Davidson 75, Vanderbilt 62
ORLANDO, Fla. - In addition to a pair of lengthy runs, Davidson shot 63 percent in the second half and got 19 points from De'Mon Brooks to defeat Vanderbilt, 75-62, Thursday in the opening round of the 2012 Old Spice Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Wildcats will take on West Virginia Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the semifinals on ESPN. The Mountaineers defeated Marist in the day's first quarterfinal contest by a score of 87-44.
In addition to going 7-of-13 from the floor, Brooks finished 5-of-6 at the line for his fourth double-figure outing of the season. Fellow preseason all-conference selections Nik Cochran and Jake Cohen also added double digits for the Wildcats with 14 points each.
Davidson (2-2) finished the contest shooting 50 percent (29-58) overall and 42.9 percent (9-21) from long range.
Kedren Johnson went 11-of-17 from the floor to lead the Commodores with a game-high 28 points, including 21 in the second half. Kyle Fuller had 14 points for the 2012 Southeastern Conference Champions.
After Johnson gave the Vanderbilt (1-2) a 49-48 lead with a 3-point play at the 12:01 mark, the Wildcats responded with an 18-3 streak to go up 66-52 with 6:13 remaining.
The Wildcats held a 32-29 advantage on the glass, while finishing with 16 second-chance points and 32 points in the paint.
Trailing 25-23, Davidson closed the first half on a 10-0 run highlighted by eight straight points from Jordan Barham off the bench and a tip-in from Cohen at the buzzer, to take a 33-25 lead into the half.
Cochran, who drilled three treys in the period, Barham and Cohen combined to score 26 of the Wildcats' first-half points.
Alcorn State 69, Samford 65 (OT)
FORT MYERS, Fla. - In the first meeting between the schools, the Samford University basketball team dropped a 69-65 overtime decision against the Alcorn State Braves Thursday in the consolation bracket of the 2012 Atlantis on the Mainland Tournament hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University in Alico Arena.
With 5.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Samford (1-5) inbounded the ball from underneath the Braves' basket and sophomore point guard Raijon Kelly drove all the way to midcourt before finding Clide Geffrard, Jr., open in the left corner. At the buzzer, Geffrard, Jr., had an open look at the possible game-winning basket, but the ball rimmed out to send the contest into overtime tied at 56-56.
Geffrard, Jr., who scored a career-high 24 points against Toledo on Wednesday, finished Thursday's game with eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.
"Clide played well tonight," said head coach Bennie Seltzer. "I wish I could have gotten him in there a little more, but he really did play well. He didn't make that many mistakes, so when he's playing error-free he'll get a lot more playing time."
In the overtime period, Alcorn State (2-3) received seven points from guard LeAntwan Luckett as the Braves were able to rally for the 69-65 victory. Luckett scored a game-high 24 points Thursday and finished 8-of-20 from the field. He also pulled down seven rebounds and connected on 8-of-11 free-throw attempts.
"If we're going to win basketball games at the rate that we want to win, then we have to get a lot tougher," Seltzer said. "That's going to be the thing that's going to win for us."
Samford jumped out to an early 58-56 lead in overtime following a 12-foot jumper from Raijon Kelly. Luckett then responded for Alcorn State with a driving layup and later converted a 3-point play to give the Braves their seventh-and-final lead of the back-and-forth contest.
Following Luckett's game-high 24 points, Alcorn State was paced offensively by Anthony Evans with 17. Evans, the Braves' 6-foot-1 junior from Greenville, Miss., logged 44 minutes of playing time and tallied five assists, four rebounds and went 6-of-11 from the field.
Samford's offensive attack was led by sophomore forward Tyler Hood, who finished with 16 points on a 4-of-11 shooting performance from the field. The Bulldogs' sharpshooter also knocked down four 3-point baskets, all of which came in the first half of play.
Kelly, Samford's 6-foot-4 point guard from St. Paul, Minn., added 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, but fouled out of the game in overtime. The Bulldogs' final double-digit scorer was true freshman Tim Williams, who posted his sixth straight double-digit scoring performance of the season. On Thursday, he registered his third double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Connor Miller played all 45 minutes for Samford and finished with five points, four rebounds and an assist.
The Bulldogs exploded out of the gates to take an early 9-0 lead Thursday and led by as many as 13 points, 27-14, with 7:02 left to play in the first half. Alcorn State rallied late in the first half to trim Samford's advantage to 32-28 at the intermission.
Samford's Hood shot 4-of-5 from the field in the first half with all four of his field goals coming from 3-point range. The Bulldogs' sophomore forward from Lenoir City, Tenn., led all scorers at the half with 14 points and also added four rebounds.
As a team, Samford shot a stellar 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from beyond the arc in the opening half and out-rebounded the Braves, 19-11.
The Bulldogs finished the opening 20 minutes of competition Thursday with seven players scoring at least two points. Following Hood's game-high 14 points, Samford's Williams and Kelly both added four points apiece. The Bulldogs' Florida natives Russell Wilson and Geffrard, Jr., each knocked down 3-point baskets in the opening half, while Brandon Hayman and Miller both registered two points apiece in the first half.
Alcorn State's Evans proved to be the Braves' lone double-digit scorer in Thursday's first half. Evans, a 6-foot-1 guard from Greenville, Miss., went 4-for-6 in the first half of play and connected on two of Alcorn State's three 3-point baskets of the opening period.
Late in the second half of play, the Braves led by six points, 53-47, with 4:04 remaining in regulation. Samford then used a pair of jumpers from Kelly, two free throws from Hood and a deep 3-point basket from Miller to send the game into overtime.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Ala., for a non-conference matchup against the UT Arlington Mavericks to be held in the Pete Hanna Center.