Wofford 70, Furman 50
SPARTNABURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s basketball team used a 20-0 run in the first half to build a lead on the way to a 70-50 win over Furman on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The win was the ninth-straight for the Terriers.
Wofford is 16-10 on the season and 10-3 in the Southern Conference to sit tied for second place in the standings. It was the ninth straight win for the Terriers. Furman is 8-18 overall and 2-11 in league play. Wofford was led by Karl Cochran with 23 points and five assists, while Eric Garcia and Spencer Collins both had nine points. Furman had 14 points from Keith Belfield and 13 from Stephen Croone.
The Paladins scored first, but Wofford answered with a three pointer by Karl Cochran. The rim gave Cochran a friendly bounce on his second three pointer as Wofford had a 6-4 lead after five minutes of play. A dunk by Justin Gordon and lay-up by John Swinton gave the Terriers a 10-4 advantage at the 12:17 mark. Spencer Collins pushed the run to 9-0 with a 12-4 lead less than a minute later.
A three pointer and lay-up by Karl Cochran, plus back-to-back buckets by Justin Gordon made it a 21-4 lead for Wofford with 9:16 left in the first half. The run went to 20-0 with a pair of free throws by Spencer Collins before Furman hit a three pointer for a 23-7 score. A lay-up by C.J. Neumann with six minutes left in the half gave Wofford a 27-7 advantage. After a bucket and free throw by Furman, Eric Garcia hit a lay-up with 3:46 on the clock for a 29-10 lead. A three pointer by Karl Cochran gave the Terriers a 33-10 lead. After four straight points by Furman, Karl Cochran spun through the lane for a lay-up and a 36-14 lead. Furman scored the last three points of the half for a 36-17 margin at the break.
Furman opened the second half with a three pointer, but Wofford answered with a lay-up by Karl Cochran for a 38-20 lead. Four straight points by Furman cut the score to 38-24 at 17:32 in the second half. Wofford answered with four straight for a 42-24 advantage a minute later. Furman hit a three, but Jaylen Allen responded with a three for the Terriers and a 45-27 advantage. The Paladins chipped away at the lead and made it a 49-34 game after seven minutes of play.
Lee Skinner hit a fade-away jumper for a 54-36 Wofford lead at the 10:28 mark of the second half. A long jumper by Spencer Collins gave the Terriers a 56-39 advantage less than a minute later. Furman scored the next five points and made it a 56-44 game with seven minutes remaining. C.J. Neumann made a lay-up for a 58-44 lead on the next possession. After a pair of free throws by the Paladins, Eric Garcia hit a three from the corner and Lee Skinner had an easy lay-up for a 63-46 score with 5:33 left in the game. With 2:25 on the clock, Eric Garcia made a lay-up and added a free throw for a 67-48 lead. At 1:14, Karl Cochran hit an open three pointer for a 70-48 score. The Paladins hit the last bucket of the game for a 70-50 final.
Wofford shot 50 percent from the floor and Furman was 39.5 percent overall. The Terriers were 7-of-13 from with three, while the Paladins were 3-of-14 from behind the arc. Furman was 13-of-21 from the line while Wofford was 11-of-17 on free throws. The Terriers had a 35 to 28 lead on the glass. The Paladins had 15 turnovers and Wofford had 20 points off those turnovers. The Terriers had 18 assists and only nine turnovers in the game.
Georgia Southern 77, Chattanooga 61
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---The Chattanooga Mocs lost 77-61 to visiting Georgia Southern despite 21 points from senior Z. Mason The Eagles got 49 combined points from Tre Bussey and Jelani Hewitt in the win.
Bussey scored 25, while Hewitt buried 24 tonight. Angel Matias added 14 points and five rebounds, as Marvin Baynham grabbed a game-high 10 boards. GSU held a 37-30 advantage on the boards.
The loss dampened a special night for Mason. The Nashville native scored added seven rebounds and two blocks to his 21 points in front of more than 100 students from his alma mater, Christ Presbyterian Academy.
The Mocs led by as many as 12 in the first half and were up 32-23 with 3:56 to go in the first half after a Ronrico White three-pointer. It was all Eagles from there.
Hewitt sparked a 13-2 run to end the first 20 minutes with three three-pointers for a 36-34 halftime advantage. Chattanooga went without a field goal from 3:56 of the first half to 15:38 of the second. The 8:18 spurt was ended by another White trey cutting GSU’s advantage to just seven, 46-39.
The Eagles key play may have come just under two minutes later. Curtis Diamond missed from three-point range but Sam Mike grabbed the offensive rebound. Just 19 seconds later, Diamond sized up another trey which fell to push the lead to 10.
Mason answered with a dunk on the Mocs next possession to make it an eight-point game, 51-43, at 13:03. That’s as close as it would get as the Eagles shot 55.2 percent (16-29) in the second half to pull away for the win.
The Mocs wasted a strong start. A 16-2 run was capped by a Mason three for a 16-5 advantage just four-plus minutes into the contest. The lead eventually swelled to 12, 29-17, on a Casey Jones tip-in at the 5:23 mark.
The early run came behind solid defense. Seven GSU turnovers led to 11 points for the home team in the first eight minutes of the game. The Eagles had just four miscues after White’s three-pointer at 3:56 and shot a sizzling 60 percent (21-35) from the field, 61.5 percent (8-13) from beyond the arc, for the remaining 24 minutes.
Western Carolina 74, Appalachian State 61
BOONE, N.C. — A 9-0 Western Carolina run to open the game and a dismal night at the free-throw line proved to be fatal in Appalachian State University men's basketball's 74-61 loss to WCU on Thursday at the Holmes Center.
Despite falling into the early 9-0 hole, Appalachian State (8-18, 4-9 SoCon) never trailed by more than 12 points until the final 30 seconds and pulled within three points on two different occasions in the second half. However, the Mountaineers' comeback attempt was stunted by 16-of-33 free-throw shooting (48.5 percent) as a team on the evening.
In front of a Senior Night crowd of 2,041, Appalachian missed its first seven field-goal attempts and four free throws before Tevin Baskin finally snapped the 6:04 game-opening drought with a layup. From there, the Mountaineers made 10 of their next 19 shots to remain in striking distance, trailing just 33-25 at the half.
After the break, App State picked up where it left off at the end of the first half, making five of its first eight shots and cutting the deficit to 39-36 on Jay Canty's three-point play with 14:26 to go in the game.
After Western Carolina extended its lead to eight, Ty Toney layup and an Aaron Scott three-pointer pulled the Mountaineers back within three at 48-45 with 10:43 still left on the clock. However, WCU scored the next five points to push its advantage back to eight and Appalachian didn't get closer than four the rest of the way.
Tommy Spagnolo led the way once again for the Mountaineers, scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double in the last nine games. Toney scored 12 points and dished out a team-high three assists and Baskin added in 11 points and six rebounds in his final home game to round out three Mountaineers in double-figures.
James Sinclair scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting to pace Western Carolina (16-12, 9-4 SoCon), who clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament.