Mercer 62, St. Andrews 33
MACON, Ga. – Junior guard Ike Nwamu hit seven 3’s and scored a career-high 27 points while leading the Mercer men’s basketball team to a wire-to-wire 62-33 victory over St. Andrews at Hawkins Arena on Tuesday night.
Mercer stayed unbeaten at home and improved to 4-4 overall while St. Andrews slipped to 3-4 on the year.
Junior point guard Phillip Leonard finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and a career-high 10 assists, while senior T.J. Hallice collected a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with five points.
Mercer was perfectly content to shoot over the St. Andrews zone at the outset, with junior Jibri Bryan and Nwamu combining for 4-of-5 3-point shooting in the first five minutes while staking the hosts to a 14-4 advantage.
The Bears’ lead would swell to 15 at the 13:00 juncture before St. Andrews put together scores on consecutive possessions to get within 11 with 10:52 remaining in the period. The stretch would continue as the Knights ultimately scored 10-unanswered to climb within five with 7:02 to go before half.
The five-point margin was short-lived, however, as Mercer freshman Jordan Strawberry dished to sophomore James Bento for a layup that started an 11-3 Mercer surge that sent the hosts to the locker room ahead, 32-19.
The Bears continued the run out of intermission, scoring 11 of the first 14 points of the second half to go up by 23 at the 15:06 mark. The hosts would maintain at least a 21-point lead the rest of the night before settling on the 32-point victory.
Mercer outscored the undersized St. Andrews squad 24-14 in the paint, with forwards Darious Moten, James Bento and Niklas Ney combining for nine additional points. As a team, the Bears shot a season-high 53.7 percent (22-of-41) from the field while also connecting on 50 percent (9-of-18) 3-point shots.
Mercer held St. Andrews to just 15.0 percent (3-of-20) shooting from beyond the arc in the win. Junior forward Jeff Gulley led St. Andrews with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
VMI 133, Mid-Atlantic Christian 62
LEXINGTON, Va. - The VMI Keydets scored their most points in over six years and nearly equaled a school record for blocks, en route to a 133-62 win over the Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs Tuesday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va. The 71-point margin of victory was the third-highest in school history.
Tuesday night's contest was tied only once, at 2-2 in the opening moments and the Keydets led by as many as 73 points en route to the win. The home team placed six players in double figures, led by Tim Marshall and Brian Brown's 16 points apiece. Philip Anglade, Trey Chapman, Armani Branch and Julian Eleby also finished in double figures, while walk-on Michael Donovan was just shy of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.
The Keydets (3-4) rejected 14 Mustang (1-8) shots, one shy of the VMI record set in 2003, and posted 22 steals on the night. On the other end, VMI attempted 105 shots and 57 three-pointers, both the highest numbers for the program since 2009. All told, the Keydets scored their most points since tallying 133 markers against Stevenson on Nov. 20, 2008 and tied the seventh-most points scored in school history.
MACU was paced by Marquice Sims' 17 points and seven boards.
The Keydets were cold from the field early, allowing MACU to stay within five after two free throws at the 15:54 mark made it 11-6. VMI then scored 16 of the game’s next 19 points to break the contest open and stretch the margin to 18, 27-9, after a Brown triple at 13:27.
The lead hit 30 for the first time with 7:13 left in the half after Branch hit a three-pointer, and VMI kept scoring en route to a 76-point first half. It was two points shy of the top five scoring halves in program history, and it was marked by 14 points from Branch and 10 each from Marshall and Eleby.
The second half saw a slower pace as VMI gradually stretched its lead, going up 50 after a Brown three-point play with 16:08 to go. The margin was at 70 with 9:50 to go, and from there, the teams played fairly evenly the rest of the way en route to the final margin. The home team finished 54 of 105 from the field, tied for the fifth-most made field goal in program history and the sixth-most field goals attempted in a single game. VMI attempted 57 three-pointers, the team’s fourth-most ever, and made 15 for a 26.3 percent clip. MACU finished 19 of 67 from the floor and 6 of 17 from long range.
VMI forced 28 turnovers in the win and converted those MACU miscues into 39 points. The Keydets also had a 78-22 edge in points in the paint.
Georgia 86, Chattanooga 55
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -The Chattanooga Mocs recipe tonight did not bode well for success in McKenzie Arena. Visiting Georgia seemingly couldn’t miss a shot, while the Mocs struggled to score in an 86-55 loss.
The bigger, more physical Bulldogs shot a sizzling 63.3 percent from the field (31-49) including 63.6 percent from 3pt range (7-11). The home team managed just 31 percent (18-58), 30.4 percent from beyond the arc (7-23).
Casey Jones led the Mocs with 19 points and five rebounds on the same day he was named Southern Conference Player of the Week. He was alone in double digits for his squad. Kenny Gaines (25) and Marcus Thornton (24) combined for 49 points to lead the visitors.
Ronrico White’s three-pointer from the right corner to end the first half made it a seven-point game, 39-32, heading into the break. After UGA’s hot start, Wade sensed positive things afoot.
But the Bulldogs to firm control opening the second half with a 16-5 run capped by Nemanja Djurisic’s layup at 12:36. That put the Bulldogs ahead by 20, 57-37. The Mocs continued to battle.
Jones nailed a three-pointer and promptly made a steal as UGA crossed midcourt leading to a foul. He hit both free throws to make it a 16-point game, 63-47, with 9:16 to go. The Bulldogs scored nine unanswered points and never looked back.
Charles Mann added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench for UGA. Djurisic chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
White missed double figures by one scoring nine, all on three-pointers. He tallied four assists with zero turnovers. The Mocs had a season-low eight turnovers. Justin Tuoyo had three blocks which is his seventh multi-block game in eight starts for the sophomore transfer from VCU.
College of Charleston 59, The Citadel 55
CHARLESTON, S.C. - With the balance of the game riding on a free throw by The Citadel's Ashton Moore, a missed attempt on the front end of the one-and-one allowed College of Charleston to convert a breakaway dunk by Canyon Barry to secure a 59-55 victory at TD Bank Arena on Tuesday evening.
The Citadel (3-4) battled through a tough shooting second half (7-19 FG) to overcome a nine-point deficit inside the final six minutes, due in large part to Moore's offensive touch. The Suffolk, Va., native warmed up with a 3-pointer, following a pass by Quinton Marshall, as the Dogs sliced a 46-37 Cougar lead to six.
Moore pulled the Dogs to within four, 46-42, on a pair of free throws and after a turnover on the defensive end drove home a 3-pointer from the right wing to trim the margin to one.
College of Charleston (3-4) used timely scores by Barry and Adjehi Baru to forge back in front by five. However, the duo of Moore and Marshall Harris III, who drained a 3-pointer on a pass from Marshall, eventually knotted the contest at 50-all.
The momentum shifted in The Citadel's favor after a jumper by C.J. Bray and the fifth Moore trey of the evening gave the Dogs a 55-54 lead with 48 seconds remaining. However, the pendulum swung back to CofC when a three-point play by Donovan Gilmore, which included a foul on Marshall, with 29 seconds remaining gave the Cougars a two-point edge.
With Moore controlling the ball and time ticking down the senior drew a foul from Joe Chealey to set up the one-and-one free throw.
Moore led three Bulldogs in double figures as he finished with 22 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the floor. All five field goals came from 3-point range as he knocked down 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. It marks the second time this season that Moore has connected on at least five 3-point field goals.
Charleston native C.J. Bray was also instrumental in The Citadel's offense with 12 points and four rebounds as he made his first start of the season. He was joined by P.J. Horgan, who closed with 11 points and 10 rebounds, as the pair guided the Bulldogs front court to a 34-25 advantage in total rebounds.
That provided Horgan with the fifth double-double of his career and second this season, both team highs. Horgan's four offensive boards provided The Citadel with an 11-6 edge in that category.
College of Charleston was led offensively by the duo of Canyon Barry (14 points) and Donovan Gilmore (11). Baru and Chealey, who finished with nine points each, narrowly missed joining their teammates in double figures.
Baru controlled the paint for the Cougars with a team-high nine boards as he pulled down six on the defensive glass. College of Charleston closed the contest by hitting 21-of-47 from the field, sparked by a first half in which it hit 10-of-20 from the floor.
The Bulldogs fed off the energy of the crowd as they battled throughout the opening frame, rebounding from an early 6-1 deficit to eventually deadlock the contest at eight-all.
Sparked by a Chealey 3-pointer and free throws by Cameron Johnson the Cougars moved back in front, 17-13, but back-to-back long distance shots by Harris and Moore brought the game to a 19-19 tie.
A foul by Anthony Stitt allowed The Citadel to take its third lead of the opening frame with a series of free throws by Moore. The Bulldogs tacked on a layup by Sledge and a pair of free throw conversions by Bray to head into the intermission with a 33-28 advantage.
The first half effort by the Bulldogs resulted in an 11-of-27 shooting performance that included 5-of-10 from long distance.