Davidson 63, West Virginia 60
ORLANDO, Fla. - Chris Czerapowicz scored a game-high 15 points and Davidson used a 25-7 run midway through the contest to defeat West Virginia, 63-60, in the semifinals of the 2012 Old Spice Classic, Friday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Czerapowicz, who played a major role in Davidson's game-changing spurt, also grabbed nine rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Junior De'Mon Brooks added 12 points and five steals for the Wildcats, while fellow frontcourt players Jake Cohen and Clint Mann each scored 11.
Davidson (3-2), which trailed by as many as seven in the first 20 minutes of action, scored the first nine points of the second half to grab the lead for good. The Wildcats stretched the advantage to as many as 11 on separate occasions, with under nine minutes to play.
The Mountaineers slowly chipped away at the double-digit deficit to make it a one-point game, 58-57, on a Juwan Staten steal and layup, but Czerapowicz responded with his third 3-pointer of the contest to push Davidson's lead back to four, 61-57, with 45 seconds to go.
For the second straight day, the Wildcats torched the nets in the second half shooting 58.8 percent to finish at 48.8 percent overall. In addition to holding the Mountaineers to just 40 percent from the field, Davidson went 17-of-22 (.773) at the charity stripe.
Through their first two games of the tournament, Davidson is a combined 25-of-41 (.609) from the floor in the final stanza.
Staten paced three Mountaineers in double figures with 15 points. Gary Browne contributed 11 off the bench while Deniz Kilicli recorded his third career double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
After West Virginia (1-2) pushed its lead to 30-22 with 3:11 left in the first half, the Wildcats responded with eight unanswered capped off by a Czerapowicz layup and triple to tie the score. A Staten layup on the next trip down the floor gave his club a 32-30 advantage at the break.
The Mountaineers grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to hold a 35-26 edge on the glass.
Wofford 56, Hampton 51
WILMINGTON, N.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team came from behind in a 56-51 win over Hampton at Trask Coliseum in the Nations of Coaches Classic in Wilmington. The Terriers were down by as many as 13 points in the game, but took advantage of 24 turnovers by the Pirates to pull out the victory.
Wofford begins the season 2-4, while Hampton is 0-4. The Terriers were led by Lee Skinner with a career-high 21 points along with ten rebounds for the double-double. Karl Cochran added 18 points. The Pirates were led by David Bruce with ten points and twelve rebounds for a double-double.
"I feel fortunate to win," said head coach Mike Young. "It was not a pretty basketball game, but we did a lot better in the second half. Ten turnovers in the first half is not who we are. We did a better job in the second half with only five. We were on the rocks there for a little bit, but we showed some toughness and showed some resilience and found a win to come out of here with a win. I would rather learn a life lesson while winning than learn that lesson having lost."
The Terriers scored the first four points of the contest and held a 6-3 lead after three minutes of play. The Pirates jumped out to a 14-6 advantage with an 11-0 run. A three-pointer by Karl Cochran ended the run and a nine-minute scoring drought to make it 14-9 with 8:34 left in the first half. Hampton was able to take a 21-12 lead with 3:55 remaining in the half.
Hampton pushed the lead to 25-12 with a 9-0 run. Wofford answered with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 25-19 with one minute left in the first half. The Pirates added two points and took a 27-19 advantage at the break. The Terriers were 7-of-28 from the floor (2-of-12 from three) in the first half for a 25 percent shooting percentage and committed ten turnovers.
Lee Skinner opened the second half with four straight points for the Terriers to cut the lead to 27-23. Wofford was able to chip away at the advantage and at the 11:26 mark the score was 32-30 in favor of the Pirates. A three pointer by Spencer Collins cut the lead to one point at 34-33, but Hampton went back up by five points. Lee Skinner hit a three pointer to tie the game at 40 with 5:18 left in the second half.
A three by Karl Cochran tied the game at 43 with 2:55 on the clock. Another three by Cochran gave the Terriers a 47-43 advantage with 1:25 left in the second half. Wofford took advantage of a turnover and Lee Skinner made it a 49-43 lead, but with 35 seconds left the advantage was 50-47. Skinner added two free throws with 24 seconds remaining for a 52-47 score. Wofford continued to hit free throws down the stretch for the 56-51 victory.
Wofford shot 32 percent from the floor while Hampton shot 42 percent overall. The Terriers were 6-of-25 from three, while the Pirates were 2-of-11 from behind the arc. Wofford was 14-of-22 from the free throw line, while Hampton was 5-of-10 from the line. The Pirates had a 44 to 32 lead on the glass, but Wofford came up with 14 steals.
Wofford will complete the five-game road trip on Saturday against Wilmington at 2:00 p.m. in the Nations of Coaches Classic. The Terriers will return home next Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. against Winthrop.
Virginia Tech 87, Appalachian State 76
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Appalachian State University men's basketball dropped a hard-fought contest to Virginia Tech by an 87-76 final on Friday at Cassell Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (1-4) battled back from an early deficit to tie the game early in the second half, but the Hokies (5-0) hit clutch free throws down the stretch and pulled away to keep their perfect record intact.
After grabbing an early 9-4 lead just four minutes into the contest, the Apps would battle the Hokies back-and-forth before Virginia Tech snagged an eight-point lead (34-26) with six minutes remaining in the first half.
Appalachian would claw its way back to tie the contest at 34-34 with just over three minutes remaining in the half before falling behind by five (41-36) in the closing seconds. Jay Canty, who finished with a team-high 21 points, would nail a layup in the closing seconds to make it 41-38 at the half.
The Hokies opened the second half on a 7-2 run to build a 50-43 lead, but Canty would score five of Appalachian's next seven points before a layup from Michael Obacha tied things at 50-50 with 14:57 left in the contest.
Despite drawing even with Virginia Tech and swinging momentum back in its favor, App State was unable to overcome the clutch free-throw shooting of the Hokies, who made 21-of-26 second-half free throws, as Virginia Tech built a double digit lead in the late stages of the second half.
Marshall Wood would give VaTech its first double-digit lead (71-60) with 6:56 left to play and the Mountaineers would never really threaten again as the Hokies led by as many as 15 points (87-72) before the Apps scored the final two buckets of the game.
Canty, who was 8-of-16 from the floor, also finished with seven rebounds while Jamaal Trice scored 19 points and dished out two assists while playing all 40 minutes. Tab Hamilton added 15 points and Nathan Healy poured in 11 and ripped down seven boards.
The Hokies were paced offensively by Erick Green, who scored a game-high 27 points and was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. Jarell Eddie added 23 points for Virginia Tech while C.J. Barksdale finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Wood scored 13 off the bench and ripped down eight boards.
The Mountaineers shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) in the game but connected on just 12-of-21 free throws (57.1 percent) and committed 19 turnovers. Virginia Tech shot 50.0 percent (26-of-52) from the floor and was 30-of-39 from the charity stripe.
Appalachian State finished with 35 rebounds to Virginia Tech's 27 and grabbed 12 offensive boards on the day.
Appalachian State returns home to face Duquesne at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Holmes Center before beginning a season-high four-game road trip.