Chattanooga 79, Samford 72
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Samford basketball player Evan Taylor scored a career-high 21 points Saturday against the Chattanooga Mocs and connected on a personal-best four 3-point field goals, but the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 79-72 decision in a physical Southern Conference contest held at The McKenzie Arena.
Taylor turned in his best performance as a Bulldog on Saturday, but Samford (12-16, 5-10 SoCon) was out-rebounded by Chattanooga (18-9, 11-3 SoCon), 40-30, in its fifth straight loss in Chattanooga.
Samford has lost its last five games in The McKenzie Arena, dating back to Feb. 10, 2010, when the Bulldogs registered a 78-54 victory over the Mocs.
On Saturday, Taylor exploded for 21 points, a career-high seven rebounds and finished 4-of-6 from 3-point range. He also went 7-of-18 from the field in 33 minutes of playing time.
Samford forced Chattanooga into 10 turnovers in the first half as the teams entered the locker room tied at 32-32. In the second half of play, the Mocs only committed four miscues, two of which came in the waning seconds of action.
Chattanooga incrementally increased its lead over Samford early in the second period and eventually built a seven-point advantage, 47-40, at the 14:42 mark following a pair of free throws from Casey Jones.
The Bulldogs would bounce back with four straight points from Tyler Hood and a 3-pointer from Taylor to trim the Mocs’ lead to 49-47.
With 10:35 to play in the game, Chattanooga put together its most damaging run as the Mocs scored seven straight points to build a 60-51 advantage with 8:45 left to play.
Chattanooga grabbed an 11-point lead at the 3:14 point in the contest as the Bulldogs were never able to get any closer than 79-72 with a Darius Jones-Gibson layup at the final horn.
The Mocs finished with three players scoring in double figures Saturday. Jones played a huge role in Chattanooga’s victory with 21 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals, while Eric Robertson came off the bench to tally 21 points of his own on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a 5-of-8 performance from 3-point range.
Justin Tuoyo, Chattanooga’s athletic 6-foot-10 sophomore center, added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Mocs, while blocking three shots and altering a number of Samford attempts in the lane.
Samford shot a sizzling 46.7 percent from 3-point range Saturday and finished with three players scoring in double figures. Taylor’s career performance paced the way, while Hood notched 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block.
The Bulldogs’ Jones-Gibson finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Chattanooga shot 54 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from 3-point range. The Mocs outscored Samford, 42-36, in the paint and blocked 10 shots as a team.
Wofford 75, Western Carolina 55
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Senior Karl Cochran scored a game-high 26 points and the Wofford men’s basketball team closed the game on a 15-2 run to defeat Western Carolina, 75-55, Saturday evening at the Ramsey Center.
Cochran lit it up from long range, finishing the game 7-of-13 from deep and 9-of-16 from the field. He hit two from over 25 feet away and had another bounce off the rim four times before settling through. On top of his offensive outburst, the senior guard had five rebounds, a game-high four assists, game-high two blocks and game-high two steals.
Cochran moved up in the history books as well. He surpassed Ian Chadwick (1997-2001) for seventh on the program’s all-time scoring list and now sits at 1,793 in his career. The Marietta, Georgia native is also just six 3-pointers from breaking Chadwick’s program record in that department. Chadwick ended his career with 299 triples.
A 10-0 Western Carolina run cut Wofford’s lead to as little as three, 41-38, in the early part of the second half. The Terriers responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to rebuild the lead to double digits. The Catamounts only ever got to within seven the rest of the way.
Wofford (21-6, 12-2 SoCon) maintains its one-game lead in the Southern Conference standings over Chattanooga (18-9, 11-3 SoCon). Western Carolina (13-14, 8-7 SoCon) falls 4.5 games back and is officially eliminated from contention for the league’s regular season title.
The Terriers hit a season-high 13 threes, finishing the game 13-of-26 from beyond the arc. It accounted for nearly half of Wofford’s total field goals.
Sinclair struggled to a 4-for-19 showing. He ended the game with 12 points, nine rebounds and three turnovers. Torrion Brummitt led the Catamounts 15 points, going 5-of-8 from the field and grabbing four rebounds.
C.J. Neumann scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. The 6-foot-7 junior came down with a team-high seven rebounds and has finished with seven or more in four of the last five games. Sophomore Eric Garcia and junior Spencer Collins had eight points apiece, while senior Lee skinner had seven points and six rebounds.
Western Carolina led 8-5 early, but six straight points from Garcia put the Terriers in front. The Catamounts never regained a lead.
Wofford was hitting its threes early. Four different Terriers hit the first four triples on a combined six attempts. Collins, Garcia, sophomore Jaylen Allen and freshman Derrick Brooks all connected as Wofford went on top 19-13 midway through.
Cochran then got it going and couldn’t miss. He hit four threes in the final 10 minutes of the half and from all over the court. His final trey went in at the halftime buzzer to put the Terriers on top 34-23 at the break.
The second half started just like the first one ended. Cochran took the first shot and drained his fifth 3-ball to push Wofford’s lead to 14.
Western responded with its best run of the game. The Catamounts scored three points on six straight possessions, earning three the old-fashioned way the first four times before Sinclair and Rhett Harrelson made three the modern way. It chopped Wofford’s lead all the way down to a basket with over 16 minutes still left.
It was as close as it got. A 9-2 Terrier run made it a double-digit game, once more. The margin remained about 10 the majority of the half until Wofford’s late surge increased the lead to as many as 22.
Mercer 55, UNCG 50
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men’s basketball team built a 15-point second half lead and used a pair of late free throws by senior Darious Moten to secure Saturday’s 55-50 win over UNCG at Hawkins Arena.
Mercer swept the season series with UNCG and moved to 15-12 (10-4 SoCon) while the Spartans sunk to 8-19 (4-10 SoCon).
Moten netted a team-high 13 points to lead a trio of double-digit scorers. Juniors Jibri Bryan and Phillip Leonard chipped 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Bears used a 7-0 run at the end of the first half to take a 31-20 lead at the break, and pushed their advantage to 35-22 less than two minutes into the second period. The margin stayed in double figures until the Spartans put together seven-unanswered points, capped by an RJ White layup to trim their deficit to 49-42 with 6:33 to go.
Mercer went back ahead by nine, but an Assad Lamot 3-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play for White tightened matters at 53-50 with 1:54 to go. The Bears missed three shots on their next possession, but were able to take 90 seconds off the clock thanks to offensive rebounds by Leonard and senior T.J. Hallice.
When the visitors finally got the ball back, they advanced the ball and called timeout with seven tics left in an effort to set up a potential game-tying 3-pointer. Nicholas Paulos got the ball in the corner, but his shot hit the side of the backboard and Mercer retained possession.
Moten was intentionally fouled with three seconds left and swished both throws to cement the victory. He finished 5-of-6 at the charity stripe while also collecting three rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
Hallice pulled down a game-high seven rebounds to go along with four points and an assist. Leonard added six rebounds, four assists and a steal in his 10-point performance. Bryan hit 4-of-8 field goal attempts and tallied six rebounds, an assist and a steal.
The game attracted 3,541 fans, marking Mercer’s fourth consecutive sellout crowd. The Bears improved to 10-2 at Hawkins Arena this year.
ETSU 66, Furman 59
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Playing without the services of several key contributors, freshman Desonta Bradford took the opportunity to give ETSU fans a glimpse of the future.
Bradford hit a pressure-packed 3-pointer and scored seven straight points down the stretch, lifting the ETSU men’s basketball team to a 66-59 win over Furman in Southern Conference play Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall. With the win, ETSU improves to 15-10 overall, 8-7 in SoCon action, while Furman drops to 7-18, 4-10.
The Bucs were without senior guard Jalen Riley and sophomore guard Devin Harris. Riley missed the game to attend his grandmother’s funeral back home in Milwaukee, while sophomore guard Devin Harris suffered a knee injury in pregame warm-ups. The Bucs played even more short-handed when sophomore post Isaac Banks fouled out early in the second half.
Bradford finished the game with 12 points – nine of which came in the final five minutes of play. Meanwhile, Wilson had a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds, while Merriweather and Rembert added 18 and 14 points, respectively.
The Bucs finished the game shooting 48.8 percent from the floor, collecting 14 assists and forcing Furman into 14 turnovers. Furman was led offensively by a game-high 29 points from guard Devin Sibley, while post Kris Acox had a double-double effort with 17 rebounds and 14 points.
While Furman never led in the contest and never tied the game in the second half, the Paladins certainly made it interesting, coming to within one point of the Bucs on two occasions in the final five minutes. However, Bradford’s 3-pointer seemed to end the Furman momentum, allowing the Bucs to pull back ahead by as many as nine late in the contest.
In the first half, the Bucs looked solid offensively despite the absence of both Riley and Harris. ETSU opened with 3-pointers from Wilson and Rembert, ultimately pulling ahead by a score of 13-7 with 15 minutes left before the break.
Furman managed to get back to within two points of the Bucs on multiple occasions but never led in the first half. ETSU finished the half with a 5-0 run to lead 32-24 at the intermission.
In the second half, the Bucs stayed hot offensively and used a 7-0 run to start the half and lead by as many as 15 at 39-24 with 17:43 left in regulation. The Bucs maintained a double digit lead until the 11-minute mark, when Furman used a 12-4 run to make it 49-45 with 8:35 left. The Paladins eventually made it 52-51 and 54-53, but could not get any closer in the final two minutes of play.