The Citadel 69, Wofford 63
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team was defeated 69-63 by The Citadel on Thursday night at McAlister Fieldhouse. The Terriers were within three points with ninety seconds remaining in the game, but could not get any closer in the loss.
Wofford falls to 8-14 on the season and 2-7 in the Southern Conference. The Citadel is 5-15 overall and 2-8 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Karl Cochran with 15 points, Spencer Collins with 14 points, and Lee Skinner with 12 points. Indiana Faithfull led the team with six rebounds and five assists. The Bulldogs were led by Mike Groselle with 24 points, while P.J. Horgan had 16 points and ten rebounds.
The Citadel scored first with a free throw and quickly took an 8-2 lead less than four minutes into the contest. Justin Gordon cut the score to 10-6 with a lay-up at the 14:30 mark. The Bulldogs were able to take a 15-6 lead after a three pointer by Matt Van Scyoc, but Wofford answered with a three pointer by Karl Cochran. With 11:52 remaining in the first half, the Bulldogs had a 17-9 advantage.
Wofford used a 7-0 run that included a three pointer by Spencer Collins to make it a one point lead for The Citadel at 17-16 with ten minutes on the clock. The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 25-20 with 4:42 left in the half, but Wofford was able to take a 26-25 lead after a jumper by Spencer Collins at the three minute mark. The Bulldogs scored the next six points and had a 31-26 advantage. At the break, The Citadel had a 33-30 lead.
The Terriers scored the first four points of the second half for a 34-33 lead. The Citadel answered with the next four points and had a 37-33 advantage at the 18:25 mark. Wofford tied the game at 38 on a shot by Lee Skinner and took a 40-38 lead after a lay-up by C.J. Neumann with 15:53 on the clock. The Bulldogs regained the lead at 45-52, but Wofford tied the game at 45 after a jumper and free three throw by Lee Skinner with 13:46 remaining.
The next five points were scored by the Bulldogs, giving them a 50-45 lead with 12:48 on the clock. Four minutes later, the lead was 58-49. The Citadel's 13-4 run was ended with a three pointer by Karl Cochran to cut the score to 58-52 and a lay-up by Cochran made it 58-54 with 6:20 remaining. The teams traded three pointers for a 61-57 score, then the Bulldogs had a 64-58 advantage with 3:59 on the clock. After taking a 66-58 lead, Wofford answered with a three by Spencer Collins and a jumper by Lee Skinner to make it a 66-63 score with a minute left. The Bulldogs made three free throws over the final 26 seconds to take a 69-63 win.
Wofford shot 39 percent from the floor while The Citadel shot 57 percent overall. The Terriers were 5-of-24 from with three, while the Bulldogs were 3-of-8 from behind the arc. The Citadel was 14-of-18 from the line while Wofford was 10-of-11 on free throws. The Bulldogs had a 34 to 26 lead on the glass. John Swinton and Kevin Hickson missed the game due to injury. The loss ended an eleven game winning streak over the Bulldogs and it was the first loss at The Citadel since February 23, 2002.
Davidson 71, Samford 51
DAVIDSON, N.C. - De'Mon Brooks led four Davidson players in double figures with 22 points as the Wildcats cruised to their fifth straight victory with a 71-51 win over Samford Thursday evening in SouthernConference men's basketball action at Belk Arena.
Ignited by four consecutive 3-pointers to start the second half, including three from Chris Czerapowicz, Davidson (14-7, 9-1 SoCon) opened the period on a 30-8 run to take a 55-32 lead and put the game out of reach.
Brooks finished the night 8-of-10 from the floor and 6-for-8 at the line, while scoring 17 of his game-high 22 points after intermission.
Jake Cohen finished with 14 points and a game-best seven rebounds, Czerapowicz added 11 points and Nik Cochran scored 10 for the Wildcats, who shot 47.9 percent, including 15-of-29 (.517) in the second half.
Davidson, which continues to lead the nation in free-throw shooting, knocked down 20 of its 23 tries for an 87 percent clip.
Tyler Hood and Tim Williams were the only Bulldogs in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively, as the Wildcats held Samford (7-14, 5-3 SoCon) to 41 percent shooting.
Both teams shot just over 42 percent in the first half, but it was the Wildcats' 9-of-10 effort at the line and a JP Kuhlman jumper with three seconds remaining that gave Davidson a 25-24 lead at the break.
The Wildcats finished with a 33-23 edge on the glass.
Furman 81, Georgia Southern 74
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Georgia Southern Men's Basketball ran into a hot-shooting Furman squad on Thursday night, falling 81-74 to the Paladins. Furman shot 64 percent from the field, but spent much of the contest above the 70 percent mark.
C.J. Reed scored 20 points on the night, reaching 20-or-more points for the second time this season for the Eagles who fall to 9-13 overall and 3-6 in league play. He was 2-for-4 from downtown to go with five assists. Eric Ferguson scored 14 points in the loss with three steals, helping to spark the Eagle comeback in the second half.
Marvin Baynham and Tre Bussey each scored eight points while Baynham added seven rebounds to lead the Eagles who out-rebounded Furman 25-24 with a 10-5 lead on the offensive glass. Brian Holmes and Cameron Baskerville each added seven points to the cause.
Furman (6-13, 3-5 SoCon) was led by 20 points from Charlie Reddick on 6-for-6 shooting overall and a 5-for-5 mark from downtown. Bobby Austin scored 17 with a perfect 3-for-3 mark beyond the arc. Three other Paladins scored in double-figures, giving the hosts five scorers in double-figures.
The only bad line for Furman was 18 turnovers off 12 GSU steals. Georgia Southern converted those turnovers into 26 points.
Georgia Southern opened the game shooting very well from the field, but would go nearly six minutes down the stretch in the first half without a field goal. The Eagles trailed by 18 points with four seconds left in the first half, but a three-pointer from midcourt by Reed cut the lead to 15 points at the intermission.
After the break GSU got it to within 11 points before Furman stretched the lead back to 14 points with just less than 12 minutes remaining in the contest.
GSU ramped up the full court pressure in the second half, forcing turnovers and putting the Paladins under duress on the offensive side of the floor. The Eagles got the lead under 10 points for the first time in the second half with 8:50 remaining in the contest.
With just better than six minutes remaining, the Eagles got the lead to six on a dunk by Baynham, his second of the evening. On the next trip, Baskerville drained a three-pointer to cut it to three. Reed got a steal on the next trip and was summarily fouled where he made both ends of the one-and-one. The Paladins missed a basket on offense, allowing Bussey to give the Eagles their first lead of the game with 5:05 remaining on a 9-0 GSU run.
The teams traded the lead three times over the final four minutes, but back-to-back three-pointers by Austin inside the final minute gave the Paladins a lead they would not relinquish. Ultimately, Furman would stretch the lead to seven points with 26 seconds remaining and hold on for the 81-74 victory.
After shooting as good as 72 percent from the field in the game's first 32 minutes, the Paladins cooled, slightly, from the field and finished the game with a season-best 64 percent mark from the field. Georgia Southern shot the ball very well, finishing the game at 53 percent from the field. Both teams knocked down their three-point shots with the Eagles shooting 42 percent from downtown while Furman made 67 percent from beyond the arc.
Elon 72, UNCG 66
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Elon University men's basketball team captured its sixth straight win on Thursday night, Jan. 31, defeating the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Spartans, 72-66, inside the Greensboro Coliseum.
Elon improves to 14-7 (7-2 Southern Conference) on the year and remains atop the North Division with the victory, while UNC Greensboro falls to 7-13 (4-5 Southern Conference) with the setback.
Despite an uncharacteristic shooting night for most of 40 minutes, Jack Isenbarger came up with a clutch three-pointer for the Phoenix with 1:31 remaining after connecting on his only field goal make of the game to give his squad a 68-66 advantage.
The maroon and gold defense buckled down on the next possession, forcing a turnover by the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, Trevis Simpson, to retain the lead and not relinquish it down the stretch.
Lucas Troutman and Ryley Beaumont sunk key free throws in the waning moments, going 4-of-4 at the line with less than 30 seconds remaining to help the Phoenix to its sixth consecutive win overall and sixth straight win over the Spartans.
Troutman finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and a 7-of-8 clip at the free throw line. Troutman, who has scored in double figures in 20 straight games, enters Saturday's game with 995 career points and will look to join Isenbarger as the second Phoenix player to reach the 1,000-point plateau this season. Troutman also finished with three blocks to move ahead of Bernard Torain for second in Elon history, as the Belton, S.C., native now has 134 blocked shots in his career.
Beaumont and Tanner Samson were the only other Elon players in double figures, as both ended the night with 12 points. All of Samson's makes came from long distance.
Elon led by as many as 10 points in the opening frame, taking a 39-29 lead into the locker room at intermission.
Troutman led all players with 11 first-half points, while Samson dumped in nine on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. As a team, Elon shot 43 percent from the field in the first half on 13-of-30 field goal attempts.
The Spartans tied the game with 14:57 remaining and forced a Phoenix timeout after a jumper in the paint by Kayel Locke knotted it at 42-all.
With the shot clock winding down, Josh Bonney helped Elon take a 55-46 lead with 9:09 remaining and force a Spartans timeout after finding Beaumont underneath the basket for an easy layup.
Trevis Simpson gave the Spartans a one-point lead with 7:03 remaining after hitting a deep three from the wing to put Elon down, 56-55. The lead marked the Spartans first since the 7:12 mark of the first half.
Following Isenbarger's three-pointer with 1:31 to play, the Phoenix got a big stop after forcing Simpson to turn the ball over after he drove into the lane with authority with 1:21 remaining.