Elon 95, Bridgewater 51
ELON, N.C. - Behind a barrage of three pointers, the Elon University men's basketball team won its eighth consecutive home opener on Tuesday night, Nov. 13, defeating the Bridgewater Eagles, 95-51, inside Alumni Gym.
Elon (1-1) knocked down 16 shots from beyond the arc as a team, led by six from Sebastian Koch and five from Jack Isenbarger. Isenbarger led all players with 19 points, while Koch finished the night with 18.
Elon's 16 makes from three-point land are the most since the Phoenix connected on the same amount against UNCG and Lynchburg during the 2010-11 season. The 44-point margin of victory is the largest for Elon in a home opener since the 1917-18 season when Elon beat Atlanta Christian, 66-11. Elon is now 12-2 in home openers during the Division I era.
"I thought we were the aggressor for all 40 minutes tonight at both ends of the floor," said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. "We played with intensity to start the game and carried it throughout the second half. Moving forward, we saw some great things tonight and I'm excited about hosting the Maui on the Mainland this weekend on our home court."
Including Isenbarger and Koch, Elon put four players in double figures as Lucas Troutman and Ryley Beaumont finshed the game with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Tanner Samson recorded a game-high six assists to go along with eight points in 23 minutes, while Ryan Winters led all players with six boards.
Elon outrebounded Bridgewater, 38-30, and forced the Eagles into 25 turnovers. As a team, the Phoenix shot 53 percent from the field and 71 percent (15-of-21) from the free throw line.
Troutman put the maroon and gold faithful on its feet with a pair of monster dunks in the first half, including a throw-down at the 11:28 mark to give Elon a 28-13 lead.
The Phoenix carried a 30-point lead, 58-28, at intermission, shooting 63 percent in the opening frame. Elon knocked down 20-of-32 field goals in the first 20 minutes, including 10-of-18 shots from beyond the arc. Troutman and Isenbarger both registered a game-high 16 points in the first half.
Koch came out with the hot hand to start the second half, hitting three straight from three to give the Phoenix a 37-point cushion with 17:28 remaining. Elon went ahead by as many as 45 points in the second period.
Elon continues its three-game homestand with the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational Regional Games this weekend, Nov. 17-18, in Alumni Gym. The Phoenix hosts Colgate to open the Regional Games on Saturday at 2 p.m. before facing either Coppin State or Florida Atlantic a day later in the championship or consolation game at 4:30 p.m.
Furman 90, Southern Wesleyan 71
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Larry Wideman netted a game-high 18 points in his second collegiate outing and fellow freshman Stephen Croone tied a school record with 14 assists to lead Furman past Southern Wesleyan, 90-71, in non-conference action on YP.com Court at Timmons Arena on Tuesday evening.
The win improved the Paladins to 1-1 on the season as they prepare to host the Clemson Tigers at Timmons Arena on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.
Six Paladins scored at least five points in the first half as Furman shot 56.7% from the field to open up a 38-19 lead before taking a 43-30 advantage into intermission. Head coach Jeff Jackson's squad earned 18 trips to the foul line in the second half, converting on 15, to push the lead to 71-46 with 9:36 remaining before cruising to the 19-point triumph over the NAIA member Warriors.
Wideman, a native of Loris, S.C., connected on 4-of-6 treys and all four of his free throw attempts to tally 18 points in 19 minutes of play while senior forward Colin Reddick buried 7-of-10 field goal attempts to finish with a career-high 16 points and six rebounds. Senior Bryant Irwin and junior Charlie Reddick each tallied 14 points while Irwin added a team-best seven rebounds.
Croone, making his first career start, matched Guilherme Da Luz's school record of 14 assists which he set in 97-75 triumph versus Coastal Carolina on December 16, 1999. A freshman from Covington, Ga., Croone added nine points and three rebounds while committing just one turnover in 32 minutes on the court.
Furman shot 52.5% from the floor and made good on 9-of-20 three-point attempts after connecting on just 1-for-17 beyond the arc in its season opening loss to Columbia on Saturday. The Paladins tallied 32 points off 20 Southern Wesleyan turnovers and outscored the Warriors in the paint, 36-32.
Rochard Gibson paced Southern Wesleyan with 16 points and Kenny Joyner added 15. Nikola Lambic fouled out late with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Warriors shot 45.3% and buried 5-of-10 three-point shots, but went 0-for-3 beyond the arc in the second half.
Tuesday's win improved Furman to 33-0 against non-NCAA Division I opposition since the beginning of the 1998-99 campaign
High Point 86, Appalachian State 64
BOONE, N.C. - High Point shot a blistering 64.5 percent in the first half en route to a 22-point halftime lead and went on to hand Appalachian State University men's basketball its first loss of the season, 86-64, on Tuesday evening at the Holmes Center.
High Point (2-0) used a 28-6 run late in the first half to turn a slim five-point lead into a commanding 46-19 advantage. Appalachian State (1-1) scored seven of the final nine points of the opening half to cut the halftime deficit to 48-26 but HPU made six of its first seven shots after the break to stretch the lead to as large as 30.
After battling back and forth throughout the first 12 minutes of play, the Panthers were able to take their first double-digit lead of the night (23-13) with 7:40 left in the first half.
The Mountaineers would never get back on track after that as High Point led by as many as 30 points in the first five minutes of the second half and never saw the lead slip below 22 points the remainder of the night.
Four High Point players scored in double-figures, led by John Brown, who poured in 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Brown also led all players with seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Jay Canty was a bright spot for the Mountaineers, scoring a game-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists, both team bests.
Chris Burgess, making his first collegiate start, finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a 4-for-5 night from beyond the arc. Tevin Baskin also finished in double figures with 10 points while grabbing a game-high four steals.
The Panthers shot 57.4 percent (35-of-61) on the night including 8-of-17 from deep, but struggled at the free throw as they hit just 53.3 percent (8-of-15) on their free throws.
Appalachian State shot 37.5 percent (21-of-56) on the night and struggled from beyond the arc, connecting on just 6-of-18 three-pointers. The Mountaineers did perform well at the free-throw line, however, as they shot 76.2 percent (16-of-21) from the charity stripe.
The Apps finished with 16 turnovers to High Point's 10 and dished out just five assists while the Panthers tallied 17.
Appalachian State returns to action on Friday when it travels to Campbell for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff from the Pope Convocation Center.
Charlotte 66, Georgia Southern 53
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball trailed by three at the break, but a 7-0 Charlotte run to start the second half slowed the Eagles who fell to 0-2 on the season with a 66-53 loss at Charlotte on Tuesday night. Eric Ferguson turned in his first double-double of the 2012-13 campaign with 11 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough for the Eagles.
"One of our goals is to get better every day and I feel like we played much better than we did at Valparaiso," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "We had a slow start to the second half and I feel like we only played 29 minutes tonight. We've got to work on showing up for all 40 minutes every night. We had some great looks at the basket and if some of those had gone in, we could have turned the momentum tonight."
Ferguson led the Eagles with his seventh career double-double. The junior scored all his points in the first 20 minutes of the game and had five boards on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court. His 10 boards were more than half of the Eagles' team total of 19.
Freshman Cleon Roberts was 2-for-3 from three-point range en route to 11 points on the night. Tre Bussey added his second-straight double-figure scoring performance with 10 points on his 21st birthday.
Charlotte was paced by 21 points off the bench from Chris Braswell. He added 12 rebounds while Pierria Henry scored 13 points including nine from the charity stripe.
After committing 21 turnovers in the season opener, the Eagles slashed that total to 12 while forcing 19 turnovers by the 49ers. Bussey made three steals while Ferguson blocked three shots
Roberts opened up scoring with a pair of three-pointers as he scored eight of Georgia Southern's first 13 points in the contest. The Eagles trailed by as many as seven points early before knifing into the margin.
The Eagles took the lead with 6:51 left in the opening half on a three-pointer by Bussey. Southern would extend the lead to five before Charlotte re-assumed the lead, 32-31, with 2:26 remaining before halftime.
Georgia Southern trailed 37-34 at the break with both teams shooting identical 46 percent from the field. The Eagles, however, made three from downtown while the 49ers were just 1-of-4 from downtown. Southern cut down on turnovers, making just nine in the first half.
The second half opened with Charlotte scoring seven unanswered points to take a 44-34 lead. The Eagles went 0-for-4 in the stretch which lasted the first 5:47 of the second half until Jessie Pernell made his first bucket of the night to cut the lead to 44-36.
The Eagles were forced to finish the evening without the services of senior Cameron Baskerville when the forward fouled out with 10:31 left in the game with no points or rebounds.
Georgia Southern trailed by as 18 points with 6:54 remaining, but a 9-1 run by the Eagles cut the lead to 10 points with 4:14 remaining. GSU, however, could not get any closer as key shots did not fall in the final few minutes of the game.
The Eagles shot just 23 percent from the field in the second half, making five-of-22 baskets from the field. Charlotte, however, was 10-for-19 in the second half, shooting 53 percent.
The Eagles return to the friendly confines of Hanner Fieldhouse for the 2012-13 home opener on Friday night against Webber International. The contest starts at 7 p.m.