Chattanooga 69, Grand Canyon 64
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---The return of Z. Mason and a strong bench performance propelled the Chattanooga Mocs to a 69-64 win over Grand Canyon in the first round of the 24th Dr Pepper Classic. Chattanooga meets Maine in the title game Monday night in McKenzie Arena.
Mason posted a double-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks after missing the last two contests with a toe injury. He scored the first six points of the game for his squad and was joined in double figures by Ronrico White with 11, and Martynas Bareika and Lance Stokes with 10 apiece.
Grand Canyon got 22 points and 13 rebounds from Killian Larson. Dan Alexander added 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Jerome Garrison chipped in 13 points and four assists.
“(Mason) had a big double-double,” Head Coach Will Wade said. “Like I have been preaching, the rebounds are really where we missed him. I think there were a couple of rebounds that he got that I don’t think anyone else on our team could have grabbed.
Chattanooga led 45-37 with 15:37 to go in the game on a rebound follow by Stokes. The Antelopes answered with a 10-0 run as Garrison’s trey gave them a 47-45 lead at 13:42.
White swung the pendulum back in the Mocs favor on the ensuing possession. His three from the left corner off a nice pass from Casey Jones put his team back in front 48-47. Two Garrison free throws got the ‘Lopes back on top, but Bareika’s three-ball with 11:29 to go put Chattanooga ahead to stay. It also came on a feed from Jones who had a career-high five assists.
The lead swelled to nine, 63-54, on two White free tosses at 4:41 and nine again, 65-56, on his jumper with 3:09 to play. A Mason layup gave the Mocs an eight-point margin, 67-59, with 1:34 left.
The ‘Lopes did not quit. It got three free throws from Alexander and then a steal and layup by Blake Davis to close within three, 67-64, with 38 seconds to play. Chattanooga missed the front end of a one-and-one three ticks later, but Grand Canyon turned the ball over inside the 10-second mark.
White calmly stepped to the line with 7.5 to go sinking the ‘Lopes chances and providing the five-point margin of victory. He and Stokes’ combined 20 points led the Mocs reserves to a 30-7 advantage over the ‘Lopes. It was the second-most points by the bench this season (34 at Georgia) against a DI opponent.
The men from the Scenic City had a 41-40 advantage on the glass out-scoring Grand Canyon 36-26 in the paint. Neither team shot well as the Mocs hit 39.7 percent (25-63) while limiting the ‘Lopes to 36.4 percent (20-55).
It was a quick start for the home team. Mason scored on the first three possessions as the team scored in the first six for a 12-3 lead at 15:54. Stokes extended the margin to 13 twice, the second on a layup at 8:48, for a 25-12 lead.
GCU responded with a 9-0 run to get within four, 25-21, on a Jevon Estelle three-pointer. That’s as close as it got in the opening frame as the Mocs took a 36-32 lead into the break after Alexander ended the scoring with a trey.
Wichita State 81, Davidson 70
WICHITA, Kan. – Cleanthony Early recorded a double-double with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 8 Wichita State past Davidson, 81-70, in non-conference men’s basketball action Sunday afternoon at Koch Arena.
Playing their fifth ranked opponent of the season, the Wildcats fall to 4-9 overall, while the Shockers remain unbeaten improving to 13-0.
Despite the loss, Tyler Kalinoski, a Kansas native, led four Davidson players in double figures with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including three treys to go along with six assists. Tom Droney added 12 points, while Jake Belford and De’Mon Brooks scored 10 each.
After the Wildcats reeled off six unanswered to get to within one, 45-44, early in the second half, Wichita State slowly stretched the margin to double figures and put the game out of reach.
Early, the Missouri Valley Preseason Player of the Year, finished 8-of-15 from the floor, 3-of-6 from long range and missed just one of his six free-throw attempts. Ron Baker went 12-of-14 from the line to score 15 points, while Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton had 13 and 10, respectively, for the Shockers.
Off to its best start in school history, Wichita State shot 42.6 percent (23-54) overall and got to the charity stripe 41 times, connecting on 28 of them for a 68.3 percent clip.
The Wildcats also finished at 42 percent from the field, including 11 triples, while going 11-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Davidson used a 12-4 run capped off by consecutive 3-pointers from Droney and Belford to go up 32-31, but the Shockers scored the last five points of the opening period to take a 36-32 lead into the half.
The Shockers held a 39-35 edge on the glass and turned 15 Wildcat turnovers into 18 points at the other end.
College of Charleston 72, The Citadel 48
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Willis Hall led four College of Charleston players in double figures with 18 points as the Cougars downed The Citadel 72-48 on Sunday afternoon at McAlister Field House. Hall also made an impact on the glass for CofC, pulling down 13 rebounds to complete the seventh double-double of his career and first against the Bulldogs.
Entering the second half with a seven-point advantage, College of Charleston (6-7) put together a 20-7 run that lasted just over nine minutes to move out in front 54-34. The Cougars spurt consisted of four Nori Johnson treys and three points from Adjehi Baru.
The Citadel (4-10) answered by scoring six of the next eight points with buckets from Ashton Moore, Brian White and Quinton Marshall and trimmed the lead to 56-40 with 7:27 remaining.
The Cougars retaliated with a 7-0 run that included a thundering Baru dunk and a 3-pointer off the hand of Hall to stretch the margin to 63-40 with 5:51 left on the clock.
Moore scored six of The Citadel's final eight points including the 79th 3-pointer of his career, but College of Charleston sealed the 72-48 victory by knocking down 7-of-10 at the free throw line.
Hall was one of three Cougar starters to reach double figures along with Anthony Stitt (14 points) and Baru (11). Johnson contributed 12 points off the bench as College of Charleston finished 23-of-60 from the floor and 7-of-21 from 3-point range.
Hall was successful on 7-of-11 field goal attempts, draining 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. Stitt reached double figures by knocking down 5-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe. Johnson capped off his first double figure outing of the season by converting 4-of-7 attempts, all from 3-point range, and highlighted a Cougars bench that accounted for 20 points.
College of Charleston crashed the boards for 54 total rebounds (17 offensive), a season-high for any Citadel opponent. The Cougars edged the Bulldogs in second chance points (12-7) and points off turnovers (12-4) after forcing 11 Citadel miscues.
The Citadel was led offensively by the duo of Moore (15 points) and White (11). Meanwhile, Marshall proved to be a valuable resource for the Bulldogs' offense with nine points and five rebounds. Marshall tied career-highs in minutes played (27) and total rebounds (five) in the contest.
Despite hitting just 19-of-63 from the field, The Citadel finished with a two-point advantage in points in the paint. The Bulldogs also managed six points in transition as opposed to College of Charleston who finished with two.
CofC jumped out to an early 11-0 lead behind four points each from Stitt and Hall. The Cougars held the Bulldogs scoreless for the first 8:35 of the contest before Marshall Harris III found Dylen Setzekorn on the right wing for an open 3-pointer.
After a Baru dunk moved the margin back to double figures, The Citadel took advantage of successive layups by Moore, Marshall and Harris to trim the deficit to 15-9 with 9:26 left in the opening frame.
College of Charleston used four points from Stitt to provide itself breathing room with an eight-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining. However, The Citadel capitalized on three points from White and a long distance shot by Moore to pull back within four, 21-17, in a span of 1:48.
Moore sliced past the CofC defense to record his seventh point of the half and in the process cut the deficit to 21-19.
Timely shots by Marshall, Harris and Matt Van Scyoc kept the Bulldogs within two, 26-24, with 2:48 remaining. College of Charleston closed out the waning minutes of the half with an 8-3 run highlighted by four points from Hall to take a 34-27 lead into the intermission.
After getting off to a slow start with a 0-for-13 performance The Citadel knocked down 10-of-21 from the floor to close out the half 10-for-34. The rival Cougars finished 11-of-26 from the field and 10-of-14 (71.4%) at the free throw line.