Western Carolina 68, Georgia Southern 67
STATESBORO, Ga. – On a day that had a little bit of everything including a tornado warning, Georgia Southern came up just short against Western Carolina, 67-68.
Jelani Hewitt led four Georgia Southern (8-9, 1-1 SoCon) scorers in double figures with 23 points to continue his reign as the league’s top scorer. Tre Bussey scored 14 points while Angel Matias and Brian Holmes each added 11 points.
As a unit, the Eagles had their worst night of the season from downtown, going 2-for-15 from the bonusphere. Overall this year the Eagles have averaged 8.1 buckets from beyond the arc this season.
Western Carolina (10-8, 2-0 SoCon) was led by 15 points from Savannah native James Sinclair. The pair of Brandon Boggs and Trey Sumler had 13 points each. It was Sumler’s lowest output in a month and well off his season average of 19.6 ppg.
Georgia Southern led by a deuce at the break, but an 8-0 run by the visitors gave Western Carolina (10-8, 2-0 SoCon) a six-point lead early in the second stanza as Coach Byington was forced to take an early timeout. Four minutes later, however, the Eagle would re-take the lead on a pair of free throws from Hewitt.
The Eagles traded the lead through the second half multiple times, but a two-pointer with 7:50 put the Catamounts on top for good.
WCU led by six points, their largest margin of the night, with 1:46 left, but a three-pointer from Brian Holmes cut the lead to three with 90 seconds left. A Sumler lay-in with 58 seconds left took the lead to five inside the final minute.
Tre Bussey made the back-end of his two free throws with 47 seconds and two more with 40 seconds left to make the Catamount lead with a five second differential between the shot clock and game clock.
Western brought the ball down the floor and the Eagles went for the defensive stand, but Sumler made a 15-footer with seven seconds left, making the lead four.
Georgia Southern was unable to get a quick look and Hewitt made a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to extend the contest. Sumler missed both free throws at the other end to give the Eagles a chance at the win. Kyle Doyle put up a desperation heave at the horn, but was unsuccessful.
Samford 57, Furman 55
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- With just five seconds left to play Saturday, Samford’s Raijon Kelly drained a 12-foot jumper and was fouled on the shot to give the Bulldogs a decisive 57-55 Southern Conference victory against the Furman Paladins in a pivotal league contest held at the Pete Hanna Center.
With the thrilling, late-game victory, Samford (7-12, 1-3 SoCon) improved to 6-2 when playing at home this season. The Bulldogs also moved to 5-10 in their all-time series against Furman (6-11, 0-4).
Samford’s Tyler Hood scored a team-high 13 points and added three rebounds and a steal, while Isaiah Williams finished with 11 points and a game-high six assists. Kelly, who provided the late heroics for the Bulldogs, registered six points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Furman led Samford, 55-54, with just 18 seconds remaining in Saturday’s contest. Seltzer called a timeout for the Bulldogs and set up the final play. Samford would inbound the ball from the near side closest to the team’s bench.
Kelly, the Bulldogs’ junior floor general from St. Paul, Minn., gathered the inbounds pass at the top of the key, he then took a couple of quick dribbles to his right and skied high for a 12-foot jumper. On the game-winning attempt, Kelly was fouled by Furman’s Kris Acox with five seconds remaining, but still swished home the victorious bucket.
Samford, leading 56-55, then used Kelly’s first free-throw since the Austin Peay game on Dec. 7, to increase its advantage to 57-55 with less than five seconds remaining.
On Furman’s final possession, Stephen Croone lobbed up an off-balance runner, but the Bulldogs’ Tim Williams registered his fifth block of the game to secure the victory.
The Paladins’ Kendrec Ferrera led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and limited Samford’s Tim Williams to his lowest scoring output of the 2013-14 campaign. Williams, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer heading into Saturday’s contest at 17.4 points per game, finished with only four points, but added eight rebounds, five blocks and two steals.
Williams had his streak of consecutive outings in double figures snapped at 15 games.
Samford only committed five turnovers Saturday, a season-low, and outscored Furman, 10-2, in points-off miscues. The Bulldogs also attempted 11 more free throws than the Paladins, 25-14, and knocked down 84 percent of their shots from the charity stripe.
So far this season, Samford is undefeated when attempting more free throws than the opposition.
Saturday’s game featured 12 lead changes, nine ties and the Bulldogs’ largest lead was seven points, 9-2, with 16:03 left to play in the first half. Furman’s largest lead proved to be five points, 32-25, with 1:15 remaining until halftime. The Paladins took a slight, 32-29, advantage into the intermission.
Samford only shot 34.8 percent from the field, but outscored Furman, 12-6, in fast-break points.
The Bulldogs’ junior guard Connor Miller tallied nine points and two assists, while true freshman Jordan Capps make the first start of his up-and-coming Samford career and finished with eight points and two rebounds.
Furman’s Croone was held far below his season average of 20.2 points per game and recorded 11 points, four rebounds and four assists Saturday.
Chattanooga 70, Wofford 69
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A late rally by the Wofford men’s basketball team was not enough in a 70-69 loss to Chattanooga on Saturday night at McKenzie Arena. The Terriers were down nine points with 3:25 left in the game and cut it to six with 29 seconds remaining. Wofford scored five straight points to make it a one-point game and had the ball with six seconds left, but were called for a charge on the final possession.
Wofford is 7-9 on the season and 2-2 in the Southern Conference. Chattanooga is 10-8 overall and 4-0 in league play, winning six straight. The Terriers were led by Karl Cochran with 20 points, while Lee Skinner had 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. The Mocs had 23 points from Casey Jones and 17 from Z. Mason.
The Mocs scored the first four points of the game, but Wofford answered with buckets by Karl Cochran and Lee Skinner to tie the game at four after three minutes of play. Spencer Collins gave the Terriers a 6-4 lead with 16:10 on the clock. A three pointer by Karl Cochran made it a 9-6 score before an 8-0 run by the Mocs gave them a 14-9 lead at the 11:25 mark. Spencer Collins ended the run with a bucket and free throw with 10:19 on the clock for a 14-12 score.
A pair of free throws by C.J. Neumann tied the game at 14 with 9:03 left in the first half. The Mocs scored the next four points, but Wofford tied it at 18 following lay-ups by Lee Skinner and C.J. Neumann with 6:30 remaining on the clock. Chattanooga took a six point lead before a jumper by Spencer Collins made it a 24-20 score with 3:45 remaining in the half. Justin Gordon cut the lead to 24-22 and Lee Skinner made it 26-24 with sixty seconds left. The Mocs scored the final bucket of the half for a 28-24 lead at the break.
To open the second half, the Mocs scored the first four points for a 32-24 lead. A bucket by Lee Skinner and a three by Eric Garcia cut the lead to 34-29 at the 17:35 mark. An easy lay-up by Lee Skinner and a jumper by Eric Garcia made it a 36-33 score after four minutes of play. A huge dunk by C.J. Neumann cut the lead to 36-35 and the score was 41-39 after a shot by Justin Gordon with 14:20 on the clock. The Mocs lead was 46-41 at the 13:24 mark before a lay-up by Karl Cochran made it a three-point game.
Chattanooga pushed the lead to 51-44 with 10:18 left in the second half. The Mocs run went to 8-0 for a 55-44 advantage before Karl Cochran had a lay-up with just under nine minutes to play. Chattanooga led 57-46 a minute later. A bucket and a pair of free throws by Eric Garcia made it a 61-54 score with four minutes remaining in the game. A three pointer by Karl Cochran cut the lead to 65-59 with 3:16 on the clock. A pair of free throws with 1:30 remaining by Lee Skinner made it a 65-61 game.
After the Mocs hit a jumper, Wofford answered with a three by Karl Cochran for a 67-64 score with 51 seconds left. Chattanooga added a jumper and free throw for a 70-65 lead at the 29 second mark. Karl Cochran made a free throw and then got a steal. Jaylen Allen added two free throws, then he stole the inbounds pass and score on a lay-up with 7.2 remaining. Allen missed a free throw that could have tied the game, but the Mocs then missed two free throws at the other end. Wofford had one last shot but Karl Cochran was called for an offensive foul driving to the basket with 1.1 left which ended the game.
Wofford shot 43.3 percent from the floor. Chattanooga shot 45.6 percent overall. The Terriers were 4-of-18 from with three, while the Mocs were 2-of-8 from behind the arc. Chattanooga was 16-of-26 from the line while Wofford was 13-of-19 on free throws. The Terriers had a 38 to 36 advantage on the glass. The Mocs blocked seven shots. Spencer Collins fouled out with 3:25 left in the game.
Elon 74, The Citadel 65
ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team won its second straight league game a 74-65 win over The Citadel on Saturday night, Jan. 11, inside Alumni Gym.
Elon improves to 9-8 on the year (2-1 Southern Conference) with the win and is now 7-1 at home. The Citadel drops to 4-14 (0-3 Southern Conference) with the setback.
Elon ended the first half on an 11-4 run over the final 2:45 and started the second session on a 10-2 run to take a double-digit with less than 16 minutes remaining, never looking back from that point forward. The Bulldogs pulled no closer than seven points down the stretch, as the Phoenix held on for its second straight league win.
Lucas Troutman led all players with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field to go along with a game-high nine boards. Troutman also recorded two blocked shots, moving him into 10th all-time in Southern Conference history in blocked shots.
Sebastian Koch had the hot hand early for the maroon and gold, knocking down four first-half triples. Koch ended the game with 14 points, all of which came in the first 20 minutes. Koch now has 974 career points.
Jack Isenbarger played 24 minutes off the bench and finished with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including a 3-of-7 clip from beyond the arc.
Elon recorded just four turnovers in the win, its lowest total during the Matheny era.
The two teams jockeyed for position in the opening frame, but the Phoenix carried the lead and momentum into the locker rom at intermission after a Troutman dunk with less than 30 seconds to play made it a 36-29 game.
Elon shot 45 percent in the first half, knocking down 6-of-18 from long distance, led by Koch’s five triples.
Austin Hamilton put the Phoenix up by 15 points with 15:57 remaining in the first half after completing an old-fashioned three-point play that gave Elon a 46-31 lead, its largest of the game at that point.
But the Bulldogs managed to narrow the gap, as a Marshall Harris triple with 7:33 left made it a seven-point game, 59-52. That was as close as The Citadel would get, however.
Davidson 78, Appalachian State 66
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson shot a blistering 66.7 percent in the second half, led by 15 of De’Mon Brooks’ team-high 19 points, to defeat Appalachian State, 78-66 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night in Belk Arena.
Along with winning 16 straight against league foes dating back to last season, the Wildcats extended their conference home winning streak to 24 consecutive.
Brooks was almost perfect, going 7-of-8 from the floor to lead three Davidson (7-10, 3-0 SoCon) players in double figures. Tyler Kalinoski recorded 16 points, including 3-of-6 3-point attempts, while Chris Czerapowicz added 15.
Tom Droney just missed the 10-point plateau with nine points to go along with a game-high seven assists.
As a team, the Wildcats finished above 50 percent for the third consecutive game, with a 57.1 percent clip.
Appalachian State (4-12, 0-3 SoCon) couldn’t have asked for a better start, opening 9-of-12 from the floor while racing out to a 21-11 lead. Despite three starters on the bench for a majority of the first half with two foulseach, the Wildcats slowly chipped away and closed on a 14-6 run to take a one-point lead into the break, 35-34.
In addition to holding the Mountaineers without a field goal for thefinal 4:35 of the half, Davidson got 10 points from Kalinoski in the period.
The Wildcats opened the second half on an 11-2 spurt capped off by aKalinoski trey to go up, 46-36. Shortly after Appalachian State trimmed thedeficit to six, 54-48, with 12:09 to play, the Wildcats responded with another run to push the margin back to double digits.
Jay Canty paced four Mountaineers in double figures with 23 points. Frank Eaves and Tab Hamilton both added 11, while Tevin Baskin chipped in 10.
Michael Obacha led the way on the glass with 10 rebounds for ASU, which held a 31-27 edge in rebounding.