Chattanooga 82, The Citadel 78
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior forward Z. Mason scored 30 points and added 14 rebounds, notching his sixth double-double of the season, as Chattanooga earned an 82-78 victory over The Citadel at McAlister Field House on Monday evening.
The game was decided in the final minutes as Citadel guard Marshall Harris III provided his team with a 75-69 lead with 3:48 remaining in the contest. Chattanooga responded by piecing together an 8-1 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer by Martynas Bareika, as the Mocs assumed a 77-76 with 1:40 on the clock.
Ashton Moore knocked down a pair of critical free throws for the Bulldogs (4-12, 0-1 SoCon), who regained the lead 78-77, but five unanswered points down the stretch by the Mocs, including a free throw by Mason, made for the four-point final.
With an eight-point lead in hand following the intermission, The Citadel used 3-pointers by Harris and Matt Van Scyoc to stretch the lead to 48-36 in less than minutes.
Greg Pryor drew a foul from Moore to narrow the lead to 10, but it was eight straight points by Mason that keyed a 10-0 Chattanooga run as the lead was trimmed to 48-46 with 17:03 remaining.
Four points off the hand of Quinton Marshall kept The Citadel in front, 56-53, before a timely trey by Eric Robertson brought the game to a 56-56 tie with 11:51 left.
A layup by White followed by two Moore free throws gave the Dogs a four-point lead, 60-56, but back-to-back buckets by Mason knotted the game at 60-all with just over 10 minutes to go in the game.
The Dogs stretched their lead back to four, 69-65, following a layup by Van Scyoc, however a 17-8 run over the final 5:07 made the difference for the Mocs.
Mason was one of three players in the Chattanooga lineup to reach double figures, joined by Casey Jones (14 points) and Ronrico White (13) as the Mocs move to 8-8 overall and 2-0 in Southern Conference play.
The Citadel was led offensively by the trio of Moore (21 points), White (20) and Van Scyoc (16). Moore not only made his impact on the offense, hitting 6-of-16 from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range, but he climbed the glass for a career-high nine rebounds.
White reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in his young career by virtue of hitting 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 at the charity stripe. Van Scyoc found his shooting form as he knocked down 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range in the contest. It marked the third time this season and ninth game in his career that Van Scyoc has hit at least four from downtown.
The Citadel connected on 28-of-62 field goal attempts in the game, knocking down 9-of-18 from 3-point range along the way. The Bulldogs gathered 38 rebounds (19 rebounds) to finish with 13 second chance points.
The Mocs capped off the game by hitting 27-of-65 from the field and 22-of-27 from the free throw line. Chattanooga managed to rebound from a difficult shooting first half to convert 14-of-31 from the floor in the second half. UTC also came through with a solid performance at the free throw line, hitting 16-of-21 to earn their 26th all-time victory in Charleston since joining the Southern Conference.
Chattanooga closed out the game with 41 rebounds, snagging 22 on the offensive glass, which allowed the Mocs to finish with a 38-35 advantage in the paint.
Moore scored eight of the first 10 points for the Bulldogs who established a six-point lead in less than three minutes into the opening half before Chattanooga responded with six unanswered, including layups by Gee McGhee and Lance Stokes to bring the game to a 10-10 tie.
After regaining the lead on a pair of White conversions at the line, The Citadel took advantage of a Van Scyoc trey and a series of layups by Warren Sledge and Marshall to push the lead to 19-12.
Chattanooga responded to the challenge, trimming the lead to four on a layup by Stokes, but following a Harris 3-pointer and a White layup The Citadel offense was back in rhythm with a 28-20 advantage.
Junior P.J. Horgan, making his first appearance of the season after suffering a back injury, gave the Dogs their first double-digit lead, 30-20, with 7:28 remaining.
The Mocs used six points from White, including a trey at the 3:03 mark, to make for a 36-30 contest. The Citadel answered by scoring eight of the next 12 points to close the half with a 42-34 lead.
The Bulldogs closed out one of their best first half shooting performances of the season by knocking down 16-of-30 from the field and 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The Citadel tandem of Moore (12 points) and White (10) led the Dogs in scoring as they combined to hit 7-of-15 from the floor. Van Scyoc capped off a nine-point first half by knocking down 3-of-6 from the field, hitting all three of his field goals from beyond the arc.
Chattanooga, facing pressure from The Citadel defense throughout the opening half of play, wrapped up the first half hitting 13-of-34 from the floor.
Elon 75, Appalachian State 66
ELON, N.C. – Despite nearly erasing a 20-point deficit with a valiant second-half effort, Appalachian State University men’s basketball could not overcome a slow start in a 75-66 loss at Elon in its Southern Conference opener on Monday at Alumni Gym.
The Mountaineers (4-10, 0-1 SoCon) shot just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) through the first 20 minutes while the Phoenix (8-8, 1-1) connected on an incredible 65.4 percent (17-of-26) from the floor in the first half to take a 15-point lead into the locker room.
Appalachian looked good early on as it grabbed a quick 4-1 lead on layups from Jay Canty and Tevin Baskin and clinged to an 8-7 advantage after Canty nailed a pair of free throws with 13:42 to play in the opening period.
Elon responded with 16-5 run over the next seven-plus minutes to take its first double-digit lead (23-13) with 5:54 on the clock. The run was fueled in large part by App State’s inability to make a bucket for almost 10 minutes in the first half. After Canty’s layup with 17:10 to play, the Mountaineers would not score from the field until Baskin nailed a jumper at the 7:43 mark.
After the Apps cut the deficit to eight points (23-15) on Tab Hamilton’s layup with 5:19 left, the Phoenix would mount a 12-5 run to end the half as Jack Isenbarger connected on a mid-range jumper with six seconds remaining to give Elon a 35-20 lead at the half.
The Phoenix was able to stretch its lead to as many as 20 points (50-30) midway through the second half, but the Mountaineers would mount a comeback by reeling off a 22-10 run over a seven-plus minute span to cut the deficit to just eight points (60-52) with 4:01 left to play.
During the run, Baskin scored seven points to fuel the Apps, but Elon responded with several timely three-pointers to push its lead back to double-digits (63-52) with 2:49 on the clock.
A three-pointer from Frank Eaves would make it 69-61 with just 42.2 seconds remaining and Appalachian forced a turnover on the ensuing inbound play, resulting in a Phoenix foul that sent Baskin to the line, where he was able to cut the deficit to six points (69-63) with 40.0 ticks left.
Despite nearly blowing its huge lead, Elon would keep its composure in the waning moments by connecting on several key free throws down the stretch en route to its first league win.
Canty led all players with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting while tallying four steals. Baskin scored 17 points and Eaves poured in 11 off the bench while Michael Obacha led the Mountaineers with six rebounds.
Ryley Beaumont scored 16 points for the Phoenix while Ryan Winters scored 14 off the bench. Lucas Troutman tallied 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds while Jack Isenbarger finished with 12 points off the bench.
On the night, the Mountaineers shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) including a 16-of-26 mark (61.5 percent) in the second half. Elon finished at 54.7 percent (29-of-52) on the night and pulled down 35 rebounds to Appalachian’s 21.
UNCG 90, Furman 82
GREENVILLE, S.C. – UNCG shot 67.9 percent in the second half and scored on 13 of its final 15 possessions to overcome Kendrec Ferrara’s career-high 21 points and edge Furman, 90-82, in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Monday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The loss dropped the Paladins to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in the SoCon while UNCG upped its record to 8-9 overall and 1-1 in league play.
With UNCG leading 80-78 and under 2:30 to play, RJ White and Kyle Cain converted on back-to-back layups and Trevon Saddler drained two free throws with 44 seconds left as the Spartans used a 6-0 run to hold off Furman.
Kayel Locke hit 8-of-12 shots before fouling out to net a team-high 18 points for the Spartans while White added 17 points, including 10 in the second half. Nicholas Paulos and Cain rounded out UNCG’s double figure scorers with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
UNCG built a 34-23 first half lead, but Furman closed the half on an 11-4 spurt to cut the margin to 38-34 at intermission. Larry Wideman began the second half with a three-pointer that ignited a 10-2 Paladin run that gave Furman a 44-40 advantage on Stephen Croone’s layup with 17:36 to play following five straight points from Ferrara.
Paulos connected on consecutive treys to key a 10-2 Spartan run and UNCG increased its cushion to 55-49 on White’s dunk with under 13 minutes remaining. The Paladins trimmed the lead to one point on Wideman’s second trey of the half with 11:22 to play, but the Paladins could get no closer.
The Spartans, who shot 57.6 percent for the game, connected on 19-of-28 second half shot, including 5-of-10 from three-point range. UNCG made 15-of-18 free throws and committed just 10 turnovers.
Ferrara made good on seven of his 11 field goal attempts and all six of his trips to the line to net his career-high 21 points. Croone hit 11-of-14 free throws to finish with 21 points while Wideman and William Gates Jr. finished with 10 points apiece.
The Paladins shot 50 percent from the field and converted on 26-of-33 trips to the charity stripe.