Elon 64, Furman 60
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Clutch free throws and a stingy defensive effort down the stretch helped the Elon University men's basketball team to a 64-60 victory over the Furman Paladins on Saturday, Feb. 9, at Timmons Arena.
Elon improves to 16-8 overall and 9-3 in Southern Conference play with the win, while Furman falls to 6-16 (3-8 Southern Conference) with the setback. Elon's 16 wins are the most for the program in the Division I era and most since 1996-97. It marks the first time Elon had registered back-to-back nine-win seasons in conference play since making the transition to the Division I ranks as well.
Trailing by two with less than two minutes left, Sebastian Koch buried a baseline jumper with the shot clock winding down to tie the game at 57-all. After Furman split a pair of free throws on the next possession to take a one-point lead, Tanner Samson hit a jumper in the paint to give the Phoenix a 59-58 edge with less than a minute on the clock.
The maroon and gold came up with a key stop with less than 40 seconds to play after Furman's Stephen Croone drove through to lane and missed, giving Elon possession and forcing the Paladins in a must-foul situation with 26.8 seconds remaining.
Elon sunk 5-of-6 from the free-throw line from that point forward, keeping the Paladins at arm's length to secure the win, its eighth victory in its last nine games.
Koch led the Phoenix with a season-high 19 points after going perfect from the field on 6-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. The Munich, Germany, native also went 5-for-6 at the free throw line, as Elon shot 80 percent (12-of-15) as a team.
Ryley Beaumont ended the day with 15 points, including 13 in the second half, on 6-of-10 shooting, while Samson finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
Elon shot 47 percent from the field as a team while holding the Paladins to a 46 percent clip.
The Paladins led by as many as 11 points in the opening frame after a Croone drive to the basket for a layup put Elon behind, 23-12, with 7:41 to play.
The Phoenix cut the deficit to four, 33-29, at intermission, as Egheosa Edomwonyi came up with a clutch block for the maroon and gold just before the clock hit zero to limit the damage.
Furman connected on 52 percent (15-of-29) from the field in the first half and won the battle on the boards, 18-13. The Phoenix shot 42 percent in the first half as Koch tied for a game-high 10 points with the Paladins' Colin Reddick.
Reddick ended the day with a game-high 22 points and 11 boards to lead the Paladins.
Wofford 59, UNCG 50
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - With a strong defensive performance, the Wofford men's basketball team earned a 59-50 win over UNCG on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers held the Spartan's top scoring offense in the Southern Conference to their lowest point total of the season and only 32 percent shooting for the victory.
Wofford moves to 10-15 on the season and 4-8 in the Southern Conference. UNCG is 7-16 overall and 5-7 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Spencer Collins with 20 points and Karl Cochran had his first double-double of his career with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Spartans were led by Trevis Simpson with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The Spartans opened the game with a three pointer and they had a 5-2 lead after five minutes of action. After Wofford cut the score to 9-6 after a basket by Spencer Collins, the Spartans hit a three pointer for a 12-6 lead at the 10:17 mark. Spencer Collins added a three and Karl Cochran hit a long two as the Spartans led 13-11 with 8:18 left in the first half.
Wofford pushed the run to 8-1 and took a 14-13 lead on a lay-up by Aerris Smith. The Spartans answered with a three, but the Terriers tied the game at 16 on a shot by Karl Cochran with 5:14 remaining in the half. C.J. Neumann made a lay-up and free throw at the 3:42 mark for a 19-16 lead for the Terriers. After taking a 21-18 lead on a shot by Jarell Byrd, Trevis Simpson hit a three to tie the contest at 21. The Spartans scored the final bucket of the half for a 23-21 lead at the break.
Spencer Collins tied the game at 23 to open the second half and Wofford took a 26-25 lead on a three pointer by Karl Cochran. After trading baskets, the Spartans regained the lead at 29-28 with 16:58 on the clock. Wofford used a basket and free throw by Indiana Faithfull for a 31-29 lead at the 14:17 mark. A three pointer by Karl Cochran pushed the Terrier advantage to 36-31 two minutes later.
UNCG scored the next four points to cut the lead to 36-35 before a jumper by Spencer Collins gave Wofford a 38-35 lead with 9:10 remaining in the second half. After the Spartans tied the game at 38, the Terriers regained the lead after a lay-up and free throw by Spencer Collins for a 45-40 lead with 5:48 on the clock. After taking a 49-40 lead, the Spartans chipped away and the advantage was 51-46 with 2:54 left. Spencer Collins hit two free throws with 53 seconds on the clock for a 53-46 lead, but a bucket by UNCG cut the lead to 53-48 nine seconds later. The score was 55-50 when Wofford was able to hit four-of-six free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds for the 59-50 win.
Wofford shot 38.2 percent from the floor while UNCG shot 32.1 percent overall. The Terriers were 3-of-12 from with three, while the Spartans were 4-of-20 from behind the arc. UNCG was 10-of-17 from the line while Wofford was 14-of-19 on free throws. The Terriers had a 40 to 38 lead on the glass.
Davidson 87, Appalachian State 52
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Nik Cochran became the 44th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point plateau and Davidson shot 53.6 percent in an 87-52 victory over Appalachian State in front of 5,090 fans Saturday evening at Belk Arena.
Tom Droney and Jake Cohen led Davidson (17-7, 12-1 SoCon) with 14 points each, De'Mon Brooks added 13 and Chris Czerapowicz recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Nathan Healy and Tevin Baskin were the lone Mountaineers (10-13, 6-6 SoCon) in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Davidson, which led 49-23 at the break, closed the first 20 minutes on a 16-1 run that was ignited by Cochran's 1,000th career point, a 3-pointer at the 6:20 mark.
In addition to shooting a blistering 65.2 percent in the first half, the Wildcats finished the opening period with 14 assists on 15 field goals, including seven 3-pointers.
The Wildcats carried their impressive play into the second half stretching the margin to as many as 39, 81-42, with just under five minutes to play.
Davidson matched its season-high with 21 assists, while holding a 42-32 advantage on the glass.
College of Charleston 71, Chattanooga 68
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (9-15, 4-7 SoCon) lost a gut-wrenching 71-68 decision to College of Charleston on Legends Weekend in McKenzie Arena. The loss came in spite of a phenomenal effort from a trio of UTC student-athletes.
Z. Mason, Gee McGhee and Drazen Zlovaric combined for 62 points. Mason tallied a career-high 27 to go with six rebounds. McGhee added 20 for his second-straight 20 or more effort, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Zlovaric chipped in 15 points on seven-of-11 shooting.
Trent Wiedeman came off the bench for 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Cougars. The backcourt tandem of Andrew Lawrence and Anthony Stitt each scored 13 in support of the reserve big man.
Charleston built on its one-point halftime lead to open the second half. It took its largest lead of eight, 49-41, on a Stitt free throw with 16:30 to play. His layup with 14:33 remaining made it a seven-point game, 53-46.
The Mocs made a run. Ronrico White got it started with a layup at 14:11. He then picked off a Stitt pass at midcourt and found McGhee on the left wing. The freshman nailed his third trey of the game to cut it to two, 53-51, at 13:58.
Another defensive stop led to a third straight UTC score. This time it was Mason hitting his career-best fourth triple of the contest at 12:55, putting his squad ahead 54-53.
Willis Hall scored on back-to-back trips for the Cougars to get the lead back, 57-54, at 11:45. But the Mocs would not fold. McGhee hit a free throw before Zlovaric took over. He followed a missed layup with a putback and old-fashioned three-point play to turn the margin back in UTC's favor, 58-57, at 11:11.
With the game tied 63-63 at 4:56, CofC scored on three of its next four possessions while UTC went cold. Wiedeman's layup with 1:56 to go made it a five-point game, 68-63. The Mocs closed to within two twice in the final minute but could not get the big shot when they needed it. White's desperation heave from well in the backcourt glanced off the rim at the buzzer.
The loss is a bitter pill when taking a cursory look at the stats. The 6-of-16 effort at the free throw line ended up as the team's undoing. The Cougars on the other hand made 16 of 21 at the charity stripe.
Mason sparked the Chattanooga faithful early. He scored 17 points in the opening 20 minutes as the two teams sparred throughout the half. There were four ties and seven lead changes alone in the period. The Cougars built a seven-point margin on Lawrence's layup at 6:24, 29-22.
Down six, Mason scored on four of five possessions to tie the game at 33 with 2:31 until intermission. Zlovaric's jumper in the lane at 1:05 made it 35-33 UTC heading into the final minute. Stitt ended the scoring with a three-pointer with eight seconds left as White ended the first half the same as the game, with a deep three-pointer just off the mark.
White set a new career high with six assists on the evening. He also made three steals. His play at the point was pivotal in the squad setting a new season-low, for the third game in a row, for turnovers with seven.
Mason not only had a career high in points with 27 and three-pointers made with four, but he marked a couple more along the way. His 11 field goals made and 21 attempted are new bests, while 34 minutes played ties his high.
Western Carolina 71, Georgia Southern 62
STATESBORO, GA. - Brandon Boggs scored 18 points, and Western Carolina shot 53 percent from the field to earn a 71-62 Southern Conference men's basketball victory over Western Carolina Saturday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
C.J. Reed led Georgia Southern (10-15, 4-8 SoCon) with 20 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals, and Brian Holmes scored 13 points off the bench.
Trey Sumler posted 17 points and five rebounds for Western Carolina (9-16, 6-6 SoCon), and Tawaski King collected 14 points and five boards.
The Catamounts went 29-for-55 from the floor while holding the Eagles to 36 percent shooting for the game. Western Carolina also outscored GSU 36-22 in the paint.
After the score was tied 34-34 at halftime, Western Carolina opened a five-point lead early in the second half and extended that margin to 15 points with just under nine minutes remaining. The Catamount lead came as GSU went 1-for-10 to open the second half from the field and did not score a bucket from for nearly eight minutes.
The Eagles ramped up the defensive pressure and used a 7-0 run to trim the margin to eight points with 7:05 remaining in the game. Georgia Southern cut the margin to 63-58 on two Marvin Baynham free throws with 3:09 to go, but James Sinclair answered with a jumper and after a defensive stop, Boggs got to the rim for a layup.
Eric Ferguson missed a jumper for GSU, but the Eagles forced a WCU turnover. Reed was fouled and made two from the line to cut the margin to seven with 45 seconds left. The Eagles were forced to foul, and the Catamounts went 4-for-4 from the line to seal the victory.
Reed paced the Eagles with 14 points in the first half as Georgia Southern matched the Catamounts in the first half 34-34. Sumler scored nine in the opening half, surpassing his total from the meeting two weeks ago by one.
Samford 79, The Citadel 67
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team shot a season-high 65.9 percent from the field Saturday and forced The Citadel into 20 turnovers as the Bulldogs cruised to a 79-67 victory in front of 2,342 red-clad fans at the Pete Hanna Center.
With Saturday's win, Samford (8-16, 6-5 Southern Conference) completed its season sweep of The Citadel (6-17, 3-9 SoCon) and moved to 4-7 in the all-time series. On Jan. 12, the Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 69-65 triumph over the Cadets at McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston, S.C. Samford's win at The Citadel was its first at McAlister Fieldhouse in school history.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 20-8 lead Saturday and never looked back. Samford shot a sizzling 68 percent from the field in the first half and garnered a 48-32 advantage at the intermission.
Early in the second period, The Citadel used a minor rally to trim the Bulldogs' advantage to 57-47 with 14:53 to play, but Samford then went on a decisive 16-2 run midway through the half to put the contest out of reach, 73-49. During the Bulldogs' streak, Clide Geffrard, Jr., drained a pair of deep 3-pointers, Tyler Hood scored seven points and Raijon Kelly dropped in a 3-pointer.
Hood, Samford's 6-foot-6 sophomore from Lenoir City, Tenn., tallied a season-high 19 points to lead all scorers Saturday. The Bulldogs' hard-nosed forward also finished 8-of-11 from the field and added five rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
Samford concluded the victory with four players scoring in double figures. True freshman Tim Williams and Kelly both chipped in with 17 points each, while Geffrard, Jr., overcame some early foul trouble to register 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs also received five points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals from sophomore guard Connor Miller.
Russell Wilson turned in one of his best games of the season Saturday. The Bulldogs' true freshman from Lake Wales, Fla., provided a spark off the bench with eight points, five assists, two rebounds and a pair of steals.
The Citadel finished with three players scoring in double figures and was paced by Mike Groselle and Janeil Jenkins with 13 points apiece. The pair combined to score 14 of its 26 points from the free-throw line. The Cadets' Matt Van Scyoc chipped in with 10 points and two rebounds, while P.J. Horgan and Marshall Harris III added eight points each.
In a well-played SoCon contest that saw each team shoot over 48 percent from the field, both Samford and The Citadel finished with 19 rebounds apiece. The Bulldogs outscored the Cadets, 30-18, in the paint and tallied 20 assists on 29 field goals.
Samford's 65.9 shooting percentage was its best of the 2012-13 campaign, as was its 79 points scored. In their best scoring output of the Seltzer Era Saturday, the Bulldogs topped their previous high mark of the season; 75 points at UT Martin on Dec. 19. Samford's shooting total was also its best since facing UT Martin when the Bulldogs finished at 56.5 percent.