Chattanooga 74, ETSU 71 (OT)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Chattanooga’s Casey Jones had made only one 3-point shot in the last two seasons. Unfortunately for the ETSU men’s basketball team, his second came at a terrible time.
Jones connected on an NBA-range 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in overtime, handing the Mocs a 74-71 win over the Buccaneers in this longtime Southern Conference rivalry matchup Saturday afternoon inside Freedom Hall. With the loss, ETSU drops to 9-5 overall, 4-2 in SoCon play, while UTC improves to 11-7, 4-1.
The game lived up to the rivalry’s history, as the Bucs had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but senior guard Jalen Riley missed the mark on a 3-point attempt as time expired. In the overtime period, ETSU tied the game at 71-71 with 49 seconds left following a traditional 3-point play from sophomore guard A.J. Merriweather.
ETSU then forced a miss from UTC’s Eric Robertson with 21 seconds left, but Jones made another key play by grabbing the offensive rebound. That set up his heroics following a timeout by Chattanooga head coach Will Wade.
For the Bucs – a team that entered the game second in the league in free throw shooting percentage – a 9-of-20 effort from the foul line (45 percent) didn’t help the cause against the Mocs. In addition, the Bucs – who also entered the game averaging over 11 made 3-pointers a game – looked on as Chattanooga used that same approach to hit 14 threes on the night. ETSU finished with an 8-of-20 clip from beyond the arc.
For UTC, Robertson finished with a game-high 20 points, while teammates Ronrico White and Martynas Bareika scored 16 and 13 points, respectively. For the Bucs, Riley finished with a team-high 18 points, while junior Lester Wilson netted 15 and senior Rashawn Rembert pitched in 14.
The Mocs came out firing from long range in the first half, led by four 3-pointers from White, who finished with 15 points in the first half to lead all scorers. Chattanooga led by as many eight at 17-9 with 13:08 left before the break, but that Bucs used an 11-2 run late in the half to grab the lead at 28-25.
Chattanooga answered and managed to lead 31-30 at the intermission. Both teams shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the first half, while the Bucs held a 19-15 advantage on the boards.
After the break, the Mocs continued to try and limit the Bucs’ shots from 3-point range but ETSU ultimately got a pair of makes from Rembert and Wilson that helped the Bucs pull ahead at 48-44 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
Chattanooga came back to take the lead again at 50-49 and the Bucs later regained the advantage at 61-60 on a basket by Riley. Robertson answered with a three to make it 63-61 before Rembert hit a jumper with 46 seconds left to make it 63-63. ETSU held on the defensive end at that point, but then Riley’s potential game-winner missed the mark, sending the game into overtime.
ETSU out-rebounded the Mocs 41-39 for the game, while also outscoring the Mocs 32-14 in the paint and 28-8 in bench points. However, despite those numbers the Mocs finished ahead where it mattered most.
Mercer 74, The Citadel 51
MACON, Ga. – After going three weeks without playing at Hawkins Arena, the Mercer men’s basketball team was greeted by a record-breaking crowd of 4,027 as it dispatched The Citadel, 74-51 in Southern Conference play Saturday.
Mercer won for the third time in its last four chances and moved to 9-9 (4-1 SoCon) while Citadel saw its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 7-9 (2-3 SoCon).
The win was a model of efficiency, as the Bears piled up 15 assists with only three turnovers and shot 51.9 (27-of-52) from the floor. Junior Ike Nwamu led all scorers with 15 points, while senior Darious Moten and junior Phillip Leonard each netted 13.
Leonard also dished eight assists with zero turnovers while grabbing five rebounds. Senior T.J. Hallice scored six points and paced the Bears with seven rebounds, helping the squad own a 30-21 advantage on the glass.
Mercer actually missed its five shots of the afternoon and The Citadel scored first, but Moten hit a running hook and Nwamu splashed a transition jumper to give the Bears a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
By the 13:40 mark of the first half, the Bears’ lead grew to 16-6 as juniors Jibri Bryan and Jestin Lewis nailed back-to-back 3’s. The hosts went ahead by as many as 13 in the period, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the stanza before The Citadel’s Ashton Moore hit a jumper with six seconds to go to trim the margin to 40-31 at halftime.
Mercer’s starters combined for 31 first half points, while Lewis and freshman Stephon Jelks provided nine off the bench.
The Bulldogs got within seven with a back-door lob dunk on the first play out of the break, but Nwamu responded with a triple to get the lead back to 10. Five minutes into the period, the Bears had hit 5-of-6 field goals while pushing their advantage to 17.
Mercer enjoyed a comfortable lead from there on, ultimately going ahead by as many as 26 before the game’s conclusion. In the second half alone, Mercer shot an impressive 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from the floor.
The Bears outscored the Bulldogs 32-24 in the paint and 19-5 off turnovers. Lewis finished with nine points and two assists, while Jelks chipped in six points and four rebounds.
The 4,027 attendance figure shattered the previous mark of 3,500, set twice last season against Yale and Florida Gulf Coast.
The win marked the conclusion of a seven-day stretch that saw the team play four times. The Bears went 3-1 on the week, with the only loss by a single point at ETSU.
VMI 83, Furman 73
GREENVILLE, S.C. – QJ Peterson had a team-high 18 points, pushing him over 1,000 for his career, and every Keydet to see game action scored as VMI downed the Furman Paladins, 83-73, in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday in Greenville, S.C.
The win snapped a five-game skid for the Keydets and was VMI’s fourth win over the Paladins over the last five meetings of the series. The teams were meeting for the first time since 2003 when VMI wrapped up its first stint in the Southern Conference.
Saturday's contest was close for much of the game, and Furman (4-11, 2-3 SoCon) was still within one at 58-57 with 12:41 left. Peterson scored on a layup during VMI's (6-11, 2-4 SoCon) next trip down the floor, however, and that started a 15-4 run that essentially put the game out of reach. That run included a Peterson three-pointer with 9:47 left that pushed him over the 1,000 career point mark, a mark he is believed to be the fastest Keydet to ever reach (52 games).
Tim Marshall added 12 points and Julian Eleby scored 11 points for the Keydets. Philip Anglade, limited to 10 minutes of action because of foul trouble, scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds for the visitors.
Paladin guard Stephen Croone scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds and Kris Acox tallied 14 points with nine rebounds.
The Keydets shot 44.1% from the floor and drained 12 of 32 from 3-point range with eight registered before halftime.
VMI was able to ice the game by converting seven of eight free throws over the last 2:15 with Peterson nailing five of the charity stripe tosses.
The Keydets forced 17 Paladin turnovers with 12 coming after halftime that were converted into 15 points. Bench scoring accounted for 34 points of the VMI point production.
VMI raced to a 10-5 early lead following a Craig Hinton 3-pointer but five straight points by Croone pulled the Paladins even at the 14:58 mark. A 3-point barrage keyed VMI to an 11-0 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Marshall. VMI led 35-23 with six minutes remaining in the first half and held an 11-point cushion following a pair of Jordan Weethee free throws with 3:41 left.
Furman outpointed VMI 12-2 over the last 3:17 to end the first half and trailed the Keydets 44-43 at the break.
VMI never trailed in the second half but was challenged several times by the Paladins. A Kris Acox free throw knotted the game at 53-53 with 14:36 left. A layup and subsequent foul shot converted by Anglade with 14:06 remaining put the Keydets up for good.
VMI had not hit a 3-pointer over the first eight minutes of the second half before Eleby knocked down a deep 3 from the top of the key to extend VMI’s lead to six. Peterson, Marshall and Eleby again hit bombs beyond the arc during the decisive 15-4 spurt and the Keydets led 73-61 with 8:20 left.
Anglade departed with his fifth foul at the 7:22 mark but the closest the Paladins came was six points (79-73) when Fowler converted a layup. Peterson closed out the contest with four straight free throws over the last :45 seconds of regulation.
Western Carolina 82, UNCG 72
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Western Carolina University men’s basketball team won for the sixth-straight time against the Spartans of UNCG Saturday afternoon. The Catamounts led by as many as 19 points in the game as they completed a 82-72 victory. Junior Mike Brown poured in a career-best 27 points in the win while also leading the Catamounts in rebounds, assists and blocks. Brown was 8-12 from the field including 2-5 from 3-point range while going 9-14 at the charity stripe.
Brown led a quartet of double-digit scorers for the Catamounts. Juniors Torrion Brummitt and Rhett Harrelson each chipped in 15 points while freshman Devin Peterson added 12. Brummitt was 4-8 from the field, 1-1 from 3-point range and 6-7 at the charity stripe. The 3-pointer was the first of his career. Brummitt also added six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Harrelson was 4-13 from the floor, 4-7 from three and 3-4 at the free throw line. He tied for the team lead in assists with three while also collecting two rebounds. Peterson, making the second start of his career, tied his career-high with 12 points, set a new career-high with four rebounds and dished out two assists.
Freshman Tucker Thompson played valuable minutes off the bench as he scored six points in 18 minutes. He also tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven.
The win improves WCU’s record to 8-9 overall and 3-2 in Southern Conference play. The Spartans of UNCG fell to 5-13 overall and 1-4 in SoCon action.
The Catamounts shot 50.0 percent (26-52) from the field, 52.6 percent (10-19) from 3-point range and 62.5 percent (20-32) from the charity stripe. WCU’s aggressive defensive style limited the Spartans to 35.0 percent (21-60) shooting from the field, 29.2 percent (7-24) from 3-point range and 76.7 percent (23-30) from the charity stripe.
Both teams combined to take 62 free throws as 50 fouls were called throughout the game. WCU had one player foul out and three others end the game with four fouls. The Spartans also had a player foul out and had two others with four fouls.
The Spartans opened the game with a 5-0 run as the Catamounts went 0-4 on their first four shot attempts. A 3-pointer by Harrelson ended the run and the game would remain a one-possession contest until a layup by Brummitt pushed WCU’s lead to four points with 11:04 left in the first half.
Leading by three with 7:46 to play, the Catamounts began an 11-3 run that started with a Brummitt layup. After the layup, junior Justin Browning stole UNCG’s inbounds pass and found Harrelson at the top of the key. Harrelson drained the 3-pointer which opened up an eight-point advantage for the Catamounts. UNCg was forced to use a timeout following the spurt. Following the timeout, both teams struggled offensively but eventually UNCG found a layup to cut the lead to six but that is when Brummitt connected on his very first 3-pointer of his career to put the Catamounts ahead by nine. After a free throw by the Spartans, Peterson hit the first 3-pointer of his career to push WCU’s lead to 11. The lead would eventually balloon to 13 points with 15 seconds to play but a jumper at the buzzer sent the Catamounts into the locker room with a 38-27 edge.
The team went back-and-forth to open the second half but with 15:50 left on the clock the Catamounts began an 11-2 run that was powered by Brown, Peterson and Thompson. Brown scored five points in the spurt, Peterson had four and Thompson chipped in two. That run opened up an 18-point advantage for the Catamounts with 11:47 remaining in the game. Nearly six minutes later, Thompson would hit a layup to give WCU its largest lead of the game at 70-51.
UNCG responded with 15-5 run of its own to cut WCU’s lead to single digits at 75-66 with 2:31 to play. The Spartans would get as close as seven points in the final minutes but WCU hit its free throws and hung on to win 82-72.
UNCG was led by center RJ White who scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and swatted six shots. Kayel Locke added 19 points and six boards to the effort as well.
Wofford 72, Samford 62
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Samford University basketball team led Saturday’s Southern Conference showdown on the road against the first-place Wofford Terriers by 10 points and 25 minutes of the game before the defending SoCon Tournament champs used a late 10-2 run to propel the Terriers to a final 72-62 decision held at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Samford (7-12, 0-6 SoCon) jumped out to an early 10-point lead, 20-10, midway through the first half as the Bulldogs took advantage of a 52.9-percent shooting performance in the opening 20 minutes of play. Behind its hot streak, Samford garnered a 32-31 advantage at the half.
Evan Taylor, Samford’s highly-talented true freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, scored 10 points in the first half and finished Saturday’s contest with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Taylor’s performance tied his previous personal-best mark of 12 points, which he achieved versus Jacksonville on Dec. 1.
In the second half, Samford and Wofford (13-4, 4-0 SoCon) continued to battle back and forth throughout the early portion of the period, before the Terriers went on a 10-2 run to take a 67-55 lead with 1:10 left in the game.
Prior to Wofford’s run, the Bulldogs only trailed in the game, 57-53, at the 3:35 mark in the second half.
Wofford’s late run was initiated by Spencer Collins, who scored nine straight points for his squad during the second-half spurt. He also knocked down a key 3-point basket that extended the Terriers’ lead to 67-55.
Collins, Wofford’s 6-foot-4 junior guard from Easley, S.C., scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, all of which occurred in the final 5:03 of the game.
Samford only shot 40.7 percent from the field in the second half and finished 0-for-3 from long range in the final period. The Bulldogs knocked down 8-of-9 attempts from the free-throw line in the second stanza and concluded the game with a 76-percent mark from the charity stripe.
Wofford’s leading scorer Saturday proved to be senior All-SoCon performer Karl Cochran. The Terriers’ 6-foot-2 native of Marietta, Georgia, scored a game-high 17 points and drained five 3-point baskets. He was the only player on the floor to connect on more than one shot from beyond the arc.
The Terriers finished with four players scoring in double figures, while Samford notched three.
The Bulldogs’ Darius Jones-Gibson led the way with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and logged a team-high 33 minutes of playing time. He also added two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Additionally, Samford received 13 points from true freshman phenom Christen Cunningham, who tallied two assists, a rebound and a steal in 30 minutes of game action. He also finished a near-perfect 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
The Bulldogs’ Taylor tied his career-high with 12 points, while Tyler Hood, Michael Bradley and Jamal Shabazz all scored seven points apiece.
Wofford shot a sizzling 70 percent from the field in the second half and finished with a 59.1-percent mark for the game.