by as many as three points with six minutes to play, thanks in part to 50 percent shooting and 15 points from Andrew Goudelock. The league's leading scorer finished the night with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting, including four three-pointers. He tied for the team lead with five assists as well.
Coming out of halftime, the squads battled back and forth with five more ties in the first eight minutes before the Mountaineers set out on a swift 10-point run to claim the lead for good. Four different players connected on field goals during the two-minute burst, beginning with a Nathan Healy layup and Petey Hausley steal and fast-break dunk. Sims and Booth punctuated the run with a pair of three-pointers on the following possessions.
With a 64-54 lead and 10 minutes to play, Appalachian fought off CofC's attempts to rally and never let the Cougars back any closer than seven points down the stretch.
Omar Carter chipped in 13 points, including nine in the first half. The junior added six rebounds and a steal. Healy finished with seven points, four rebounds, two assists and a block in 17 minutes, while Hausley added six points and two rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
Appalachian owned a 38-29 advantage on the glass, led by seven boards from Andre Williamson. The forward shot 4-for-10 from the field for nine points and swatted two blocks in the contest.
Trent Wiedeman led three other Cougars in double figure scoring with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Donavan Monroe and Willis Hall added 10 points each.
The Citadel 70, Western Carolina 62
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Cameron Wells scored a game-high 21 points and post Mike Groselle recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds as The Citadel Bulldogs erased a 21-point second half deficit in handing Western Carolina a 70-62 setback Thursday night in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center.
The loss was WCU's first this season inside the Ramsey Center, and the first since Feb. 13, 2010, halting a 12-game home winning streak. It also ended the Catamounts seven-game seasonal win streak - all coming in the month of February. WCU, which has already secured a bye in next week's SoCon tournament, dropped back into a tie with Chattanooga atop the North Division at 11-6 in league play with one game remaining.
Western Carolina (16-14, 11-6 SoCon) led by as many as 19 in the opening 20 minutes, beginning the game with a 21-to-2 run over the first seven and a half minutes capped by a 3-pointer by SoCon Freshman of the Year candidate, Trey Sumler. The Citadel managed to keep pace with the Catamounts the remainder of the half, though, outscoring WCU by two, 18-16, over the final 11:24 to trail at the break by 17, 37-20.
The Catamounts extended the lead to a game-high 21 points just two and a half minutes into the second half, but could never put the Bulldogs completely away. A 19-to-5 run by the Cadets over an eight minute span pulled The Citadel to within seven, 50-43, with nine minutes to play in regulation.
Freshman Brandon Boggs converted an offensive rebound into a lay-up at the 5:28 mark to give WCU a six-point edge - 57-51 - but would unfortunately also represent the lone points for the home squad nearly over the next five minutes as The Citadel used a 15-to-0 run to erase the final six points of the Catamount lead and take a nine-point edge with under a minute to play. During the Bulldog run, WCU was 0-for-6 from the floor and 0-for-1 from the free throw line.
Senior Mike Williams was one of two Catamounts in double figures, scoring 20 points with four steals to accompany his three assists. Classmate Richie Gordon just missed a double-double with 13 points and eight boards, blocking two shots to move into a tie with Tommy Lavelle (1961-64) for second on the school's all-time career blocked shots list with 112.
Harouna Mutombo finished with nine points and five boards, while Sumler scored seven with four assists.
Wells scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Bulldogs shot 61.5-percent from the field after intermission. Joining him and Groselle in double figures was Bryan Streeter with 15 off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting, adding nine rebounds.
Western Carolina shot a sizzling 68-percent (15-of-22) from the floor including 5-of-9 (55.6%) from the beyond the 3-point arc in the first half while playing solid defense that restricted the Bulldogs to just 20 points.
Despite 13 offensive rebounds, the Catamounts lost the battle of the boards, 39-30, to the Bulldogs and gave up a 19-to-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Davidson 83, Elon 75
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Nik Cochran exploded for a career-high 29 points, and backcourt mate JP Kuhlman netted a season-high 22 to lead Davidson to an 83-75 Southern Conference men's basketball win over Elon Thursday in Belk Arena.
It was the eighth Davidson victory in the last nine games and gave head coach Bob McKillop his 399th career victory.
Cochran was 8-of-12 from the field, hit five 3-pointers and went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Kuhlman scored nine of his points from the charity stripe (10 attempts) and hit 3-of-6 from the 3-point line.
Clint Mann scored nine points, while Tom Droney and De'Mon Brooks each scored eight for Davidson (16-13, 9-8 SoCon).
Chris Long led Elon (12-16, 6-11 SoCon) with 27 points after hitting 8-of-13 from the floor and all nine of his free-throw attempts. Lucas Troutman had 16 points and five rebounds, and Scott Grable netted 10.
The contest featured 17 lead changes and eight ties, and the Wildcats' execution down the stretch was the difference as a late 8-2 run turned a two-point cushion into a nine-point Wildcat advantage.
Cochran started the spurt with a jumper, and after the OCats got a defensive stop, Kuhlman hit two free throws. Elon turned it over, and Cochran hit a triple from the corner.
Long made a layup, and Elon got the ball back looking to make it a one-possession game. But Troutman missed a jumper, and Cochran hit two free throws on the other end. The OCats forced a missed triple on the defensive end and were forced to foul Cochran with 34 seconds left. The sophomore hit both to make the score 80-71 and added two more with eight seconds to go to seal the win.
The first half saw 13 lead changes, and neither squad led by more than six points. After Kuhlman hit a triple to break a 34-34 tie, the 'Cats got the ball with 38 seconds left and tried to hold for the last possession.
But Davidson turned it over with the shot clock winding down and Terrance Birdette went the length of the court for a layup with two ticks on the clock to make the score 37-36 at the half.
UNCG 57, Georgia Southern 56
STATESBORO, Ga. - Down by one, Kyle Randall stole the ball with 22 seconds remaining and then found Aaron Brackett who buried a jumper from the right wing with 17 seconds left to propel UNCG to a 57-56 comeback win over Georgia Southern on Thursday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Spartans (6-22, 6-11 Southern Conference), who never led the entire game until Brackett's jumper, trailed by five with 90 seconds left in the contest. UNCG then went to a full court press and Korey Van Dussen came up with a steal and found Kyle Randall for a layup to make it 52-49 with 1:25 remaining.
On the next possession, Van Dussen came up with another steal and found Brandon Evans who was fouled on a layup attempt. Evans would knock down both free throws to cut the deficit to one at 52-51 with just 64 seconds left in the game.
On the following possession, Georgia Southern's Rory Spencer converted a traditional three-point play to put the Eagles back in front at 55-51 with only 46 seconds to go. Once again, it was Evans who responded by getting fouled and converting a pair of free throws to pull the Spartans with two.
UNCG fouled Jelani Hewitt on the ensuing inbounds, but Hewitt only converted on the front end of his two free throws to make it 56-53 with 34 seconds left. UNCG went down and scored an easy layup by Evans with 26 seconds to go to cut the Eagle lead back down to one.
The Eagles (5-25, 1-16 SoCon) had trouble on the inbounds and threw it long to allow Ben Drayton to run and grab the ball. He attempted to go for a layup, but lost it on the way up and Randall was there to steal the ball before finding Brackett for the final basket.
The Spartans came up with one final stop in the closing seconds and Eric Ferguson's jumper from around seven feet didn't even draw iron as Evans came down with the rebound to seal the victory.
Evans led all scorers with 20 points, including a 10-11 mark at the charity stripe, while also pulling down seven rebounds. Trevis Simpson fought foul trouble during the entire second half, but still came away with 13 points. Brackett finished the evening with eight points and rebounds, as well.
Spencer led the Eagles with 11 points, while Drayton and Ferguson were also in double figures with 10 points each. Marvin Baynham also turned in nine points on a perfect 4-4 from the field.
Things didn't start well for the Spartans on Thursday as they didn't make their first field goal until nine minutes into the contest and trailed 13-4 in the early going. A jumper by Evans with 8:26 left before halftime pulled UNCG within four points at 13-9.
The Eagles would go on to extend their lead to as many as 13 late in the opening half before a jumper by Simpson at the buzzer made the halftime score, 27-16. The 16 points by UNCG tied for the lowest point total in a first half this season after the Spartans also posted just 16 points against Clemson in December.
UNCG opened the second half on a 12-4 run to cut the Eagle lead down to three a 31-28. The Spartans cut it to three again at 33-30, but Georgia Southern responded with a 7-0 run to stretch its lead back to 10.
A jumper by Brackett cut it to three again with six minutes remaining, but UNCG wasn't able to get any closer than five the rest of the way until the waning seconds.