The Citadel 80, Georgia Southern 63
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Marshall Harris III notched his first career double-double, finishing with 12 assists and 11 points, as The Citadel earned an 80-63 victory over Georgia Southern at McAlister Field House on Saturday evening. He joins Cameron Wells as the only Bulldog to record a double-double by virtue of points and assists.
The junior point guard was vital as The Citadel (6-25, 2-14 SoCon) used a 12-2 run, which included seven points by Matt Van Scyoc, to break a 55-55 tie midway through the second half to earn its second straight victory heading into next weekend's conference tournament.
Van Scyoc and Raemond Robinson combined for three 3-pointers during the critical 4:45 stretch as the Bulldogs brought the crowd of 1,168 to their feet.
Georgia Southern (13-18, 6-10 SoCon) pulled the game within 69-60 following a 3-pointer by Brian Holmes, but it was the combination of four points by P.J. Horgan and three from Van Scyoc down the stretch that provided final double-digit margin.
Harris was one of four Bulldogs to reach double figures along with Van Scyoc (19 points), Moore (16) and Horgan (10). Harris, who guided the team to the fifth-most assists in program history, surpassed Todd Holstein for the most assists in a single game by a Bulldog.
Another key to the Cadets' success came on the glass where Horgan snagged nine rebounds and Tom Koopman pulled down six.
Separated by two points at the intermission the two teams battled to a 46-46 tie at the 14:41 mark of the second half following a layup by Koopman. After a series of stands on the defensive end, along with buckets by Quinton Marshall and Van Scyoc, the Bulldogs moved in front by five.
Tre Bussey countered with seven of the next nine points Georgia Southern to deadlock the game at 55-55 with 9:33 remaining.
The Citadel closed out its hot shooting second half by hitting 19-of-27 from the floor. It is the first time, since a 71.4 percent performance against Furman on Feb. 2, 2013, that the Dogs have eclipsed the 70 percent mark in the second half.
The Cadets knocked down 31-of-57 on the contest and connected on 10-of-24 from beyond the arc. They also finished with a 27-24 edge in points in the paint.
Bussey recorded a career-high 29 points for Georgia Southern in the loss. The senior guard converted 12-of-21 from the field, including four from beyond the arc, and was joined in double figures by Jelani Hewitt with 10 points.
Holmes and Kyle Doyle controlled the paint for the Eagles with seven rebounds and was joined up front by Angel Mathias with six.
Georgia Southern closed the game hitting 24-of-59 from the field despite struggling from 3-point range where they hit just 7-of-21.
The Bulldogs used 3-pointers by Van Scyoc and Moore to assume 10-5 advantage 3:52 into the contest. Georgia Southern briefly cut the deficit to three just over two minutes later, but a second Moore trey pushed the margin 13-7.
The combination of six points by Bussey and a 3-pointer off the hand of Brian Holmes sparked a 12-6 run by the Eagles that brought the game to a 19-19 tie with 6:49 remaining.
The back-and-forth battle began at that point as neither team was able to gain more than a two-point advantage over the next 2:45. It was there that Bussey followed a missed layup by Hewitt to give GSU a 29-25 lead.
The Eagles lead eventually reached five, 33-28, after a jumper by Marvin Baynham with just over a minute left. The Citadel used 3-pointer by Moore and a layup by Brian White to close out the half on a 5-2 run.
Chattanooga 63, Appalachian State 44
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---It was a fitting ending to the regular season for the Chattanooga Mocs tonight on what was dubbed “Zenior Night” in McKenzie Arena. Senior forward Z. Mason treated the fans to a 24-point, 13-rebound performance leading his squad to a 63-44 win over Appalachian State.
Mason added a career-high-tying six blocks as he edged closer to all-time blocks leader Stanley Lawrence (1980-83). His 124 is just eight behind the “Jessup Giant’s” total of 132.
It was a four-point game early in the second half. Tab Hamilton’s layup drew App State to within 38-34 with 18:06 to play. It was also the last field goal the Mountaineers would muster for more than eight minutes.
The Mocs went on a 12-0 run to take control of the game. Martynas Bareika opened and closed the spurt with three-point baskets to stretch the lead to 50-35. It would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Mason’s three-pointer at 6:22 made it an 18-point affair, 57-39. Back-to-back scoring trips by Gee McGhee extended it to 21 points, 61-40, the largest margin of the game. The final tally was 63-44 as the Mocs held App State to its fewest points in a Southern Conference matchup since 43 at Chattanooga on January 11, 1988.
Michael Obacha led the Mountaineers with 11 points and seven rebounds. McGhee and Ronrico White joined Mason in double digits for the Mocs with 11 and 10, respectively.
Tonight’s story was Mason. He is now ninth in the DI era in scoring with 1,144 points passing Hall of Famer Eric Smith (1978-81) and Alphonso Pugh (2003-06). His 660 rebounds are third sliding by Khalil Hartwell (2006-09).
The Mocs were phenomenal on the boards with a 50-32 advantage as Casey Jones joined Mason in double digits with 10. That led an 18-2 lead on second chance points. It was a season-high for rebounds and rebound margin (+18).
Davidson 86, Elon 69
ELON, N.C. – Brian Sullivan (26) and De’Mon Brooks (24) combined for 50 points and Davidson shot 62 percent as the Wildcats won their 12th straight with an 86-69 victory over Elon at Alumni Gym.
Sullivan, who scored 17 points after intermission, went 8-of-14 from the floor and drilled five second-half 3-pointers for Davidson (19-11, 15-1 SoCon), which finished 8-of-17 from deep. Brooks made his first nine shots and concluded the night 10-of-12, including a pair of treys, while pulling down eight rebounds. Chris Czerapowicz and Jordan Barham added 11 points each.
Midway through the second half, the Wildcats went on a 21-6 streak capped off by 11 straight points from Sullivan to push their lead to as many as 29, 71-42.
Like the Wildcats, Elon (18-13, 11-5 SoCon) placed four players in double figures, led by Ryley Beaumont’s 19-point performance. Lucas Troutman and Tanner Samson finished with 12 each, while Austin Hamilton added 10.
The Phoenix finished the night with a 45.1 percent clip, but went just 5-for-15 from long range and 18-of-28 at the line.
Despite five players with two fouls each in the first half, Davidson raced out to an 11-4 lead and stretched it to 26-14 before going to the break up, 38-28. In addition to shooting 60 percent and holding Elon to just 39.1 percent, the Wildcats converted 13 of their 15 tries from the charity stripe in the period.
Czerapowicz also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who finished the night with a 31-21 advantage on the glass.
UNCG 73, Wofford 71
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In the final regular season game, the Wofford men’s basketball team was defeated 73-71 by UNCG on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers jumped out to an early lead, but the Spartans shot 78.3 percent from the floor in the second half to take the win.
Wofford is 17-12 and 11-5 in the Southern Conference to finish the regular season. UNCG is 14-17 overall and 7-9 in league play. The Terriers were led by Spencer Collins with 15 points and Karl Cochran added 12 points. The Spartans had 17 points from Kayel Locke, 14 points from Tevon Saddler, and 10 points from Kyle Cain.
The Spartans missed their first shot of the game and senior Aerris Smith came down with the rebound. The Terriers had a 5-0 lead after three minutes. A wide open three pointer by Jaylen Allen pushed the lead to 10-1 at the 16:05 mark. Spencer Collins put back a missed shot for a 13-3 advantage less than a minute later. A dunk by Justin Gordon pushed it to 15-3 after five minutes of play.
After taking an 18-7 lead on a jumper by Lee Skinner, the Spartans scored the next four points for an 18-11 score with 10:29 left in the first half. UNCG made it a 19-14 game with a three pointer a minute later. Buckets by C.J. Neumann and Spencer Collins gave Wofford a 25-18 lead at the 8:09 mark. A jumper by Jaylen Allen and a three by Karl Cochran pushed the score to 30-19 with 6:06 on the clock. Eric Garcia made it a 7-0 run with a bucket before the Spartans hit a free throw at the 4:12 mark for a 32-20 game. A three by Jaylen Allen was answered by a three by the Spartans to make it 37-25 with two minutes left in the half. UNCG scored the final four points of the half for a 38-29 score at the break.
To open the second half, UNCG hit a jumper that was answered by a bucket from Karl Cochran. After the Spartans cut the lead to 40-33, Karl Cochran and Lee Skinner scored for a 44-33 lead with 17:00 on the clock. The Spartans scored the next ten points to cut the lead to 44-43 at the 13:55 mark. Jaylen Allen ended the run with a free throw, but the Spartans tied the game at 45 with a jumper at 13:10. A pair of free throws and a lay-up off a turnover by John Swinton gave Wofford a 49-45 advantage with 11:55 left in the second half.
The Spartans answered with a three pointer and tied it at 49 a minute later. With 10:24 on the clock, UNCG took a 51-50 lead, but Justin Gordon answered with a dunk on the other end of the floor. The Spartans hit a jumper and free throw to make it a 54-52 score. After a jumper by Spencer Collins, the Spartans hit a three for a 59-55 lead. C.J. Neumann made a lay-up with 8:02 on the clock to make it a 59-57 game. The Spartans added six more points and had a 67-59 advantage with 6:14 left in the half. Eric Garcia had a pair of free throws and a three pointer to cut the lead to 71-66 with 3:12 on the clock.
Down 73-66, the Terriers had a three pointer by Karl Cochran and a lay-up by Justin Gordon to make it a 73-71 game with 1:42 left. With 19 seconds left, Justin Gordon took a charge under the UNCG basket. The Terriers had one last shot by Karl Cochran, but the Spartans got the rebound and held on for the win.
Wofford shot 49.1 percent from the floor and UNCG was 61.7 percent overall, a season-high for an opponent. The Terriers were 5-of-15 from with three, while the Spartans were 4-of-6 from behind the arc. UNCG was 11-of-15 from the line while Wofford was 12-of-22 on free throws. The Spartans had a 30-23 lead on the boards. Wofford had only four turnovers and 16 assists.
Samford 93, Western Carolina 86
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team exploded for a Bennie Seltzer Era-high 93 points Saturday and turned in a fiery 59.6-percent shooting percentage from the field as the Bulldogs tallied a 93-86 Southern Conference victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts in a regular-season finale held at the Pete Hanna Center.
In front of its second-largest crowd of the 2013-14 campaign, Samford (12-19, 6-10 SoCon) finished 28-of-47 from the field and 33-of-39 from the free-throw line as the Bulldogs avenged an earlier loss to Western Carolina (17-14, 10-6 SoCon) this season.
Samford’s crowd of 2,741 proved to be just shy of its earlier mark of 2,952 in a 92-85 victory over Chattanooga on Feb. 8.
With their highest scoring output in nearly six seasons, the Bulldogs recorded a Seltzer-era best total of 93 points and improved to 10-4 at home this season. Samford’s 93 points Saturday was the team’s highest scoring output since March 4, 2008, when the Bulldogs suffered a heartbreaking 101-94 triple-overtime loss at UT Martin in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Tim Williams scored a career-high 32 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field Saturday and also went a near-perfect 12-of-13 from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs’ dynamic 6-foot-8 forward from Chicago, Ill., also pulled down six rebounds and handed out three assists.
With his 32 points scored against Western Carolina, Williams is now just nine points shy of becoming the first sophomore in Samford school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Williams will head into Friday’s first-round SoCon Tournament matchup versus Appalachian State with 991 career points.
Samford finished the regular season and the No. 8-seeded team and drew No. 9 Appalachian State in the SoCon Tournament opener.
Western Carolina’s only lead of the game occurred just 49 seconds into Saturday’s contest, 1-0.
Following a thunderous two-handed dunk from Williams at the 18:34 mark, Samford then garnered a 2-1 advantage and would never trail again.
The Bulldogs kept extending their lead throughout the game and eventually built an 11-point advantage, 92-81, with just 24 seconds remaining. In the waning seconds of the contest, Seltzer inserted Samford’s two senior walk-ons Hamilton Bailey and Tony Thompson into the game on their Senior Night. Also honored prior to the contest was senior Team Manager Matthew Powell.
Samford’s front line dominated the contest.
Along with Williams’ 32 points and six rebounds, the Bulldogs’ Michael Bradley added a career-high 15 points and seven boards. Bradley, Samford’s 6-foot-10 junior from Chattanooga, Tenn., finished 5-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. He also handed out an assist in 23 minutes of playing time.
This week alone, Bradley combined to score 24 points and grab 18 rebounds.
Samford also received 11 points from true freshman Jordan Capps, as well as 10 points and eight rebounds from Connor Miller. Isaiah Williams, the top scorer and assist-man as a true freshman in the SoCon, finished with a game-high six assists, eight points and a blocked shot.
Western Carolina ended Saturday’s game with five players scoring in double figures and was led by Trey Sumler’s 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. He also knocked down a game-high three 3-point baskets.