Drexel 72, Davidson 58
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Frantz Massenat scored a game-high 25 points to lead Drexel to a 72-58 victory over Davidson in non-conference men’s basketball action Sunday afternoon at Belk Arena.
The Wildcats, who played without starters De’Mon Brooks and Tom Droney, fall to 4-7 overall, while the Dragons improve to 7-2.
Brian Sullivan led three Wildcats in double figures with 14 points, while Tyler Kalinoski recorded his third double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Barham added 11 points off the bench.
For the second straight contest, Davidson struggled offensively, converting just 32.8 percent of its attempts from the field. Only 3-of-22 3-point attempts fell and the ‘Cats converted just 54.8 percent (17-31) of their attempts from the line.
For Drexel, Massenat went 6-for-10 from the field and made 11-of-16 free throw attempts, and was joined in double-figure scoring by Chris Fouch with 17 points. Dartaye Ruffin led the Dragons on the glass with 11 rebounds.
Davidson, which opened 0-of-12 from the floor and didn’t make a field goal until the 8:37 mark, trailed by as many as 14 in the first period, before closing the halftime deficit to 37-27 with consecutive layups from Barham and Jack Gibbs.
The Wildcats were able to get to within six on several occasions in the second half. A pair of free throws by Kalinoski with 6:38 remaining cut the Dragons’ advantage to 54-48, but Drexel outscored the Wildcats 18-10 over the remainder of the contest to close out the victory.
Northern Kentucky 87, Chattanooga 71
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.---The Chattanooga Mocs (4-7) lost 87-71 at Northern Kentucky (2-8) Sunday afternoon despite a career-high 29 points from junior forward Martynas Bareika. Bareika’ 3pt shooting kept the Mocs in it early.
NKU used a 25-7 run to open the second half to take control of the game. Dean Danos capped the run with a three at 13:36 to extend the lead to 67-45. Ronrico White ended the spurt with two free throws just 24 seconds later.
The Norse led the rest of the way. The Mocs got within 13 late on two Bareika free throws, but that is as close as it would get.
"They just stirred our defense up and drove us at-will to the basket,” Head Coach Will Wade said. “They did a good job of driving us. They were quicker than us and really took us off the bounce. They spread us out, drove us and shot a high percentage against us.
“Pretty much the same game plan as Morehead State had against us,” he added. “We tried to play some zone, and we got a couple of stops in the zone, but we couldn’t rebound the ball out of the zone.
“I think 71 points should be enough to win a lot of games, but we just couldn’t get stops.”
Bareika’s 24 led all scorers. He also set new career highs in field goals made (7), attempted (14), free throw made (12) and attempted (13). Casey Jones added 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Jordan Jackson’s 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals led NKU. He led six double-figure scorers joined by Jalen Billups and Anthony Monaco with 12 apiece, and Danos, Tyler White and Jake Giesler with 10 each.
Chattanooga got off to a fast start leading by as many as 10 in the opening minutes. Alex Bran’s four-point play at 15:52 gave his squad a 14-4 advantage.
The Norse stormed back with a 12-0 run taking its first lead on a four-point play of its own by Cole Murray. That made it 16-14 with 12:40 to go until the break. NKU led by as many as eight in the opening frame before settling for a 41-38 halftime margin.
The Mocs played without leading scorer and rebounder Z. Mason. Mason, who is among the Southern Conference leaders averaging 18.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, missed today’s contest with a foot injury.
NKU shot 66.7 percent (32-48) from the field, 58.3 percent (7-12) from 3pt range. It shot 70.6 percent (17-24) in the second half. The Norse won the battle of the boards 33-22 and got 43 of its 87 from their bench.
Winthrop 80, Appalachian State 72
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Appalachian State University men’s basketball nearly finished off its biggest comeback in over a decade, but was unable to overcome a 19-point first-half deficit in an 80-72 loss to Winthrop on Sunday at Winthrop Coliseum.
Despite a slow start that saw the Mountaineers (2-7) fall behind by double digits just five minutes into the contest, Appalachian clawed its way back and used a 22-8 run to cut the Eagles’ (6-2) lead to just five points (41-36) at the break.
After seeing its lead cut to just three points twice in the opening two minutes of the final period, Winthrop was able to regain its footing and pushed its lead to nine points (57-48) with 12:38 left in the contest. The Eagles’ lead would hover between seven and nine points for the next four-plus minutes before Appalachian nearly erased the deficit.
After Ty Toney sliced through the lane and connected on a twisting, acrobatic layup to make it 66-63, Chris Burgess nailed a pair of free throws to make it 66-65 with 5:18 to go. Winthrop pushed the lead back to four points with less than five minutes to play, but a layup from Tevin Baskin and a pair of free throws by Toney helped to once again make it a one-point game (70-69) with just over three minutes to play.
It would be all the closer the Mountaineers would get, however, as Jerome Joab’s three pointer on the next possession have the Eagles a three-point cushion and Winthrop got several key stops while converting crucial free throws down the stretch en route to the victory.
Tab Hamilton led the Apps with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and tied a career-high with six three-point field goals. Burgess poured in 15 points and dished out a game-high five assists while Baskin added 12 points and seven rebounds. Michael Obacha led all players with 13 boards while scoring eight points.
Joab paced the Eagles with 20 points and tied for the team lead with five rebounds while Keon Johnson (15) and Keon Moore (11) also scored in double figures. Winthrop connected on 44.2 percent (23-of-52) of its shots while the Mountaineers shot 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the floor. The Eagles finished with a 27-of-40 mark at the charity stripe and shot 17 more free throws than Appalachian, which was 17-of-23.
UAB 84, Georgia Southern 62
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – A 23-0 run by UAB late in the first half erased Georgia Southern’s lead and paved the way for a 84-62 defeat to the Blazers in the Magic City.
“We were right in the game early and we had a great start,” said Head Coach Mark Byington. “Unfortunately we took some bad shots and UAB capitalized by getting out in transition and hurting us. I thought our effort was good, but we didn't play smart and times and that is something we’we've got to learn from. Our advantage was quickness and our guards got some good drives to the basket early.”
Curtis Diamond led the Eagles (5-6) with 13 points and was the only Georgia Southern player in double figures. The duo of Jelani Hewitt and Tre Bussey, who averaged over 44 points this season each, but were held to 14 combined points with seven from Hewitt and eight from Bussey.
Overall, it was Georgia Southern’s lowest scoring output of the season as the Eagles shot a season-low 32.4 percent from the field (22-of-68). The Eagles were 4-of-21 from downtown and were beaten 47-38 on the rebounding glass. The visitors pulled 17 offensive rebounds, their second-highest total of the season.
Brian Holmes had nine points while four Eagles shared high rebounding honors with five each.
Chad Frazier led UAB (8-2) with 19 points while Jordan Swing added 12 and Robert Williams dropped 11. Rod Rucker had 11 boards as the Blazers shot 48.5 percent from the field and made 6-of-17 from the bonusphere.
Georgia Southern took early advantage in the game, leading by as many as six in the early minutes. UAB responded to take their first lead of the game with 6:40 left in the opening period. The Blazers strung the lead out to 20 points at halftime with a 23-0 run that lasted the final 7:30 of the first half. Over that time, Georgia Southern went 0-for-13 from the field.
The Eagles got within 16 points just two and a half minutes into the second period, but that would be as close as the visitors would get on the evening. Ultimately UAB led by as many as 31 with 7:17 remaining.