#1 Duke 67, Davidson 50
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A 12-0 run to break a halftime tie and 18 points from Ryan Kelly led No. 1 Duke to a 67-50 victory over Davidson Wednesday night in non-conference basketball action before 13,607 fans in Time Warner Cable Arena.
Jake Cohen led Davidson (7-6) with 19 points, successfully sinking all eight free throw attempts, and added eight rebounds. He became Davidson's blocks leader with his 160th blocked shot. De'Mon Brooks led all with 12 rebounds and added eight points. Tyler Kalinoski scored nine points.
In addition to his 18 points, Kelly was one of three Duke (13-0) players with seven rebounds. Three other Blue Devils reached double figures as Quinn Cook added 15 points, and Mason Plumlee and Tyler Thornton each put up 10 points. Plumlee added in seven boards and Rasheed Sulaimon also pulled seven off the glass to go along with eight points.
In addition to 12 unanswered to start the second half, the Blue Devils held the Wildcats scoreless until the 13:52 mark and eventually stretched their margin to as many as 19 with under a minute to play.
The first 20 minutes of action featured five ties and six lead changes before the two teams finished the half deadlocked at 29-29. Duke opened its largest lead at five with 2:39 remaining in the frame, but a 3-pointer by Kalinoski and a layup by Brooks evened the score before the break.
Trailing 48-33 following a Thornton 3-pointer with 10:34 left, Davidson responded with a small spurt to cut the deficit to eight, 50-42, on a Cohen trey, but that was as close as the Wildcats would get.
Duke shot at a 45.7 percent clip for the game, and went 12-for-24 in the second half while holding Davidson to 30.4 percent for the game. Both teams excelled at the free throw line, as Duke converted 20-of-22 attempts (90.9 percent) and Davidson hit 12-of-13 (92.3 percent).
Georgia Tech 74, Chattanooga 58
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (5-9) had an uncharacteristically off night on the boards leading to a 74-58 loss at Georgia Tech (10-2). The Yellow Jackets topped UTC 42-25 on glass which is a season-low total.
Farad Cobb and Z. Mason scored 14 points apiece to pace the Mocs. Drazen Zlovaric added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Marcus Georges-Hunt led all scorers with 16 for Tech. Robert Carter, Jr., chipped in 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Mfon Udofia added 14 points.
Chattanooga got off to a good start leading for a majority of the first half. Cobb's midrange jumper at 8:48 gave his squad a seven-point lead, 17-10. Back-to-back foul calls on Mason put him on the bench for the final eight minutes.
That's when Georgia Tech claimed the lead. An 18-6 run to close the half gave it a 28-23 halftime advantage. Cobb's three to open the second half got the Mocs within two, but the Yellow Jackets used another extended run for a comfortable lead.
Tech took its largest lead as Kammeon Holsey capped a 32-16 run with a three-point play at 6:03. At 60-42, it appeared the Mocs were done. Someone forgot to tell them.
Two Cobb free throws closed the lead to 11, 60-49, at 4:28. UTC got within 11 three more times but could not mount a significant run.
The Yellow Jackets' 16 rebounds and 21 second chance points are season highs by an opponent against Chattanooga this year. The minus-17 rebound margin is the most since minus-24 against UConn in the 2009 NCAA East Regional. The Mocs entered the game plus-seven per game on the glass for the season.
UTC scored 16 points off 13 Tech turnovers. That's a season-best against a DI opponent in 2012-13. The 11 Mocs miscues are the fewest since 11 at LSU almost a month ago. The squad has just 35 (11.7/game) since coming back from the holiday break.
Neither defense allowed much in the first half, while both offenses picked it up in the second. Tech shot 47.4 percent (27-57) for the game, 34.5 percent (10-29) in the opening 20 minutes and 60.7 percent (17-28) in the second. Chattanooga managed just 32.1 percent (9-28) in the first half, but ended up at 42.0 percent (21-50) overall after a 54.5 percent clip (12-22) after intermission.
UAB 65, Georgia Southern 61
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball stymied a high-scoring UAB offense on Wednesday night, but couldn't get past the Blazers in the first game of 2013. UAB took the 65-61 victory as the Blazers withstood a late charge by the Eagles.
"I think we are getting better every time we take the court," said Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young. "UAB didn't press us tonight, but we still turned the ball over 23 times. We did a lot of things right, we rebounded the ball well and moved the ball very well. We did all the things it takes to win, but the turnovers hurt us tonight."
The Eagles held UAB to its lowest output of the season at home as the Blazers scored 65 points behind 19 from Terrence Jones dropped 19 points with seven assists to lead the hosts while Rod Rucker added 16 points.
The Eagles were paced by 22 points from C.J. Reed who scored 22 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. The senior, however, was responsible for eight of the Eagles' 23 turnovers. Tre Bussey scored 17 points with a perfect 3-for-3 mark downtown.
Eric Ferguson posted a double-double for the fourth time this season and 11th time in his career with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Ferguson is three rebounds shy of the 500 rebound mark for his career. Ferguson also blocked two shots and lead the Eagles with three assists. As a team, Georgia Southern out-rebounded UAB 36-30 with a 12-11 edge on the offensive glass.
Kameron Dunnican had seven rebounds, a career-high, while matching his career-high with three blocks. Marvin Baynham added six points with three rebounds.
Georgia Southern led by as many as four in the early minutes of the game. UAB, however, was able to squeeze out a three-point advantage at the halftime interval, a lead that would grow to eight points as Georgia Southern was unable to score in the first three and a half minutes in the second half.
The Eagles' would get within two points with 6:24 remaining before the Blazers took the lead back to nine points with 3:11 left. GSU made another run in the final minute of the game, cutting the UAB advantage to three points twice in the final 60 seconds. UAB made their free throws down the stretch to cement the 65-61 victory.
With the loss, Georgia Southern falls to 6-8 on the year while UAB improves to 8-6 in 2012-13.