Davidson 81, Samford 54
DAVIDSON, N.C. - JP Kuhlman led four Davidson players in double figures with 16 points, and theWildcats knocked down 14 3-pointers in an 81-54 Southern Conference men's basketball victory over Samford Wednesday night in Belk Arena.
Kuhlman hit 4-of-7 from long distance, and collected four assists. Jake Cohen tallied 15 points, five boards and four blocked shots, and Chris Czerapowicz contributed 14 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats (20-6, 14-2 SoCon).
Tyler Kalinoski scored 10 points, and Clint Mann added eight points and four boards. Nik Cochran posted six points, six rebounds and a career-high nine assists.
Raijon Kelly led Samford (10-16, 7-8 SoCon) with 14 points, while Devin McNeil scored nine and Will Cook netted eight.
The Wildcats made nine triples in the first half and committed just one turnover on their way to a46-22 halftime cushion. Davidson hit four of their first six triple tries, and a Cohen trey from the top of the key made the score 22-6 midway through theperiod.
A 12-2 run, capped by the rare four-point play by Nik Cochran, pushed the lead to 34-8 with 7:41 left. The 'Cats got it done on the defensive end as well, allowing Samford to shoot 9-of-25 from the floor and 2-for-8 from 3-point range.
The 'Cats pushed the margin to 28 on a Cohen layup early in the second half, but Cook scored four points as Samford rattled off seven straight to make the score 57-36.
That was as close as the Bulldogs would get as Davidson scored nine in a row, and a Mann jumper put Davidson ahead by 30 points midway through the period.
Davidson committed just six turnovers in the contest while causing 15 Samford miscues. The Bulldogs shot just 5-of-17 from long distance after canning 10-of-14 in the season's first meeting.
UNCG 78, College of Charleston 63
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Aloysius Henry scored a season-high 22 points, Derrell Armstrong scored a career-high 30 and short-handed UNCG rallied from an early second-half deficit for a 78-63 Southern Conference win over College of Charleston, Wednesday at Greensboro Coliseum.
With Elon's loss at Davidson, UNCG (12-15 overall, 10-5 SoCon) now holds a two-game lead in the north division with three games remaining.
Playing without injured guard and Southern Conference leading scorer Trevis Simpson, the Spartans took control early, led by a point at halftime, fell behind early in the second half and then rallied for a somewhat improbable win behind arguably UNCG's best defensive effort of the season.
The Spartans had to fight back to win this one. Trailing by one, the Cougars (16-11, 8-8) opened the second half with a 9-2 run and grabbed a 39-33 lead on an Antwaine Wiggins layup with 16:25 left.
After interim head coach Wes Miller called timeout, Henry sparked a 16-1 run which helped the Spartans take control of the game. Henry started the run with a 3-pointer - his second of the year - and took a charge on the other end of the floor on Charleston's ensuing possession.
A trey by Nicholas Paulos tied the game at 39-39, then Henry got a fast-break dunk and an 18-foot jumper for a 43-39 lead with 14:31 left.
After Kyle Randall made one-of-two free throws and Wiggins made one freebie for the Cougars, Henry hit another dunk and Armstrong drained a three for a 49-40 lead with 12:06 left. Charleston never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The lead swelled to as many as 16 points when a pair of Korey Van Dussen free throws made it 74-58 with 1:31 to go.
It didn't take long for the Spartans to take control in the first half. A 7-0 spurt midway through the half - highlighted by Taylor Hoffer's steal and two-handed slam - put the Spartans up 19-12 with 9:03 left. Armstrong followed with a layup to make it 21-12.
Charleston quickly erased the deficit by scoring the next nine points, but UNCG wasted no time in pushing the lead to 29-23 on an Armstrong layup with 4:10 left in the half. The Spartans led 31-30 at halftime.
Armstrong finished the game 12-of-22 from the field, including four three-pointers. Henry was 9-of-13 shooting, 3-of-4 from the line and added six rebounds in 19 minutes. He scored 20 points in the second half.
Randall added 12 points and six assists off the bench for UNCG.
Trent Weideman led Charleston with 21 points and 18 rebounds.
UNCG shot 48 percent for the game while limiting Charleston to 36 percent shooting. UNCG forced the Cougars into 22 turnovers and 5-of-25 shooting from 3-point range.
Wofford 72, Elon 59
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - A 24-1 run in the first half propelled the Wofford men's basketball team to a 72-59 win over Elon on Wednesday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers held the Phoenix scoreless for over nine minutes in the first half as they built a lead that never dropped below eleven points in the second half.
Wofford is 17-11 overall and 10-6 in the SoCon. Elon is 13-13 overall with an 8-7 mark in conference play. The Terriers were led by Kevin Giltner with 26 points, which included six three pointers. Lee Skinner set a new career-high with 15 points and he led the team with seven rebounds. Brad Loesing added twelve points. The Phoenix was led by Jack Isenbarger with 17 points.
The Phoenix scored first, but Wofford had an early 5-2 lead after a three by Karl Cochran. Four minutes into play, Elon was ahead 6-5. After trading leads, the Terriers used an 8-0 run to take an 18-11 advantage at the twelve minute mark. A three by Kevin Giltner at the 10:21 mark pushed the lead to 21-11. The run kept going for the Terriers to 16-0 at the 8:29 mark to take a 26-11 after a lay-up by Jarell Byrd.
After taking a 28-11 lead, the Phoenix hit a free throw to end the run at 18-0 with seven minutes left in the first half. A three by Kevin Giltner gave the Terriers a 31-12 lead with 6:30 on the clock. Elon ended a nine minute stretch without a field goal, but Kevin Giltner added another three to make it a 34-12 game at the five minute mark. The Phoenix used a quick 8-0 run to cut the lead to 34-20, but back-to-back shots by Jarell Byrd pushed the lead back to 38-20 with a minute left. Elon scored the final two points of the half to make it a 38-22 score at the break. Wofford shot 59.3 percent in the first half while holding Elon to 32 percent.
To open the second half, Aerris Smith hit two free throws. Elon answered with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 40-27 before Karl Cochran hit a three pointer. The Phoenix made it a 43-32 game after a three by Brett Ervin. Wofford responded with a 6-0 run for a 49-32 lead after five minutes. Elon scored the next six points to cut the lead to 49-38, but Lee Skinner hit a three at 12:12 for a 52-38 score.
The Terriers took a 56-40 lead after a jumper by Karl Cochran with under ten minutes left in the second half. Another three by Kevin Giltner gave Wofford a 60-44 advantage with 7:05 on the clock. Four straight free throws by Brad Loesing made it a 64-48 score with 4:31 left in the game. Elon scored the next four points to cut the lead to 64-53 at the 2:26 mark, but Kevin Giltner hit a jumper to make it a 13-point lead. With a minute left, a dunk by Lee Skinner gave Wofford a 70-57 advantage. At the final buzzer, the score was 72-59 in favor of the Terriers.
With six three pointers, Kevin Giltner now has 172 for his career and he has moved into sixth place in school history. Brad Loesing scored 12 points and is at 983 for his career. The Terriers will have a winning record for the fifth straight season and will also have a winning mark in SoCon play for the fourth consecutive season.
Wofford shot 45.3 percent from the floor while Elon shot 48.1 percent overall. The Terriers were 9-of-25 from three, while the Phoenix was 4-of-15 from behind the arc. Wofford was 15-of-18 from the free throw line, while Elon was 5-of-9 from the line. Rebounding was tied at 29 for each team.
Appalachian State 79, Chattanooga 70
BOONE, N.C. - Mike Neal scored a career-high 23 points and Isaac Butts pulled down a season-best 16 rebounds to lead Appalachian State University men's basketball to a convincing 79-70 victory over Southern Conference North Division rival Chattanooga on Wednesday evening at the Holmes Center.
Appalachian (11-15, 7-9 SoCon) led by as many as 17 points in the first half and stretched the advantage to 22 early in the second period. In all, the Mountaineers led for nearly 38 minutes en route to their sixth-straight home victory over UTC (10-18, 4-11 SoCon) and the 11th-consecutive triumph by the home team in the series.
Neal made just 6-of-15 shots from the field but sank 4-of-9 three-pointers and 7-of-10 free throws to top his previous career high of 18, set just six days ago in a 79-69 win at Furman. The freshman point guard has been the Mountaineers' leading scorer in each of the past three games. He added four rebounds, three assists and a steal while playing 38 minutes for the Apps.
Limited by foul trouble to just 23 minutes, Butts pulled down 11 of his 16 boards in the first half. The 6-10, 290-pound senior also scored six points, dished out three assists and blocked three shots in one of his most complete performances of the season.
Stifling defense also played a large part in the victory, as ASU limited the Mocs to 33-percent shooting (23-of-69), including a paltry 26.5 percent (9-of-34) in the first half. UTC made just 6-of-25 three-point attempts (24 percent) and the Mountaineers blocked seven shots.
On the other end, ASU shot 45.8 percent on the night and converted 8-of-21 three-pointers to accompany 17 foul shots in 27 attempts. Jamaal Trice drained all three of his field goal attempts for eight points in 15 minutes. The junior added an assist and one of the team's five steals.
Nathan Healy scored in double figures for the sixth time this season with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He added six rebounds and a block in 26 minutes. Mitch Woods matched a career high in scoring with eight points on 3-of-3 shooting. The sophomore led the Mountaineers with four of the team's 13 assists and added five rebounds and a block.
Dontay Hampton led Chattanooga with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists off the bench. UTC's three starting guards struggled the find the basket with a combined 4-of-21 shooting performance, including just 2-of-15 three-point shots. The lack of production opened up the opportunity for the visiting team's bench to amass 45 points to ASU's 23.
The Mocs were proficient in drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line to attempt the comeback late in the game and knocked in 18-of-23 attempts from the stripe. UTC grabbed 22 of its 46 rebounds off of the offensive glass and converted 19 second-chance points. ASU hauled in 15 offensive boards - 42 overall - and racked up 13 second-chance points.