Mercer 75, Chattanooga 72 (OT)
MACON, Ga. – A sellout crowd at Hawkins Arena got its money's worth on Thursday night, as the Mercer men's basketball team prevailed in a thrilling 75-72 overtime victory against Chattanooga. Senior Darious Moten, junior Ike Nwamu and junior Phillip Leonard combined for 59 points in the winning effort.
Chattanooga, which came into the game atop the Southern Conference standings, saw its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 14-8 (7-2 SoCon). The Bears improved to 12-10 (7-2 SoCon) on the season, including a 9-1 record at their home venue.
After Chattanooga erased a 15-point deficit to force overtime, the Bears blitzed the Mocs with a 6-0 run at the start of overtime that proved to be the difference in the game. Chattanooga pulled within two with 1:07 to play in the extra period, but Mercer came up with three consecutive defensive stops down the stretch to secure the win.
The biggest defensive play of the night came as Leonard picked the pocket of Chattanooga's Greg Prior with 11 seconds left, thwarting a chance for the visitors to tie the game. Nwamu hit a free throw to push Mercer's lead to 75-72, and a Chattanooga desperation heave at the buzzer missed its mark.
Moten's 21 points matched a career-high and came on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. Nwamu nailed four 3-pointers en route to his eighth 20-plus point performance, while Leonard tallied seven assists and five rebounds in addition to his 18 points.
Mercer charged up the capacity crowd early, hitting its first four shots of the night and busting open a 13-2 lead. The momentum continued to build as Nwamu drove for an electric one-handed slam that helped the Bears build a commanding 22-7 advantage.
Chattanooga settled in and responded with a 16-7 run to cut the margin to six before the half. Nwamu had the last laugh, however, drilling a trey as the buzzer sounded to put the Bears in front 36-26 at the break.
The Bears went up by 15 again early in the second half, but Chattanooga was able to chip into the deficit and ultimately tie the game with 7:16 to go on the heels of back-to-back 3-pointers by Greg Prior.
The visitors went up 68-65 with 1:40 to play, but the Bears hit three free throws and got three consecutive defensive stops to push the game to overtime.
The game, which was billed as a "Blackout" by the Mercer Athletic Department, drew 3,585 black-clad spectators to campus. The game marked the team's fourth sellout of the season and moved the squad to 56-6 at Hawkins Arena over the last four years.
The Bears shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) on Thursday night, marking the seventh time in nine SoCon games the team has hit more than half of its shots.
Moten has now reached double-figure scoring totals in all nine SoCon contests. His classmate T.J. Hallice pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and scored four points in the victory.
Furman 59, ETSU 55
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Junior Stephen Croone tallied 24 points, including four free throws in the final 6.6 seconds, and Larry Wideman poured in a season-high 14 points to lift Furman to a 59-55 victory over ETSU in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night at Timmons Arena.
With the victory, Furman improved to 7-13 overall and 4-5 in the SoCon. ETSU, who was held to a season-low 55 points, dropped to 12-8 overall and 6-5 in league play.
The Paladins held the Buccaneers to just 38.2 percent shooting from the floor and did not allow an ETSU field goal in the game’s finale two and half minutes. Trailing 51-47 with under 3:30 left, Furman cut a four-point deficit in half when Croone grabbed a rebound off of his own miss and finished at the basket. After ETSU’s Lester Wilson missed a three on the next possession, freshman Devin Sibley raced down the floor for a layin to tie the game at 51-51 with 2:35 remaining.
ETSU regained the lead on Wilson’s layup, the Bucs’ final basket of the night, before Croone converted on 1-of-2 free throws following an empty possession by both teams. Following an ETSU miss on the other end, Croone fed a slashing Daniel Fowler who scored to give the Paladins a 54-53 lead with 42 seconds left. Fowler made 1-of-2 free throws after stealing the ball from ETSU’s Petey McClain on the next possession and Croone secured the long rebound beyond the three-point line after Jalen Riley missed a potential game-tying jumper for the Bucs with 11 seconds remaining.
Croone drained both free throw attempts with 6.6 seconds left to put Furman ahead 57-53, but Sibley was whistled for a foul at midcourt with 2.6 seconds left and Desonta Bradford was awarded three free throws. Bradford made the first two shots and intentionally missed the third. The rebound was tipped out of bounds by the Bucs and Croone finished the game with a pair of free throws after receiving the inbounds pass and drawing a foul.
Furman shot just 40.9 percent from the floor, but the Paladins connected on 9-of-20 three-point attempts and managed a 35-31 edge on the glass. Croone finished with 24 points on 6-of-14 from the field and 9-of-12 at the foul line. He dished out four assists and registered three steals to go with his game-high 11 boards. Wideman, who performed the national anthem prior to the game, hit 5-of-6 shots, including 4-for-4 from three-point range, to net 14 points. Sibley came off of the bench to score 11 points.
The Paladins jumped out to an 11-2 lead that was answered by a 10-0 ETSU spurt. Furman broke a 14-14 tie with a 6-0 run to grab the lead and used another 6-0 run late in the first half to up the margin to 29-19 before carrying a 29-24 lead into the break.
A Kendrec Ferrara trey with 14:51 remaining gave Furman a 37-33 lead, but ETSU regained the lead when Furman went almost six minutes without a basket. Wideman ended the drought by draining a game-tying trey with 8:55 left to knot the contest at 44-44. The Bucs scored the next two baskets and maintained the advantage until Fowler’s layup with 42 seconds to play.
Wilson paced ETSU with 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting beyond the arc. Guard Jalen Riley reached double figures with 10 points, but was held well below his 20.5 points per game average.
Western Carolina 85, VMI 70
LEXINGTON, Va. – In a game marked by massive momentum swings, the Western Carolina Catamounts closed the contest with on a 16-2 run and went on to an 85-70 victory over the VMI Keydets in SoCon men’s basketball action Thursday in Lexington, Va.
After trailing by as many as 14 in the first half and climbing back to take a brief lead late in the period, the Keydets fell behind by 18 points, 62-44, with 12:21 to go in the game. A furious rally over the next six-plus minutes saw VMI post a 24-7 run to cut the lead to one, 69-68, with 5:41 to go, but Tucker Thompson of the Catamounts was fouled off an offensive rebound on the next possession and hit both free throws. That started the decisive 16-2 spurt for WCU as the Catamounts won the first game contested between the teams since 2003.
James Sinclair was the standout for the visitors, as he fell just one rebound shy of a double-double with 28 points and nine rebounds. Mike Brown added 21 markers for Western, while Tim Marshall led VMI with 15 points.
One of the key stats of the night saw WCU (10-12, 5-5 SoCon) outrebound VMI 57-29 en route to a 20-8 edge in second chance points. The Keydets had a 36-18 edge in bench scoring, but a 40-20 deficit in the paint was too much for VMI (8-14, 4-7) to overcome.
The contest began with both teams going ice cold from the floor, as neither squad scored until the 17:04 mark. Western got on the board off a three-pointer by Brown and proceeded to launch an 11-2 run, leading to a Keydet timeout at 14:47. WCU slowly extended its lead to 14 with 8:11 left in the period, but a three-pointer by Julian Eleby started a 20-5 run for the home team that gave the Keydets a 34-33 lead with 1:54 left in the half. Western closed the period by scoring seven of the last nine points to take a four-point advantage, 40-36, into the locker room at the break.
The teams were even for the first two-plus minutes of the second half, as Jordan Weethee hit a three-pointer to make it 47-44 with 17:36 to go, but the visitors answered with a 15-0 run and held VMI without a field goal for the next five-plus minutes. When the push was over, WCU led 62-44 with 12:21 remaining.
The momentum swung back to VMI with 11:35 to go, as Phillip Anglade ended the scoreless drought with a basket that cut the margin to 16. That started yet another run, this one the near-miss rally by the Keydets that was a 24-7 advantage over the next six-plus minutes. Marshall hit a trio of three-pointers during the spurt, including the last with 5:41 remaining that made it 69-68. That was as close as the Keydets would get, as Thompson hit a pair of free throws on WCU’s next possession to start the final, and decisive, run.
The Keydets finished the game 24 of 71 (.338) from the floor and 12 of 47 (.255) from three-point range, but managed only a 10 of 17 (.588) from the free throw line, including only 3 of 8 from the charity stripe in the second half. WCU went 31 of 64 (.484) from the floor, including 16 of 28 in the second half, and won despite being held to just four made three-pointers. The Catamounts were 19 of 26 (.731) from the free throw line.
Wofford 58, UNCG 42
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men’s basketball team suffered a 58-42 loss to Southern Conference leader Wofford Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans return to action in less than 48 hours as they host Western Carolina Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Spartans were held to a season-low 42 points in the loss as the Terriers brought the league’s top defense into the contest. UNCG connected on just 31.7 percent (19-of-60) from the field and just 13.3 percent (2-of-15) from long range. Wofford conversely connected on 60 percent (21-of-35) from the field and went to the free throw line 27 times, compared to just eight times for the Spartans.
Sophomore guard Diante Baldwin was the lone Spartan in double figures in the loss with 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Redshirt sophomore center R.J. White added eight points and seven rebounds off the bench while junior Kayel Locke chipped in seven points and six assists.
Spencer Collins led the Terriers with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the free throw line. Lee Skinner added 12 points and six rebounds while Karl Cochran tallied 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting.
The Spartans (6-16, 2-7 SoCon) came out of the gate quickly opening to a 12-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Baldwin scored the Spartans’ first bucket while senior guard Nicholas Paulos hit an early 3-pointer. White came off the bench for the first time this season and scored four straight points to give the Spartans a double-digit lead.
Wofford settled in and posted eight straight points to narrow the gap to 12-10 as UNCG went 6:04 without a basket. Collins started the run by hitting a jumper that ignited the Terriers’ offense while Skinner scored in the paint to make it a one-possession game.
After the Spartans held a 16-15 lead, Wofford posted a 15-4 run to take a 30-20 lead with under a minute to play. Collins scored six points in the run while the Terriers had six different players score during the stretch as they were able to get out in transition on the Spartans. Freshman Marvin Smith scored on an offensive put-back on the last possession to send the Spartans into the locker room trailing 30-22.
The Spartans connected on 32.3 percent (10-of-31) from the field in the first half and only hit 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from long range in the half, missing their final six from distance. Baldwin led UNCG with seven points while White added six points. Wofford hit 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the field in the opening 20 minutes as Collins tallied eight points and Jaylen Allen added six points off the bench.
UNCG started the second half much like the first, posting a 6-2 run to pull within four at 32-28. Baldwin scored four points in the early going while sophomore forward Jordy Kuiper scored in the paint while making his first career start.
Smith nailed a 3-pointer at the 16:21 mark to trim the gap to 34-31 but Wofford answered with a 12-1 run to take a 46-32 lead. Skinner scored four points in the run while Collins hit a 3-pointer as UNCG missed six straight shots from the field and committed a turnover.
The Spartans slowed the pace and put together a 6-1 spurt to narrow the deficit to 47-38. Locke, Kuiper and White scored on three straight possessions as the Spartans looked to go inside against the Terriers. Wofford was undaunted as it posted an 11-2 run to end any doubt in the contest and improve to 17-5 overall and 8-1 in league play.
Paulos finished the night with seven points and six rebounds as he was held to just 3-of-10 shooting form the field. Smith added five points off the bench while Kuiper chipped in four points in his first career start.