Georgia Southern 68, Western Carolina 65
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - A driving layup by Willie Powers III with 1:40 remaining gave Georgia Southern a lead that would not be relinquished on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles took a 68-65 road win over Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center. The Eagles shot 57.1 percent from the filed on the night and went 7-of-16 from downtown to stop surging the Catamounts.
Jelani Hewitt led the Eagles (10-12, 8-4 SoCon) with 18 points, draining a pair of clutch three-pointers and grabbing a season-high five steals. The sophomore cemented the GSU victory with a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds of the game. Senior Ben Drayton III scored 14 points in the game, posting 10 of the Eagles' first 12 points on the night.
Eric Ferguson reached double figures after being held scoreless in the first half. He scored 13 points with a pair of blocks and eight rebounds. The Eagles as a team out-rebounded Western Carolina 31-23 in the contest. Powers finished the game with nine points and seven assists.
Western Carolina (10-15, 4-8 SoCon) was led by 17 points from Keaton Cole, while Harouna Mutombo dropped 16 points off the bench for the Catamounts.
The Eagles led by as many as nine in the first half, but Western Carolina made 6-of-9 from downtown in the opening period to cut GSU's lead to 33-30 at the break. The Eagles, however, shot 56.5 percent from the field to open the night.
Western erased the margin on the first possession of the second half with a three-pointer. The Eagles would respond with six-straight fast break points, but the Catamounts would respond from the perimeter to level the scores again with 17:30 left in the half.
The teams exchanged small leads over the middle moments of the second half. The Catamounts led by three points out of the under eight minute timeout, 60-57. A driving deuce by Hewitt cut the lead to one 5:08 remaining. An alley-oop from Powers to Ferguson on the next possession gave GSU a 61-60 lead.
With 3:28 left, Western converted an old fashioned three point play to go back up by two points. Hewitt, who made the foul on the play, atoned for his mistake with a trey at the other end of the floor to give GSU a one point lead.
Western Carolina scored a two-pointer with just over two minutes to go up one, but Powers drove for his ninth point of the night and a one point GSU lead. A WCU miss at the other end gave the Eagles the ball with 1:06 remaining as Coach Young took a timeout to set a play. Ferguson's trey attempt gave the Catamounts the ball back with just over 40 seconds remaining. They missed and got the rebound to set up a shot by Trey Sumler. His try missed and the Eagles grabbed the rebound.
With just two team fouls, Western was called for four fouls before the Eagles keyed the ball in with 10.5 seconds remaining. The Catamounts sent Hewitt to the line for a one-and-one with 9.7 remaining. He made both attempts to give GSU a three point lead.
The Eagles gave their two last fouls to delay Western's trip up the floor and the Catamounts were able to get a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer, but saw the attempt rim out at the horn for a 68-65 GSU victory. The win, combined with Samford's overtime win at Wofford put the Eagles into a tie with the Terriers for second place in the SoCon South.
There were 17 total lead changes in the game with 14 coming in the second half. Western never led by more than six points, but it was the Catamounts who went dry shooting in the final two minutes that helped secure GSU's 10th win of the year.
Samford 66, Wofford 61 (OT)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- The Samford University basketball team battled for its sixth victory in eight games Saturday as the Bulldogs earned a nail-biting 66-61 overtime triumph in Southern Conference play against the Wofford Terriers in front of 2,012 raucous fans at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
With the win, Samford (9-14, 6-6 SoCon) ended a five-game losing streak versus Wofford (15-9, 8-4 SoCon) and snapped the Terriers' six-game winning streak on the season. Saturday's loss marked Wofford's first loss at home since a 72-69 setback against Davidson on Dec. 1.
Samford swept its SoCon road trip this week and moved to .500 in conference play this season. Since opening the 2011-12 campaign with an 0-4 league record, the Bulldogs have been victorious in six of their last eight outings. Samford's recent wins include triumphs against Chattanooga, Elon, Georgia Southern, Davidson, Appalachian State and Wofford.
With 3:11 remaining in regulation Saturday, the Bulldogs trailed Wofford by seven points, 54-47. The Terriers had possession of the ball and were looking to extend their lead to nine. On the play, Wofford's Brad Loesing caught a pass in the middle of the lane before Samford's Jeffrey Merritt stripped him of the ball for a key steal.
On the next possession, Merritt drained his second key 3-point basket of the half to shift momentum of the game and trim Wofford's lead to 54-50. Merritt finished Saturday's contest with 10 points and six rebounds. He also connected on a pair of crucial 3-pointers in the final six minutes of regulation.
Following Merritt's key 3-point basket, the Bulldogs' Raijon Kelly scored on a leaner in the lane and Will Cook cut to the basket for a right-handed layup to even the score at 54-54 with 40 seconds left to play.
On Samford's game-tying bucket from Cook, the Bulldogs' Merritt started the possession by posting up on the left block. Merritt drew a double team from both of the Terriers' big men and found Cook wide-open cutting to the rim from the right flank. Cook finished the contest with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Samford scored the final seven points of regulation Saturday to force overtime. The game marked only the Bulldogs' second overtime contest of the season, and their first win of the year. Earlier this year, Samford dropped a heart-breaking 83-78 overtime decision at home against Mercer on Dec. 7.
Following Cook's game-tying layup, Wofford still had 34 seconds remaining to attempt a game-winning shot.
On the final possession of regulation, the Terriers' Kevin Giltner faked a last-second shot from the left corner. Once in the air, Wofford's senior sharp-shooter found Lee Skinner cutting to the basket. Skinner caught the pass in stride and laid it up from the right side. The ball caromed off the backboard, rolled around the rim and eventually came off the front lip.
Samford's hopes of playing extra time were still intact following Skinner's miss, but then Wofford's Karl Cochran came flying in from the left block to attempt the tip-in. With four seconds remaining, Cochran tapped the ball up towards the basket, it rolled onto the top of the rim, hung tantalizingly on the front for what seemed to be two seconds before it rolled out and into the arms of Merritt to send the game to overtime.
The Bulldogs outscored the Terriers 12-7 in overtime to tally the 66-61 victory. Samford never trailed in the extra period and received four points apiece from both Drew Windler and Kelly.
With 45 seconds left in overtime and the Bulldogs' leading, 60-59, Kelly knocked down a key turn-around jumper to extend Samford's advantage to 62-59. Wofford's Loesing then forced up an off-balance, behind-the-head, reverse layup on the next possession that bounced directly to Cook for the key stop.
Once Cook grabbed the rebound, he quickly passed it ahead to Kelly who found Windler streaking down the court for a thunderous two-handed dunk to give Samford a decisive 64-59 advantage with 27 seconds left to play.
Windler's dunk gave him 16 points in the game on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. He also pulled down six rebounds and finished 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Samford finished with five players scoring in double figures for the second time this season. On Jan. 28, the Bulldogs also tallied five players in double-figure scoring as they knocked off first-place Davidson at home, 77-74.
Kelly, the Bulldogs' explosive true freshman from St. Paul, Minn., led Samford with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. He also tallied four rebounds, four assists, three steals in a career-high 42 minutes of playing time. Kelly once again proved to be clutch from the free-throw line as he knocked down both attempts from the charity stripe in overtime.
Wofford finished with four players scoring in double figure and were paced offensively by Loesing's 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting. The Terriers' senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, also handed out a game-high seven assists.
Giltner added 14 points for Wofford, while Skinner and Cochran dropped in 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Terriers only shot 37.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Samford knocked down 46.3 percent of its shot attempts and finished 6-of-18 from 3-point range.
Samford handed Wofford its first loss of the season in which it was leading at the half. Heading into Saturday's game, the Terriers were 13-0 when holding an advantage at the intermission.
Wofford took a slight 29-28 advantage into the half as Loesing converted on a driving right-handed layup to beat the buzzer. The score gave the Terriers their one-point halftime advantage as well as game-high nine points at the intermission.
Samford played stifling defense in the opening period and held Wofford without a point for nearly six minutes. From the 10:03 mark in the first half until 4:26, the Terriers were stuck at 18 points. Wofford finally snapped its five-minute, 37-second drought with a pair of free throws from Skinner.
Skinner, the Terriers' freshman forward from Lombard, Ill., tallied eight points in the first half on a 3-for-3 performance from the field.
Samford was paced offensively in the opening period by both Windler and Cook with seven points apiece. The Bulldogs also received four points each from Tyler Hood, Merritt and Kelly.
In the first half, Samford shot 50 percent from the field (12-of-24), but only connected on 2-of-7 attempts from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' 28.6 3-point shooting percentage was topped by Wofford's first-half mark of 35.7 percent. The Terriers knocked down 5-of-14 shot attempts from long range.
College of Charleston 74, Appalachian State 62
BOONE, N.C. - College of Charleston's Andrew Lawrence made 6-of-8 three-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points as Appalachian State University men's basketball suffered a rare second-consecutive home loss, 74-62, on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
Although Appalachian (9-13, 5-7 SoCon) dominated the glass with a 46-32 rebound advantage, it could not overcome Charleston's hot shooting from the perimeter as the Cougars knocked down 11-of-26 three-pointers, including 44.4 percent in the second half, to break away late in regulation.
For a second-straight game, Nathan Healy led the Apps in scoring with 12 points. The junior added eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. He was joined in double figures by Tab Hamilton and Isaac Butts, who scored 10 points each.
Butts and Hamilton were among the few bright spots for ASU's offensive efficiency, as they combined to shoot 8-of-12. The rest of the squad combined for a paltry 18-of-58 from the floor as ASU shot just 37.1 percent on the afternoon.
Despite CofC's seven three-pointers in the first half alone, Appalachian trailed by only three points (35-32) at halftime. The Mountaineers remained within striking distance for the first 11 minutes of the second half but, sparked by seven-straight points from Lawrence, Charleston went on a 10-0 run to stretch its advantage 59-45 with just under seven minutes to play and ASU never cut the deficit to less than 12 points the rest of the way.
The Apps scored 42 points in the paint, compared to just 20 for the Cougars, including eight points by Andre Williamson. The senior forward shrugged off a 1-for-6 first half to finish the game with a 4-of-11 shooting mark to accompany eight rebounds, an assist and a block. ASU's 42 points in the paint were the team's second-highest mark of the year and the most in Southern Conference play.
Mike Neal dished out four of ASU's 15 assists to add to his three points, two rebounds and two steals. Omar Carter chipped in one assist to go along with seven points and eight boards.
ASU sank 7-of-8 free throws but CofC made it to the line 22 times and converted 17 of its foul shots. Trent Wiedeman added 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Cougars, who improved to 2-2 under interim head coach Mark Byington.
Davidson 88, Chattanooga 61
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Davidson forward Chris Czerapowicz scored 21 points, and the Wildcats buried a season-high 17 3-pointers to earn an 88-61 Southern Conference men's basketball victory over Chattanooga Saturday afternoon in Belk Arena.
Czerapowicz canned 6-of-13 from 3-point range, and Nik Cochran made 5-of-9 and scored 15 points. De'Mon Brooks collected 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Jake Cohen recorded 11 points and eight rebounds.
Drazen Zlovaric posted 15 points and six rebounds to lead Chattanooga (9-16, 3-9 SoCon), while Omar Wattad and Ronrico White each scored nine.
After shooting 2-for-10 from3-point land at Furman Thursday, Davidson was 17-for-40 from beyond the arctoday. Chattanooga doubled the post consistently which opened up the outside shots for the Wildcats (17-5, 11-1 SoCon). Davidson registered 22 assists on 32 baskets.
On the defensive end, the Wildcats held Chattanooga to 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 11-of-29 in the first half as Davidson built a 17-point lead at the break.
The Wildcats jumped out to a20-6 advantage to start the game, hitting three of their first four 3-pointattempts with two of those coming from Cochran. The Wildcats pushed the margin to 30-16 midway through the period as Davidson knocked down 12 of its first 16 shots from the field in the contest.
The margin grew to as many as 19 on a Cochran triple with 1:36 left in the frame. White made a jumper to leave the score at 47-30 at the break. Cochran started the second stanza with a triple for Davidson, and another by Brooks 2:46 into the half made the score 58-35.
Chattanooga trimmed a 25-point deficit down to 18 with 7:52 left in the game, but Cohen answered with a jumper and Czerapowicz got a conventional 3-point play to push the lead back to 23. The margin never got below 20 points the rest of the way.
Furman 93, UNCG 85
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Trevis Simpson and Derrell Armstrong combined to score 52 points but UNCG couldn't get enough big stops when they needed to as Furman handed the Spartans a 93-85 setback, Saturday at Timmons Arena. The loss snapped UNCG's seven-game winning streak.
Playing on the road for the first time in three weeks, UNCG (9-15 overall, 7-5 SoCon) struggled in the early going against the more physical Paladins (12-11, 6-6). Furman led by as many as 11 points in the first half and held a 39-30 advantage at halftime.
Furman threatened to run away with the game early in the second half, opening a 14-point lead when a Bobby Austin three-pointer made it 47-33 with 17:01 to play.
But the Spartans charged back, using a 15-6 run to pull within 53-48 when Aloysius Henry completed an alley-oop dunk with 12:06 to play.
The Paladins quickly pushed the lead back to double figures (60-50) and eventually led by 13 points when Brandon Sebirumbi completed a three-point with 10:01 left to make it 63-50. But again, UNCG rallied.
Nicholas Paulos made a three-pointer, Armstrong hit two free throws and Simpson threw down an alley-oop dunk of his own to pull the Spartans to within 63-57 with 8:52 to go. Henry made it 63-59 on a tip-in moments later, getting UNCG as close as they'd been since early in the first half.
The Spartans twice pulled to within three points, the last time coming when a Simpson jumper made it 68-65 with 5:57 remaining.
Furman, however, responded to the charge. The Paladins went on an 8-2 run and led 76-67 with 4:54 left.
UNCG kept it interesting down the stretch, pulling to within 81-77 on a Simpson layup with 2:06 to play, but Furman's Jordan Loyd sank a three-pointer from the left corner with the shot clock winding down on the Paladin's next possession, making it an 84-77 game with 1:31 to play. UNCG never got closer than four points after that.
Simpson finished with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-21 shooting. The sophomore guard went 8-of-9 from the free throw line and added five rebounds. Armstrong scored 24 points, going 11-of-12 from the line. He also chipped in with six rebounds and two assists.
Henry enjoyed his second straight fine effort for the Spartans, scoring 13 points with three boards and two blocks.
Sebirumbi led Furman with 20 points, one of six Paladins in double figures. Richard Brown (16), Charlie Reddick (14), Bryant Irwin (12), Bobby Austin (11) and Loyd (11) also reached double digits.
UNCG shot 42 percent for the game, including 53 percent in the second half. The Spartans were 27-of-31 from the free throw line, but just 6-of-21 from three-point range. UNCG out-rebounded the Paladins, 40-32.
Furman shot 45 percent for the game and made 37-of-47 from the line.
Elon 71, The Citadel 66
ELON, N.C. - Behind a career night from sharpshooter Jack Isenbarger, the Elon Phoenix knocked off The Citadel Bulldogs, 71-66, in front of a raucous Alumni Gym crowd in Saturday night Southern Conference men's basketball action. Isenbarger nailed 11-of-16 field goals for 34 points, knocking down five buckets from beyond the arc.
With the victory, the Phoenix moved into first place in the North Division, holding a half game lead over UNCG. Elon (12-10, 7-4) has won four of its last five games and matched its league win total from all of last season.
The sophomore guard is the first Elon player to reach 30 points since Chris Long '10 dumped in 30 points on his Senior Night against UNCG on February 19 last year. Isenbarger is averaging 23.2 ppg over the last six contests.
Elon trailed by one at the break, 32-31, but two early triples by Isenbarger helped give the Phoenix a second-half lead it would never relinquish. As is typical of Bulldog teams, The Citadel (4-19, 1-11) fought every step of the way, never allowing Elon's lead to eclipse double figures.
Trailing 63-55 with two minutes on the clock, The Citadel scored six points in less than 60 seconds to make it a two-point game, but the Phoenix made good on six straight chances from the charity stripe to secure the victory.
Elon sophomore forward Lucas Troutman followed up a 26-point outing on Thursday night with 14 points and eight rebounds. Elon got 68 of its 71 points from its starting lineup.
The Citadel was led by Lawrence Miller's 15 on five makes from beyond the arc. League-leading scorer Mike Groselle added 14 points on 7-of-13 from the floor.
The Bulldogs got off to an aggressive start, knocking down 4-of-5 attempts to open the game and running out to a 20-11 lead at the 12:03 mark. With the visitors' lead still at nine a couple minutes later, Elon made the Bulldogs pay for an offensive rebound when Isenbarger connected from long range to jump-start a 9-0 Phoenix stretch.
The guard found a friendly rim on the next trip down the floor, Isenbarger's three ball pinging off every part of the iron before dropping through the net. Spradlin wrapped up the run with a trey and the Phoenix knotted the game at 22 with 7:31 to go before the break.
The score was tied three more times before an old-fashioned three-point play by none other than Isenbarger gave the Phoenix its first lead, 29-28, just before the final media timeout of the half. After the teams traded buckets, The Citadel's Ashton Moore dumped in a layup before the end of the half to put the Bulldogs back on top.
The game was tied once in the early minutes of the second half, but a Ryley Beaumont jumper at 16:52 followed by an Isenbarger long ball made it 39-34 in favor of the Phoenix. A 19-8 Elon run spanned the first nine minutes of the half and grew the home team's spread to nine, 49-40.
The Citadel would get as close as four several times over the next six minutes, but the Elon offense seemingly always had an answer. The Phoenix shot 54.5 percent over the final 20 minutes, while holding The Citadel to a 39.4 percent clip.
Elon finished with a slight 34-33 edge on the glass, just the fifth time this year the Phoenix has won the board battle.