Wofford 74, Georgia Southern 61
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Georgia Southern surrendered a 13-point second half advantage on Thursday night to drop a 74-61 decision to the Wofford Terriers. The Eagles were outscored 33-9 over the final 12:14 as the Terriers converted a 11-point deficit into a 13-point victory.
Jelani Hewitt led the Eagles (11-13, 4-5 SoCon) with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field as he moves into a tie with Fernando Daniel for 33rd place all-time scoring with 1,095 career points. Curtis Diamond scored 10 points, all in the first half.
Defending SoCon Freshman of the Week Kyle Doyle had 10 points and eight rebounds. Angel Matias scored 11 points with nine rebounds, coming one board shy of his second career double-double.
Wofford (12-10, 7-3) was paced by a game-high 29 points from Karl Cochran who engineered the Terriers’ comeback, making 4-of-10 on the night from downtown. Lee Skinner had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the double-double. Spencer Collins also added 19 points to the cause for Wofford.
The Eagles earned their largest lead of the first half in the final minutes, extending the advantage to 10 points before posting an eight-point lead going into the halftime break.
The Terriers shot 64 percent in the second half, scoring 16-of-25 from the field in the final 20 minutes of the game. The Eagles held a 52-41 lead with 12:14 remaining, but was outscored 33-9 over the final minutes to fall behind.
Wofford tied the game with 7:08 remaining and made three-straight buckets from downtown to establish a lead that would not be touched.
Appalachian State 54, The Citadel 45
BOONE, N.C. - Tommy Spagnolo recorded his third double-double in five games and Appalachian State University men's basketball allowed its fewest points to a Division I opponent in 33 years in a 54-45 triumph over The Citadel on Thursday evening at the Holmes Center.
Spagnolo scored 12 points and 12 rebounds to help lead Appalachian State (7-15, 3-6 SoCon) to its third win in five games. Ten of his 12 points came in the second half, including two huge buckets in the final four minutes of the game that helped Appalachian hold off a late charge by The Citadel (4-21, 0-10 SoCon).
The Citadel, which had not led since Appalachian State closed the first half with an 8-0 run that gave the Mountaineers a six-point halftime lead, pulled within a point on two free throws by Matt Van Scyoc with 4:52 to go. However, two possessions later, Spagnolo took a nice post feed from Chris Burgess, spun into the lane and finished with a left-handed baby hook to stretch Appalachian's lead to 44-41 with 3:39 left to play.
The Bulldogs cut the deficit to just one point again on their next possession but Tab Hamilton answered with a 15-foot jumper from the right win to stretch the Mountaineers' advantage back to three with 1:47 to go. After a stop and big rebound by Michael Obacha, Spagnolo delivered the dagger with a baseline jumper that gave App State a 48-43 lead with 36 seconds left. Hamilton and Mike Neal combined to make 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively in the first half as each shot under 40.0 percent over the first 20 minutes and combined for just 48 first-half points - the fewest combined first-half points in an Appalachian State basketball game since Feb. 2, 2012 when App State and The Citadel combined for just 45 in a 62-51 win for the Bulldogs in Charleston.
Neither squad got on the board until Hamilton's jumper with 17:49 to play in the opening period and neither hit double-digit points until C.J. Bray's jumper gave the Bulldogs a 10-9 lead with 9:36 on the clock, but Appalachian would outscore The Citadel 18-11 the rest of the way to take the six-point lead into the locker room.
After the Mountaineers built an eight-point lead (42-34) on Neal's three-pointer with 11:04 to go, Appalachian State went cold and would not score again for nearly eight minutes - but the Bulldogs were unable to capitalize, scoring just seven points during the scoring drought, which was eventually broken when Spagnolo converted a layup with 3:39 to play.
The Citadel was able to cut the deficit to just one point (44-43) with 2:08 left on the clock, but the Mountaineers clamped down and allowed just one more bucket - a tip-in with 14 seconds remaining - to come away with the hard-fought win.
Hamilton led all players in scoring with 17 points while Neal poured in 15 and dished out six assists. In addition to his 12 points and 12 blocks, Spagnolo also tallied three assists and two blocks. Obacha finished with eight rebounds as the Mountaineers ended the night with a 36-28 edge on the glass.
Quinton Marshall paced the Bulldogs with 13 points while Matt Van Scoyc scored 12. Three different players pulled down five rebounds for The Citadel and Ashton Moore dished out a team-best three assists.
On the night, Appalachian connected on just 38.3 percent (18-of-47) of its field-goal attempts but held the Bulldogs to just 36.0 percent (18-of-50) from the floor. The Mountaineers were clutch at the charity stripe, connecting on 12-of-15 (80.0 percent) of their free throws including a 9-of-10 mark in the second half.
Elon 72, UNCG 66
ELON, N.C. – The UNCG men’s basketball team rallied from a 14-point deficit and took a three-point lead in the second half, but the Spartans could not maintain the advantage, falling 72-66 to Southern Conference and Triad rival Elon Thursday night at Alumni Gym. The loss drops the Spartans to 11-14 overall and 4-6 in SoCon play while the Phoenix improve to 13-11 overall and 6-3 in league play.
Sophomore forward Kayel Locke was one of three Spartans to score in double figures in the loss, turning in 15 points and nine rebounds. Locke connected on 5-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line in his first double-figure scoring effort since Jan. 25 at Chattanooga.
Junior forward Kyle Cain added 16 points and eight rebounds while freshman Tevon Saddler also chipped in 16 points, as he was 8-of-12 from the free throw line.
The Spartans connected on 35.9 percent (23-of-64) from the field and just 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from long range in the loss. UNCG played strong defense, limiting Elon to 40.3 percent (25-of-62) shooting from the field and only 10 percent (2-of-20) from long range, despite the Phoenix entering the game as the top three-point shooting team in the SoCon. The Spartans lost the rebounding battle for the third straight game by a 46-41 margin, including 18 offensive rebounds for Elon, which led to 16 second-chance points.
Elon had four players score in double figures in the victory with Ryley Beaumont leading the way with 14 points and nine rebounds. Lucas Troutman and Kevin Blake added 13 points apiece while Sebastian Koch added 11 points in the victory.
The teams traded baskets in the early going with Locke leading the way for the Spartans. He scored six of the Spartans’ first 12 points as UNCG trailed 18-14 with just over 10 minutes into the game.
Elon got some separation as it posted a 15-5 run to take a 33-19 lead. Beaumont and Koch hit three-pointers in the run, with Koch’s long distance shot coming on a bank to force UNCG into a timeout. The Spartans slowed the momentum down the stretch, out-scoring Elon 6-2 to head into the locker room trailing 35-25.
The Spartans connected on just 28.1 percent (9-of-32) from the field in the first half and missed all six of their three-point shots. Locke led the way with eight points and three rebounds while Saddler added seven points in the first half. Elon connected on 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from the field and hit 2-of-11 from long range in the opening half. Beaumont and Koch led the way with seven points apiece, while Troutman and Blake added six points each.
UNCG came out of the locker room a different team, posting a 19-6 run to take a 44-41 lead under eight minutes into the second half. Locke got the Spartans started by scoring on an offensive rebound on the first possession before Cain broke out for eight points in the run while Saddler added four points. Redshirt freshman center R.J. White scored on an offensive put back to tie the game at 41-41 and freshman Tyrone Outlaw converted an old-fashioned three-point play for the 44-41 lead.
Elon responded with nine straight points to retake the lead for good. Jack Isenbarger scored four straight points and Blake converted an old-fashioned three-point play as the Phoenix forced UNCG into consecutive turnovers in the open court. Elon was able to extend the lead to nine at 60-51 with a 10-4 run as the Phoenix went to the free throw line, hitting 15-of-19 (78.9%) from the stripe in the second half.
The Spartans had one final push, posting an 8-2 run to narrow the gap to three at 62-59 when Saddler hit a pair of free throws with 1:08 remaining. UNCG got a boost during the run as junior Nicholas Paulos hit the Spartans’ first three-pointer of the night. After the teams traded baskets, Elon iced the victory by hitting six straight from the charity stripe in the final minute.
Davidson 109, Samford 88
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Both De’Mon Brooks (28) and Brian Sullivan (25) went over the 20-point plateau, Tom Droney (18 points, 10 assists) recorded a double-double and Davidson converted a school-record 16-of-22 (.727) 3-pointers as the Wildcats cruised to a 109-88 victory over Samford Thursday evening at the Hanna Center.
With the win, Davidson (13-11, 9-1) runs its winning streak to six straight and moves into a share of first place in the Southern Conference standings with Chattanooga.
Brooks, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, finished 10-of-13 from the floor en route to matching his career-high for the third time this season. Sullivan, one of three Wildcats in double figures prior to intermission, drilled seven treys in the first 20 minutes after making six straight to start the contest.
In addition to Sullivan’s 7-for-10 effort from downtown, Tyler Kalinoski made 5-of-7 long range attempts as part of a 19-point effort to go along with seven assists. Jordan Barham was the fifth Wildcat in double figures with 10 points.
Davidson, which torched the nets for 68.8 percent, including 11-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half, opened up a 20-point lead, 52-32, on a Brooks’ triple at the 5:15 mark before going to the break leading, 61-44.
Both teams were impressive at the offensive end, as Davidson shot 64.9 percent and Samford (10-15, 4-6 SoCon) shot 58.9 percent, but was just 4-of-12 from behind the arc. The Wildcats also finished with a season-high 26 assists on 37 field goals.
Tim Williams and Raijon Kelly paced four Bulldogs in double figures with 26 and 19 points, respectively.
After Samford cut the deficit to 14 points midway through the second half, Davidson responded with a 12-4 run capped off by a Kalinoski 3-pointer, to give the ‘Cats their largest lead of the game, 88-66.