Western Carolina 60, Mercer 52
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Mercer senior Darious Moten scored a team-high 18 points, but the Bears struggled to find their shooting touch in the second half and suffered a 60-52 loss at Western Carolina Thursday evening.
Mercer saw its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 11-10 (6-2 SoCon) while Western Carolina ended a two game slide and moved to 9-11 (4-4 SoCon).
Moten’s seventh-straight game in double figures saw him hit 4-of-7 field goals while adding five rebounds and a block. Junior Phillip Leonard netted nine points, booked four assists and notched three steals.
After leading by as many as nine in the first half, the Bears connected on just 1-of-11 3-pointers and were outscored 37-25 in the second half. For the game, Mercer shot a season low 29.6 percent (16-of-54) from the floor.
An Ike Nwamu deep two pointer and a pair of Moten free throws staked Mercer to an early 4-0 lead, but the Catamounts battled back and took their first advantage of the evening following a Rhett Harrelson triple with 14:54 on the clock.
Mercer stole the lead back quickly, using a 15-5 charge to go up 23-14 with five minutes to play. The advantage was eight inside the final 2:10 of the period, but the Catamounts were able to score four-unanswered down the stretch to cut their deficit to 27-23 at intermission.
WCU senior James Sinclair drove for a one-handed dunk out of the break and scored seven points in a four-minute stretch to put the Catamounts in front, 33-31. Western Carolina would surge ahead 45-37 with less than seven minutes to play, and the Bears could get no closer than five the rest of the way.
The Bears outscored the Catamounts 15-14 off turnovers, 6-4 on second chance opportunities and 11-4 off the bench. The Bears also won the rebounding battle 41-32.
Wofford 74, Furman 49
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Karl Cochran keyed a 25-6 first half run with four three-pointers and netted 17 of his game-high 23 points in the opening period to guide the Wofford Terriers to a 74-49 victory over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night at the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C.
The Terriers, 9-0 at home this season, improved to 15-5 overall and 6-1 in SoCon play, while Furman fell to 5-13 overall and 3-5 in the league.
After Furman jumped out to an early 7-2 lead on the strength of a four-point play from Stephen Croone just 2:56 into the game, Cochran’s first trey ignited a 12-0 Wofford run that staked the Terriers to a 14-7 lead on C.J. Neumann’s layup with 14:25 left in the half. The Terriers forced Furman into 10 turnovers in the opening 12 minutes of the period to build the advantage to 27-13 and Wofford shot 51.7% from the floor to up the margin to 38-20 at intermission.
Wofford shot 59.1 percent in the second half, 54.9 percent for the game and outscored the Paladins 38-14 in the paint. Cochran scored his game-high with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range. Justin Gordon and Spencer Collins added 14 points apiece for the Terriers.
Croone tallied 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting, but the junior was the only Paladin to reach double figures. Furman shot 32.6 percent from the field and converted on just 15-of-28 trips to the foul line.
ETSU 70, The Citadel 59
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Junior forward Lester Wilson eclipsed 1,000 points for his career and senior teammates Rashawn Rembert and Jalen Riley each scored a team-high 18 points, as the ETSU men’s basketball team dropped The Citadel 70-59 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday night at Freedom Hall.
The Buccaneers, who improved to 12-6 overall, 6-3 in SoCon play, led by as many as 23 in the first half but had to hold off a resilient Bulldogs team to pick up the victory. With the loss, The Citadel drops to 8-11, 3-5.
Wilson – who entered the game just one point shy of 1,000 for his career – wasted little time reaching that special milestone, hitting the first shot of the game with a 3-pointer at the 19:13 mark of the first half.
That basket was the first of many for the Bucs over the first 12 minutes of game action, as ETSU shot extremely well from the field and sprinted out to a 32-9 with 7:43 left before the intermission. Unfortunately for ETSU, the Bulldogs did not simply go away, responding with a 15-0 run of their own to finish the first half down just 39-30.
At the intermission, ETSU was shooting 52 percent from the floor and 43 percent from 3-point range.
After the break, both teams exchanged offensive punches, with the Bulldogs getting to within four early in the second half and later getting to within five on multiple occasions. The last surge by The Citadel came with six minutes left in the game, when a 3-pointer by Bulldogs’ sharpshooter Ashton Moore made it 60-55.
However, at that point the Bucs scored six in a row, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Rembert that made it 66-56 with 1:29 left in the game. From there the Bucs hit their free throws and ended the ’Dogs threat for good.
Along with Rembert and Riley, Wilson finished with 11 points, while sophomore guard Devin Harris had 10 points and five rebounds. In addition, sophomore post Isaac Banks enjoyed a solid night, scoring seven points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
For The Citadel, Moore finished with 19 points, while guard Jake Wright hit six 3-pointers to finish with 18.
The Bucs finished the game shooting 48 percent from the floor and 72 percent from the free throw line, while holding the Bulldogs to 39 percent shooting from outside. ETSU also held a 28-14 advantage on points in the paint.
Chattanooga 86, VMI 64
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Chattanooga Mocs put four players in double figures, led by Eric Robertson's 17 points off the bench, en route to an 86-64 win over the VMI Keydets in Southern Conference men's basketball action Thursday night in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Phillip Anglade led VMI (7-13, 3-6) with 16 points and seven rebounds and Julian Elebey added 10 points and five rebounds.
Ronrico White scored 15 points for the Mocs (13-7, 6-1 SoCon) and Casey Jones added 13 points and five rebounds while Justin Tuoyo chipped in 10 points and blocked four shots . Chattanooga has won 10 of its last 12 games and is 10-3 at home this season.
VMI, limited by 22 turnovers on the night, got off to a shaky start committing five turnovers before the first media timeout. The Mocs broke the game’s only tie at 2-2 used an 8-0 spurt to build a 14-4 lead following a layup by UTC’s Chuck Ester with 12:54 left.
The Mocs pushed the margin to its biggest size in the first half- 14 points- when White converted two free throws to give the hosts a 24-10 lead at the 8:31 mark of the first half.
VMI rallied with 10 straight points to pull within two points. Fred Iruafemi started the run with a pair of free throws. A Tim Marshall 3-pointer and lay-in sandwiched around a tip-in by Anglade cut the deficit to 24-19. Eleby then nailed his first trey of the night to make it 24-22 at the 5:23 mark which was the closest VMI would come the rest of the way.
Chattanooga converted six straight free throws over the last 4:50 before halftime to help stretch out is lead and led 41-31 at the break following a layup by Tre’ McLean seconds before the halftime buzzer.
Chattanooga maintained a double-digit lead throughout the entire second half. The Mocs shot 54 percent from the floor after halftime while limiting VMI to 28.6 percent shooting over the same period. Anglade converted one of two from the line as VMI trailed by 12 (55-43) at the 12:07 mark, but that would be as close as the Keydets would get the rest of the way.
Chattanooga’s largest lead of the night was 23 points after Pryor converted two free throws to extend the UTC lead to 77-54 with 5:24 left in regulation.
Samford 89, UNCG 78
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- In its most complete game of the 2014-15 Southern Conference season Thursday, the Samford University basketball team forced the UNCG Spartans into 16 turnovers and scored 22 points off their miscues en route to a decisive 89-78 victory held at the Pete Hanna Center.
With the win, Samford (8-14, 1-8 SoCon) improved to 6-4 at home this season and notched its third-consecutive victory against UNCG (6-14, 2-5 SoCon). The Bulldogs lead the all-time series between the teams, 9-5.
Samford finished Thursday’s triumph with five players scoring in doubles figures. The feat marked the first time this season that the Bulldogs concluded a game with five players scoring at least 10 points apiece.
Junior guard Darius Jones-Gibson paced Samford with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and also finished 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs’ explosive two-guard also pulled down five rebounds and handed out a team-high five assists in 31 minutes of playing time.
Marcus Johnson, Samford’s junior transfer from Wallace State Junior College, continued his stellar play of late as he dropped in 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Johnson, who has progressively earned more minutes this season, drained a trio of 3-pointers against the Spartans and added four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
The Bulldogs’ Tyler Hood moved into sole possession of 21st place on the school’s all-time scoring list Thursday by scoring 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Hood, Samford’s senior team captain and 3-point specialist, also connected on a trio of 3-pointers and now owns 1,039 points in his illustrious career.
Turning in the best overall performance for the Bulldogs on Thursday was senior center Michael Bradley.
Bradley logged 30 minutes of playing time against UNCG and registered his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He finished 5-of-10 from the field, tallied three blocked shots and handed out an assist.
Rounding out Samford’s double-digit scorers Thursday was true freshman point guard Christen Cunningham who tallied 10 points, four assists, two rebounds and a pair of steals, while also finishing a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Cunningham entered the game ranked second in the SoCon with 87 assists.
UNCG jumped out to an early 21-12 lead Thursday, but Samford quickly bounced back with a 14-2 run of its own to garner a 33-29 advantage with 4:17 remaining in the first half.
During the Bulldogs’ run, Nnamdi Enechionyia and Bradley both scored on key layups, sophomore Brandon Roberts notched four points in transition, while Hood and Johnson both knocked down 3-point baskets.
Samford finished 6-of-14 from beyond the arc Thursday and extended its historic 3-point basket streak to 712 straight games, dating back to Jan. 19, 1991.
The Bulldogs’ Johnson drained another 3-point basket at the first-half buzzer and Samford held a 43-35 advantage at the intermission.
Early in the second half, UNCG would eek back to within five points at 51-46, but then the Bulldogs took advantage of their suffocating full-court press and quickly extended the lead to 63-52 midway through the half.
Down the stretch, Samford would capitalize on its free-throw attempts and closed out the game for an 89-78 victory. The Bulldogs finished 21-of-25 from the charity stripe for an 84-percent performance.
Samford outscored UNCG, 46-30, in the paint and 22-3 in points off turnovers. The Bulldogs forced the Spartans into 16 miscues, while only committing nine of their own.