Georgia Southern 80, Samford 78
STATESBORO, Ga. -- In its first road game of the 2013-14 Southern Conference season, the Samford University basketball team dropped an 80-78 decision against the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday in an early league contest held at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Samford (6-11, 0-2 SoCon) outscored Georgia Southern (8-8, 1-0 SoCon), 45-40, in the second half of action Saturday, but the Eagles were able to use a 33-25 edge in rebounding to hang on for the two-point victory, 80-78.
With its win, Georgia Southern improved to 5-1 at home this season, while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-9 when playing away from the friendly confines of the Pete Hanna Center.
The Eagles jumped out to a quick start Saturday and held a 12-point advantage in the first half of play. Samford trimmed Georgia Southern’s advantage to 40-33 at the half and then competed much better in the final period.
The Bulldogs’ Tim Williams scored 18 of his team-high 23 points in the second half and knocked down a free throw at the 6:23 mark to cut the Eagles’ lead to 65-61. Then, on Georgia Southern’s ensuing possession, junior Jelani Hewitt knocked down one of his game-high five 3-point baskets to extend the Eagles’ advantage back to seven points at 68-61.
With a minute left to play in Saturday’s contest, Williams drained another free throw to trim Georgia Southern’s lead back down to four at 75-71. The teams then traded free throws for a few more possessions until Russell Wilson scored on an acrobatic, high-flying layup to make it a 79-75 game with 15 seconds to play.
The Eagles’ Tre Bussey connected on his game-high ninth free throw at the 12-second mark to make it an 80-75 contest before Williams knocked down the first 3-point basket of his Samford career at the buzzer to make the final score of the game, 80-78.
The Bulldogs’ Williams finished Saturday’s contest with a team-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. He entered the game as the nation’s eighth-ranked player in field-goal percentage at 62.7 percent. Williams, Samford’s 6-foot-8 sophomore from Chicago, Ill., also added eight rebounds and eight free throws, but committed five turnovers.
The starting five comprised of Williams, Isaiah Williams, Connor Miller, Chris Longoria and Tyler Hood accounted for 73 of Samford’s 78 points.
Samford finished with five players scoring in double figures for the first time this season Saturday. Williams led the way with his 23 points, while Connor Miller and Isaiah Williams both added 14 points apiece. Williams also tallied four assists and finished a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.
The Bulldogs’ Hood finished with 11 points, six rebounds and an assist, while Longoria scored a career-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
Samford shot 49.1 percent from the floor as a team and turned in a solid 8-of-19 performance from 3-point range. The Bulldogs’ Miller knocked down four 3-point baskets to lead the team. At the charity stripe, Samford shot 75 percent (18-of-24), but was outscored by Georgia Southern by eight points at the free-throw line, 26-18.
The Bulldogs were whistled for six more fouls than the Eagles on Saturday, but Georgia Southern’s Marvin Baynham and Kyle Doyle both fouled out of the game.
The Eagles out-rebounded Samford, 33-25, including a 12-9 disparity on the offensive end of the court. Georgia Southern posted a 21-16 advantage in points off turnovers.
Hewitt and Bussey combined to score 45 of the Eagles’ points Saturday, while Doyle came off the bench to score 12. Point guard Brian Holmes also added 10 points for Georgia Southern.
Western Carolina 74, Elon 62
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team dropped its Southern Conference opener on Saturday, Jan. 4, with a 74-62 setback versus the Western Carolina Catamounts inside the Ramsey Center.
The Phoenix could not sustain a second-half punch by the Catamounts after overcoming a double-digit deficit to claim a one-point lead, as Western surged with a 9-0 run late to go up by 17 points.
Western forced Elon into a season-high 23 turnovers in the loss and held the Phoenix to a 5-of-14 performance from long distance.
Elon falls to 7-8 (0-1 SoCon) with the setback, while Western improves to 9-8 (2-0 SoCon) and remains undefeated at home with the win.
Austin Hamilton finished one point shy of his career high mark, scoring 19 points in the setback. Hamilton was one of three Phoenix players in double figures, as Sebastian Koch and Lucas Troutman finished with 16 and 15, respectively.
The Catamounts took an early 10-point lead in the first half following a James Sinclair jumper with 13:47 to play. WCU forced an Elon timeout 47 seconds later after a Kenneth Hall layup off an offensive rebound that made it a 15-3 game.
Elon trailed by as many as 12 in the opening frame, but battled all the way back to tie the game with 1:22 left after Hamilton ripped WCU’s Trey Sumler at midcourt and took it in for a layup to make it a 30-30 game.
Elon closed the final 5:53 on a 15-4 run to cut the Catamounts lead to two points, 32-30, at the break.
The Phoenix knocked down 11-of-18 from the free throw line in the first half and held the Catamounts to 39 percent (12-of-31) shooting to get themselves back in the game.
Hamilton gave Elon its first lead of the game with 16:03 to play in the second period after slashing to the basket for a layup to give the Phoenix a 39-38 edge.
Tom Tankelwicz forced Elon to call a timeout with 8:23 remaining in the second period after connecting on his third triple of the half to give the Catamounts a 58-49 advantage.
Western took its largest lead of the game with 5:46 to play and forced another Phoenix timeout after going on a 9-0 run to take a 68-51 advantage.
The Catamounts held on from that point forward, as Elon could pull no closer than 10 points down the stretch.
Chattanooga 72, Furman 63
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Chattanooga turned 23 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points en route to a 72-63 victory over Furman in the Southern Conference men’s basketball opener for both schools Saturday on YP Court at Timmons Arena.
Senior Z. Mason led four Mocs in double figures with 20 points, 13 rebounds and six of Chattanooga’s nine blocked shots on the afternoon while Casey Jones delivered 13 points, 13 boards and eight assists. Ronrico White and Gee McGhee rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Mocs, who posted a 46-37 edge on the glass, led by five at 53-48 with 7:30 remaining in the game when Martynas Bareika converted a layup to ignite an 8-0 run. After Casey Jones knocked down a jumper, Mason and McGhee scored on offensive rebounds to give Chattanooga a 61-48 lead with 5:09 to play.
Furman trimmed the margin to eight with a minute to play, but White stepped up to drain four straight free throws to hold off the Paladins as Chattanooga moved to 7-8 overall and 1-0 in the SoCon. The Paladins slipped to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Sophomore Stephen Croone led Furman with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting and forward Kendrec Ferrara added 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Larry Wideman reached double figures with 10 points while senior Charlie Reddick grabbed a team-high nine boards.
After trailing 28-21 late in the first half, Furman closed the period on an 8-2 run, but the Paladins failed to score on their final five possessions of the half as the Mocs carried a 30-29 lead into intermission.
Wideman knotted the game at 32-32 on a trey in the opening minutes of the second half before a Mason put back started a 12-2 Chattanooga spurt that gave the Mocs the lead for good.
Chattanooga shot just 38.2 percent from the field, but made 14-of-22 free throw attempts and outscored Furman 17-8 on second chance opportunities. The Paladins shot 43.9 percent from the field and 10-of-14 at the charity stripe.
Davidson 78, Wofford 63
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – De’Mon Brooks scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Davidson to a 78-63 victory over Wofford in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday evening at Johnson Arena.
Voted SoCon Preseason Player of the Year, Brooks missed just four of his 16 shot attempts en route to his 18th 20-point effort and eighth career double-double. His 12 boards matched a personal best for the third time.
Classmate Tom Droney also had an impressive night, as he scored 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and a 4-for-4 effort at the line. He was also perfect beyond the arc, sinking both 3-point attempts.
The Wildcats, who have won 11 of their last 12 conference openers, ended their longest losing streak since the 1991-92 season to improve to 5-10 and 1-0 in the league.
Davidson, which got 17 points from Brooks in the opening half, used a 17-3 run early in the period to stretch its lead to double figures, before going to the break up, 37-28. In addition to going 8-of-11 from the floor and grabbing seven boards in the first 20 minutes, Brooks scored 11 of his points during the ‘Cats game-changing spurt.
The Wildcats shot above 60 percent in both periods to finish at a season-high 61.2 percent. Davidson also made 4-of-10 3-pointers and 14-of-17 free throw attempts to finish at 82.4 percent.
Shortly after Wofford (6-8, 1-1 SoCon) got to within seven to begin the second half, Davidson reeled off nine unanswered and evidently stretched its advantage to as many as 21 on two occasions.
Lee Skinner led two Wofford players in double figures with 22 points and nine rebounds.
The Wildcats held a 32-23 advantage on the glass and finished with 36 points in the paint.