Chattanooga 56, Wofford 46
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A 10-0 run through the final minutes helped Chattanooga stop the Wofford men’s basketball team’s seven-game winnings streak, as the Terriers fell at home for the first time all season, 56-46, in Southern Conference action on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Senior Karl Cochran pulled the Terriers within a basket on a circus layup with 3:41 to go. Fellow senior Lee Skinner then came up with a steal on Chattanooga’s next possession and the Terriers got the ball back with a chance to tie the game for the first time all half.
The next time the Terriers scored, 26 seconds remained and Chattanooga’s lead was in double figures. From the time Wofford had a chance at tying the game until its next basket, the Terriers went 0-for-6 from the field and also came up empty on a pair of free throws. The Mocs (17-9, 10-3 SoCon) took full advantage and built a 13-point lead, walking away with the win and cutting Wofford’s (20-6, 11-2 SoCon) lead in the Southern Conference standings to one game.
Wofford struggled to find the basket all night, shooting 30.4 percent (17-56) from the field and a season-low 20 percent (4-20) from three. Meanwhile, Chattanooga’s offense was efficient, ending the night at 48 percent.
The Terriers will make a quick turnaround to play at Western Carolina on Saturday. The Catamounts (13-13, 8-6 SoCon) got a big win Thursday night at Mercer (14-12, 9-4 SoCon), keeping the Bears two games off the pace.
Jones made the difference for the Mocs. The team-leader in scoring and rebounding heading into the night went for a game-high 23 points and eight boards. He shot an impressive 10-of-14 (71.4 pct.) and was the only Moc to reach double figures. Junior Duke Ethridge snagged a game-high 12 rebounds, helping UTC to a 35-29 advantage on the glass.
Cochran ended the night with team-highs of 13 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two steals. His first steal of the night pushed him to 214 for his career, surpassing former Terrier and current Director of Basketball Operations Drew Gibson (2004-08) for the program’s Division I record.
Justin Gordon was the only other Terrier to reach double figures, adding 12 points and tying his season-high in field goals made by going 6-of-7. Senior Lee Skinner had nine points and six rebounds and junior C.J. Neumann matched Cochran’s rebound total with seven.
Western Carolina 58, Mercer 54
MACON, Ga. – Mercer and Western Carolina traded blows for 40 minutes on Thursday night, but in the end it was the Catamounts who came up with key plays to escape Hawkins Arena with a 58-54 victory in Southern Conference men’s basketball action.
Mercer lost for just the second time at home this season and dipped to 14-12 (9-4 SoCon) while Western Carolina won its second-straight and jumped to 13-13 (8-6 SoCon).
In a game that featured eight ties and 21 lead changes, Western Carolina hit three 3-pointers in a 2:09 span down the stretch to take a commanding 55-48 lead with 2:06 to play. Until that point, neither team had led by more than five.
The Bears refused to quit, and had life late as a Jestin Lewis steal led to free throws that put the margin at 55-51 with 1:24 to go. The Bears would ultimately pull within two with 15 seconds to play as Western Carolina’s Rhett Harrelson missed the second of two free throws, leading to a run out three-point play for freshman Jordan Strawberry.
The play proved to be too little, too late as Western Carolina senior James Sinclair hit both free throws on the other end to account for the game’s final score.
Junior Jibri Bryan paced the Bears with 12 points to go along with four rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal. Senior T.J. Hallice booked double-figures for the third-straight game, scoring all 11 of his points in the first half while adding seven rebounds.
Mercer struggled to find its shooting touch, hitting 3-of-16 from 3-point range and 18-of-47 from the floor in the losing effort. Western Carolina, on the other hand, hit 11-of-17 from beyond the arc and finished at 19-of-45 shooting for the game.
Neither team gained much separation until layups by Hallice and sophomore Phillip Leonard pushed the Bears ahead 19-14, but the Catamounts responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to retake a one-point edge.
Mercer had missed its first seven 3-point attempts of the evening until Bryan cashed in from the corner with 1:20 to play before halftime. Junior Ike Nwamu had the final bucket of the period, swishing a jumper to put the Bears up 26-24 at intermission.
Early in the second half, the game’s sixth tie was a 30-30 standstill when the Bears went ahead by four thanks to Bryan free throws and a Darious Moten inside score. The Catamounts came right back with five-unanswered to reassume the upper hand.
With 3:12 left, Western Carolina led 49-48 when Moten drew a charge to give the Bears possession. Bryan couldn’t get a 12-footer to go, and the Catamounts nailed a 3-pointer on their next trip down as part of their late-game surge.
The Bears finished with a 12-2 advantage in bench scoring, as four reserves chipped in points off the pine. Strawberry finished with five points and two assists, while Lewis collected four points and five rebounds and freshman Stephon Jelks chipped in three points and seven boards.
ETSU 65, UNCG 62
GREENSBORO, N.C. – It may not have been pretty at times, but somehow, someway the ETSU men’s basketball team got it done.
Despite being outscored 30-7 during one stretch in the middle of the game, the Buccaneers never relented, methodically battling back and overcoming a 12-point second half deficit to down UNCG 65-62 Thursday night in Southern Conference hoops action at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Utilizing a smaller lineup and going to its pressure defensive package seemed to energize the Bucs midway through the second half, as ETSU rallied from a 42-30 deficit to pick up the victory. The Bucs were led by a game-high 21 points from senior guard Jalen Riley, while sophomore guard Devin Harris finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for his third career double-double effort.
After Riley made a pair of free throws and then hit a 3-pointer to make it 63-58 with 2:30 left in the game, the Bucs still had to hold on for the win. With the game 63-62 in favor of ETSU, senior guard Rashawn Rembert was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to make it a 65-62 contest. UNCG had two opportunities to hit a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds, but both shots missed the mark.
For the game, ETSU shot just 34.5 percent from the field and were an uncharacteristic 3-of-18 from 3-point range (17 percent). However, the Bucs did out-rebound the Spartans 37-29 and forced UNCG into 16 turnovers. ETSU also outscored the Spartans 28-18 in the paint and 39-17 in bench points.
In the first half, the Bucs played a solid 15 minutes and led by as many as 11 at 23-12. During that stretch, ETSU controlled the glass and held a 19-12 rebounding on the boards at halftime.
However, after struggling with their outside shooting early in the game, the Spartans began connecting from the outside over the last five minutes of the half, scoring on six straight possessions. In the end, UNCG enjoyed an 18-5 run that included five straight 3-pointers and a four-point play on the final long range shot of the burst. When the smoke cleared, the Spartans took a 30-28 lead into the locker room.
It didn’t get any better for the Bucs in the early going of the second half, as UNCG outscored ETSU 12-2 in the first eight minutes and led 42-30 with 12 minutes left in the game. In all, the Spartans outscored the Bucs 30-7 over 18 minutes of game play covering two halves.
However, at that point Riley hit a pair of free throws to make it 42-32 and from there the Bucs went on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 47. It was a back and forth game at that point before Riley went on a 10-2 run on his own, capped by the 3-pointer that made it 65-62.
Along with Riley and Harris, the Bucs got 11 points from sophomore guard A.J. Merriweather, which included a pair of dunks on back-to-back possessions during the ETSU rally. For the Spartans, Kayel Locke led the way with 17 points, while Tevon Saddler added 11.
VMI 93, Furman 59
Lexington, Va. -- VMI buried a school-record 24 three-pointers and opened the second half on a 44-11 run en route to a 93-59 victory over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.
The Paladins suffered their fourth straight defeat to slip to 7-17 overall and 4-9 in SoCon play. VMI ended a three-game skid to improve to 9-16 overall and 5-9 in the league.
Brian Brown drained nine three-pointers to total a career-high 29 points and Tim Marshall added 25 points as the Keydets broke a 38-38 tie at the break by outscoring the Paladins 55-21 over the final 20 minutes. VMI connected on 24-of-45 three-point attempts, including 14-of-20 in the second half, while shooting 53.2 percent from the floor for the game.
Sophomore Kris Acox, who paced the Paladins with 14 points, scored six straight points to stake Furman to a 38-35 lead late in the first half. Marshall knotted the game at 38-38 on a buzzer beating three-pointer to end the half and begin a 47-11 Keydet run.
Furman managed a 46-16 scoring advantage in the paint and shot 48.1 percent from the floor but the Keydet’s record-setting shooting performance behind the arc and 22 VMI points off of 15 Paladins turnovers proved to be the difference.
Acox connected on 6-of-8 shots to lead Furman in scoring with 14 points, while Devin Sibley and Stephen Croons added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Citadel 66, Samford 65
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team’s season-high, five-game winning streak came to an abrupt end Thursday as The Citadel’s Ashton Moore bounced home a 19-foot jumper at the final buzzer to topple the Bulldogs, 66-65, in a back-and-forth contest held at the Pete Hanna Center.
With 4.2 seconds remaining on the clock, Samford (12-15, 5-9 SoCon) held a 65-64 advantage over The Citadel (9-15, 4-9 SoCon) following a free throw from senior center Michael Bradley.
After a timeout, the Cadets inbounded the ball from the right sideline and eventually found Moore near midcourt. Moore, The Citadel’s top offensive player and fourth leading scorer in the Southern Conference, gathered the pass and took four three quick dribbles down the right flank.
Samford’s defense retreated on the play and Moore pulled up for a wide-open jumper from just inside the 3-point line.
In the air, Moore’s shot was on line, but it hit the front rim. The Bulldogs’ fans began to cheer in excitement, but then the ball inexplicably bounced forward and up into the air and eventually hit the top right portion of the rim. At that point, the ball’s backspin carried it into the cylinder and through the net for the game-winning shot.
Moore’s bucket proved to be his seventh of the game as he finished with 17 points and six assists in 34 minutes of playing time.
Neither team led by more than six points Thursday as both squads battled hard in a tight SoCon matchup.
Samford trailed by five, 57-52, with 8:01 remaining in the contest, but then quickly used a 3-point basket from Christen Cunningham and a driving layup from Darius Jones-Gibson to even the score at 57-57 at the 4:47 mark.
The combatants exchanged three lead changes in the final 4:25 of action Thursday before Cunningham drained a huge 3-pointer to give Samford a 64-61 advantage with 1:10 to play.
Immediately after Cunningham’s 3-pointer, the Bulldogs’ full-court defensive pressure caused another Cadet turnover and Jones-Gibson led a 2-on-1 fast-break towards The Citadel’s basket.
Jones-Gibson handed off a pass to Cunningham near the goal, but the freshman’s layup attempt rolled over the back of the rim and came off the other side to the Cadets’ Brian White. The Citadel’s Moore then knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key on the next play to even the score at 64-64.
On Samford’s final possession, Bradley was fouled on an inbounds play and knocked down the front end of a 1-and-1 to give the Bulldogs their late 65-64 advantage.
Jones-Gibson led Samford with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. He also added five rebounds, three assists, a blocked shot and a steal. Cunningham followed with 10 points and five assists for the Bulldogs, while Evan Taylor, Tyler Hood, Nnamdi Enechionyia, Brandon Roberts and Alex Peters all finished with six points apiece.
Bradley led Samford with seven rebounds and added five points and three blocked shots.
The Citadel finished with four players scoring in double figures and shot 50 percent from the field, including a sizzling 66.7 percent from 3-point range (10-of-15). Jake Wright, the Cadets’ true freshman sharpshooter from Hopkins, Minnesota, turned in a 6-of-9 performance from beyond the arc.
Samford outscored The Citadel, 28-16, in the paint and 20-5 in bench scoring. The Bulldogs also forced the Cadets into 16 turnovers, but only outscored The Citadel by two points, 14-12, in points-off turnovers.
Thursday’s loss snapped Samford’s five-game winning streak and ended the Cadets’ six-game losing stretch.