Furman 74, The Citadel 62
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Freshman Devin Sibley poured in a career-high 25 points and Furman outscored The Citadel 47-32 in the second half en route to a 74-62 victory over the Bulldogs in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon at McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston, S.C.
The Paladins shot 51.9 percent from the floor, including 59.3 percent in the second half, and committed just six turnovers to improve to 5-12 overall and 3-4 in the SoCon. The Citadel shot just 33.3 percent in the second half and was outscored 32-18 in the paint as it fell to 8-10 overall and 3-4 in league play.
Furman trailed 30-27 at intermission, but quickly pulled even and grabbed the lead for good on Larry Wideman’s trey with 15:52 remaining. Leading 48-45 with under 9:30 left, the Paladins put together a 13-4 run to take control. Sibley, who scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, opened the run with a three and added a three-point play following a dunk from Kris Acox.
The Citadel’s Quinton Marshall answered with a layup before Sibley drained another three and Kendrec Ferrara finished in the paint following an offensive rebound to give the Paladins a 61-49 lead with under seven minutes to play. The Bulldogs got no closer than nine points the rest of the way as Furman connected on 16-of-27 field goal attempts and 5-of-10 three-point tries in the second half.
Sibley hit 7-of-11 shots, made 3-of-4 three-point attempts and converted on 8-of-10 trips to the foul line while adding four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Ferrara scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting and Croone tallied 11 points, four boards and five assists. Acox scored 10 points on 5-of-11 shootng to go with his career-high 13 rebounds.
The Paladins outscored The Citadel by 14 points in the paint and managed a 10-2 edge in points off turnovers. Furman compiled a 34-25 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive rebounds.
Ashton Moore led the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Marshall contributed 14 points. The Citadel shot 44 percent from the field.
VMI 85, ETSU 79
LEXINGTON, Va. – A season high 25 turnovers and poor offensive execution doomed the ETSU men’s basketball team Saturday afternoon inside Cameron Hall, as the Buccaneers fell to Southern Conference foe VMI 85-79.
Despite playing without their leading scorer QJ Peterson – who was announced as having left VMI for a medical furlough prior to the game – the Bucs were unable to take advantage of the Keydets’ personnel issues. For the game, the Bucs shot just 36 percent from the floor and were out-rebounded 55-48 on the glass.
ETSU (10-6 overall, 5-3 SoCon) led by as many as 14 in the second half, but watched as VMI used a 19-3 run to take a four-point deficit at 68-64 and lead 83-71 with 55 seconds left in the game. With the win, the Keydets (7-12, 3-5) snapped a nine-game losing streak to ETSU, picking up their first win over the Bucs since 1999.
From the outset the Bucs’ offensive rhythm was disrupted by the Keydets’ swarming full-court defense. ETSU’s guards struggled to even get the ball up the floor and those issues resulted in 13 turnovers before the intermission, as well as a 32 percent shooting percentage from the field.
Despite those offensive troubles, the Bucs still managed to keep the game tied at 32-32 by the intermission. This was in part due to the fact the Keydets were equally inept on the offensive end, as they played for the first time this season without Peterson.
For the Bucs’ offense, the start of the second half looked much better than the first half.
Opening with a 13-0 run powered in part by two 3-pointers from senior guard Rashawn Rembert and one from junior forward Lester Wilson, ETSU built a 45-32 lead in just two minutes of play. The Bucs’ advantage grew to 14 at 49-35 before VMI responded with its own 11-0 spurt to make it 49-46 with 14 minutes left in regulation.
The game stayed close for the next nine minutes of game play and ETSU was leading 68-64 at the 5:03 mark. However, at that point the VMI pressure again stymied the Bucs, helping the Keydets manufacture a 19-3 run over the next four minutes to ultimately lead 83-71 with one minute left in the contest.
For the Bucs, sophomore Devin Harris was a lone bright spot, making his second career start and finishing with his first double-double thanks to 11 points and a career high 14 rebounds. Rembert finished with a team-high 19, while senior guard Jalen Riley and sophomore guard A.J. Merriweather each posted 13, and Wilson finished with 12.
For VMI, Fred Iruafemi and Trey Chapman each had a team-high 16 to lead four players in double figures. The Keydets shot just 9-of-41 from 3-point range on the night but still won the game.
Mercer 80, Samford 56
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men’s basketball team busted open a 15-point lead just over five minutes in and was never threatened en route to an 80-56 victory over Samford on Saturday at Hawkins Arena.
Mercer won its third-straight, improving to 11-9 (6-1 SoCon) while Samford fell for the fifth consecutive time and dropped to 7-14 (0-9 SoCon).
Junior Ike Nwamu led all scorers with 22 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Junior Jibri Bryan collected 18 points and five rebounds while senior Darious Moten chipped in 11 points and six boards.
Mercer had the sell-out Hawkins Arena crowd jumping early, as the Bears raced out to a 17-2 lead, 11 points of which scored by Nwamu. The highlight of the spurt came as Nwamu converted a spinning layup while being fouled, bringing Mercer’s supporters to their feet just before the first media timeout.
By the 13:23 mark of the first half, the Bears had converted 5-of-6 3-point attempts and led 20-5. The Bulldogs put together a quick 7-1 run midway through the stanza to get within nine, and ultimately got as close as eight before the Bears finished on an 11-5 charge to take a 40-26 halftime lead.
Mercer shot a blistering 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field after halftime, maintaining a double-digit advantage the entire way. The hosts would eventually take their largest lead of the night with 1:29 to play, as sophomore Matt Panaggio dished to freshman Tyre Moore for a corner three and a 76-47 lead.
Mercer’s reserves tallied 19 second-half points, led by freshman Jordan Strawberry’s six. Moore finished with five points, while junior Jestin Lewis and freshman Stephon Jelks each had three and freshman Demetre Rivers scored two.
The win was Mercer’s sixth wire-to-wire triumph of the year and pushed the team to 8-1 at Hawkins Arena. The Bears also assumed an outright claim to first place in the Southern Conference standings, jumping ahead of idle Chattanooga (5-1).
Wofford 62, Western Carolina 43
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Western Carolina University men’s basketball team suffered its toughest offensive outing of the season Saturday night inside Benjamin Johnson Arena on the campus of Wofford College. The Catamounts shot a season low 27.8 percent from the field after opening the game 1-of-14 from the field. The Terriers took advantage of WCU’s offensive woes and came away with a 62-43 victory.
Senior James Sinclair moved into the top-40 on Western Carolina’s all-time scoring list as he finished the game with 16 points. He was WCU’s only double-digit scorer in the game as juniors Torrion Brummitt and Mike Brown finished with eight points each. Junior Rhett Harrelson chipped in seven points. Brown led the team with six rebounds as the Catamounts were out-rebounded 46-33.
The Catamounts never led in the game but they kept the Terriers within striking distance for most of the first half. The Terrier lead did not reach double figures till the second period as WCU’s defense kept the Catamounts in the game.
The win improves Wofford’s record to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in Southern Conference play. The Terriers also remained perfect at home this season moving their home record to 8-0. The Catamounts fall to 8-11 overall and 3-4 in SoCon action.
The Catamounts trailed by eight with 9:35 left in the first but a 9-2 run that featured back-to-back 3-pointers from Sinclair and Brown cut the Terriers lead to just one. A 3-pointer by Spencer Collins ended the run and started an 8-0 run for the Terriers that opened their largest lead of the first half at 24-15. Sinclair hit a jumper with 34 seconds left in the half to cut the lead to seven and Wofford came up empty on the offensive end as the Catamounts entered the locker room down 24-17.
The 17 points marked the lowest first half output by the Catamounts this season.
The Terriers opened the second half with a 3-pointer to push their lead to 10 points. The lead would remain in double-digits for most of the second half. WCU would cut the deficit to nine on two occasions but that would be as close as the Catamounts would come. The Terriers shot 56.0 percent from the field in the second half as the Catamounts continued to struggle hitting just 28.1 percent.
Wofford was led by Lee Skinner who finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Collins added 10 points and eight boards.