The Citadel 69, Wofford 66
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Ashton Moore drove home a game-high 29 points, scoring 21 in the second half, to lead The Citadel to a 69-66 victory over Southern Conference rival Wofford on Thursday evening at McAlister Field House. The seventh home victory improves the Bulldogs to 8-9 overall and 3-3 in league play.
With The Citadel trailing 64-59 at the 3:30 mark of the second half following a pair of Spencer Collins free throws, Marshall Harris III brought The Citadel fans to their feet when he found Jake Wright, who connected on a 3-pointer deep from the left corner. Wright was fouled in the act of shooting by Collins and followed with a free throw to trim the Terriers’ lead to one.
Collins quickly answered with a jumper from the right elbow, stretching the Wofford (13-5, 4-1 SoCon) lead back to three with less than three minutes remaining.
Wright again came through in the clutch for the Dogs, shaking his way past Collins to hit a 20-foot jumper and in the process make for a 66-65 contest. Solid defensive efforts by The Citadel forced Karl Cochran to commit a turnover on the following possession, giving the Cadets the ball with 1:51 left.
After a timeout by the Terriers, Moore followed his own 3-point miss with a circus layup to provide The Citadel with a 67-66 advantage at the 1:22 mark. That slim lead marked the Dogs’ first since they lead 4-2 early in opening minutes.
Missed opportunities on both ends of the court allowed Wofford to have the final possession with 27 seconds remaining. Cochran, facing pressure from Moore, fumbled the ball away into the hands of Moore, who shoveled it ahead to Harris. Harris was quickly fouled by Cochran, sending the senior shooter to the charity stripe.
Harris, an 83-percent free-throw shooter this season when at the line in the final five minutes of a game decided by 10 points or less, knocked down both attempts to forge the Dogs in front 69-66. Wofford inbounded the ball with 2.3 seconds remaining and a 3-point attempt by Collins sailed off the rim to give The Citadel its first victory over the Terriers since Jan. 31, 2013.
Moore capped off his season high in points, netting 21 in the second half, by virtue of hitting 10-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-10 from 3-point range. The 10 field goals are one off his career high set during a career-best 35-point performance against Davidson a season ago, while the six 3-pointers are the most since he knocked down a career-best seven against Virginia Tech on Dec. 20.
Quinton Marshall also topped the double-digit mark for The Citadel, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds. Marshall slithered his way past Wofford's front line to finish with a game-high four offensive boards. He was joined on the glass by Brian White, who hauled in six rebounds (four defensive).
The Citadel finished 23-of-41 from the floor, including 13-of-22 in the second half, to mark the third-largest second half comeback (14 points) under head coach Chuck Driesell. The Bulldogs have now hit at least 50 percent from the floor in their last five contests, the first time that that feat has been accomplished this century.
The Bulldogs can credit a bulk of the comeback with their ability to hit from beyond the arc as they closed 9-of-14 for the game and 5-of-7 in the second half.
Wofford was led offensively by Cochran, who came away with 23 points on 8-of-22 shooting from the field. The senior guard managed 18 by the intermission, knocking down all six field goals from 3-point range.
Collins added 12 points for the Terriers, hitting 4-of-10 from the floor and finishing a perfect 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, C.J. Neumann anchored the post with six rebounds, pulling down four on defense.
The Terriers capped off the contest by hitting 23-of-51 from the field and 8-of-21 from long distance. After a first half that witnessed seven of 13 conversions from 3-point range, Wofford managed just 1-of-7 from 3-point range in the second half and 10-of-21 overall.
Mercer 67, Furman 64
MACON, Ga. – Darious Moten paced three Mercer players in double figures with 16 points and Ike Nwamu connected on 3-of-4 free throws in the final 23.3 seconds as the Bears escaped with a 67-64 victory over Furman on Thursday night at Hawkins Arena.
Furman’s Stephen Croone hit a pair of free throws with 23.3 seconds left to cut the Mercer lead to 63-62 and the Paladins fouled on the inbounds pass. After Nwamu matched Croone with a pair of free throws to push the margin back to three points, Jibri Bryan blocked Geoff Beans’ 3-pointer from the left corner and drew a foul on the rebound with under 11 seconds remaining.
Bryan hit 1-of-2 free throws and Nwamu sealed the game by making 1-of-2 with 2.9 seconds left following Croone’s 3-point miss on the opposite end.
The loss dropped Furman to 4-12 overall and 2-4 in the Southern Conference, while Mercer improved to 10-9 overall and 5-1 in league play.
Moten made 6-of-6 shots to pace the Bears with 16 points and five rebounds. T.J. Hallice and Nwamu contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Bears, who shot 58.5 percent from the field and connected on 60 percent of their second half field-goal attempts. Mercer managed a 29-15 edge in rebounding that led to a 15-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Furman’s Devin Sibley poured in a game-high 21 points to match his career high. The Knoxville, Tenn., native was 7-for-9 from the field, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 at the charity stripe. Croone added 15 points, while sophomore Kris Acox totaled nine points and six rebounds.
The Paladins shot 50 percent from the field, made 9-of-22 3-point attempts and committed a season-low seven turnovers.
Mercer hit six of its first seven shots to jump out to a 16-4 lead and extended the margin to 14 points before Furman rallied to trim the deficit to 36-29 at the break. Furman trimmed the margin to two points with 12:01 left on the strength of a 6-0 run. Croone tied the game at 57-57 on a trey with 4:22 to go, but the Bears held Furman to just two field goals the rest of the way and scored on their next three possessions to claim the win.
ETSU 83, Western Carolina 76
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – ETSU’s Jalen Riley poured in a game-high 31 points and Rashawn Rembert added 21 as the Bucs defeated Western Carolina 83-76 on Thursday night inside the Ramsey Center.
The Bucs, who led wire-to-wire, saw a 13-point lead cut to one midway through the second half, but Riley and Rembert stepped up as they scored 14 of the final 15 points down the stretch to secure the victory.
Riley shot 10-of-16 from the field to finish one point shy of tying a career high, while Rembert was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 9-for-10 at the free-throw line. A.J. Merriweather also scored in double figures as he totaled 12 points and had four of ETSU’s season-high 14 steals, while Petey McClain dished out eight of the Bucs’ 11 assists.
The victory pushed ETSU’s record to 10-5, 5-2 in SoCon play, while the Bucs also extended their win streak over the Catamounts to 17 straight games. Western dropped to 8-10, 3-3.
The Bucs controlled the tempo in the first half courtesy of their strong defense and perimeter shooting as ETSU took an 11-point lead into the break, 37-26. ETSU, which scored 17 points off 10 forced turnovers and went 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, got off to a fast start as Rembert drained a pair of early 3s to put the Bucs ahead, 9-3, in the first four minutes of the contest.
From there, Western Carolina pulled within one (11-10), but the Blue and Gold mounted a 19-8 run over a nine-minute span and led 30-18 when Riley put in two of his 14 first-half points on a layup at the 4:42 mark. Following a brief 5-0 spurt by the Catamounts, the Bucs pushed their lead back into double figures thanks to triples by Riley and Rembert, and ETSU carried a comfortable lead into the locker room.
As a team, the Bucs shot 52-percent (12-23) from the field and ETSU’s bench outscored Western Carolina, 20-0, in the first half. Overall, eight of the nine Buccaneers who saw action in the opening 20 minutes scored points as Rembert pitched in with nine on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting from 3.
After dominating the opening 20 minutes, ETSU was forced to withstand every run the Catamounts threw at it in the second half.
Western Carolina cut its 13-point deficit to four six minutes into the half as a pair of free throws by Mike Brown make it a 46-42 contest with 13:59 remaining. The Blue and Gold responded with an 8-1 run over the next minute and 45 seconds and led 54-43 when McClain found Lester Wilson open for three at the 12:14 mark.
The Catamounts continued with their scrappy play and eventually made it a 55-54 game with 9:31 left in the contest, but ETSU never relinquished its lead as Alex Bates and Merriweather ignited a 5-0 spurt, pushing the Bucs’ lead to 59-54 with less than eight minutes to play.
Western Carolina climbed within three after a Rhett Harrelson trey with seven minutes left made it a 61-58 score; however, Riley and Rembert carried the Bucs down the stretch run by scoring all but one of ETSU’s final 15 points to walk away with the road victory.
Overall, the Bucs shot a season-best 54.8 percent (23-for-42) and converted 19 Western Carolina turnovers into 27 points. Riley and Rembert combined for eight of the 11 made 3s, while ETSU’s bench outscored the Catamounts’, 38-8.
The Bucs wrap up their brief two-game road stint Saturday afternoon at VMI. Tip is set for 1 p.m. inside Cameron Hall.
Chattanooga 82, Samford 76
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Against the second-place Chattanooga Mocs on Thursday, the Samford University basketball team jumped out to a 10-point lead, held at three-point advantage at the intermission, but misfired from the free-throw line down the stretch as the Bulldogs dropped an 82-76 Southern Conference decision held at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford (7-13, 0-7 SoCon) earned a total of 42 trips to the charity stripe Thursday but only connected on 26 for a lackluster 61.9 percentage from the free-throw line.
Despite their shooting struggles, the Bulldogs only trailed Chattanooga (12-7, 5-1 SoCon), 78-74, with 29 seconds left.
After Samford’s Darius Jones-Gibson scored a layup to trim the Mocs’ advantage to four points, Chattanooga’s Greg Pryor connected on a trio of free throws in the ensuing 10 seconds of play. During the stretch, Jones-Gibson also connected on a free throw of his own.
Samford’s Jones-Gibson, who finished Thursday’s contest with a season-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, made his sixth free throw of the game with 12 seconds left to play to make the score 81-76 in favor of the Mocs.
The Bulldogs were forced to foul Chattanooga’s Ronrico White in the last 10 seconds of action and he then connected on a free throw to make the final score, 82-76.
Jones-Gibson finished 6-of-14 from the charity stripe for Samford on Thursday, while adding five rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.
The key stretch of the game occurred midway through the second half as Chattanooga rallied for a 14-2 run to take a 71-58 lead with 4:21 remaining to play. The Mocs’ scoring burst was aided by seven straight points from Martynas Bareika, as well as five from Tre’ McLean.
Samford led for 26 of the 40 minutes of the game, but ended up getting out-rebounded by the Mocs, 36-28, including a 14-7 disparity on the offensive boards.
The Bulldogs shot a game-high 53.3 percent from the field and outshot Chattanooga from long range, 28.6 percent to 25 percent.
Samford’s Jones-Gibson led all scorers with 24 points, while Evan Taylor and Brandon Roberts both dropped in 13 for the Bulldogs. Junior guard Marcus Johnson added seven points, as Michael Bradley and Tyler Hood followed with six and five, respectively.
Chattanooga outscored Samford, 20-5, in second-chance points. The Bulldogs led in bench scoring, 26-22.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return to the road for another tough league test against the Mercer Bears to be held at Hawkins Arena in Macon, Georgia.