Mercer 76, The Citadel 53
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Thursday pitted Mercer men’s basketball against The Military College of South Carolina, but it was the Bears who operated with military-like precision in a 76-53 victory over The Citadel at McAlsiter Field House.
Mercer shot better than 50 percent from the field for the eighth time in SoCon play, connecting on 32-of-55 shots. Senior T.J. Hallice led four players in double figures, equaling a career-high with 16 points. His classmate Darious Moten added 15, while junior Ike Nwamu netted 12 and freshman Stephon Jelks posted a season-high 11.
The Bears jumped to 13-11 (8-3 SoCon) with the victory, while The Citadel lost for the fifth-straight time and fell to 8-14 (3-8 SoCon).
Mercer dominated every facet of the game, registering 18 assists with only seven turnovers while out-rebounding the opposition, 34-15. The Bears won scoring in the paint (38-16), points off turnovers (14-5), second-chance points (12-0), fast-break scoring (6-2) and bench scoring (22-9).
Moten was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor while also grabbing five rebounds. Hallice pulled down five boards of his own and blocked two shots. Junior Phillip Leonard booked eight points to go along with seven assists and zero turnovers.
Moten drove inside for a physical layup on Mercer’s first possession, but The Citadel responded with a triple on the other end for their only lead of the game. Their edge disappeared quickly, as Nwamu canned back-to-back treys the next two times down to put the Bears back up.
Junior Jibri Bryan was saddled with his second foul less than three minutes in, but the Bears got a lift off the bench as junior Jestin Lewis drilled a 3-pointer to continue the visitors’ early surge. Lewis would finish the night with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Bears went ahead by 10 less than seven minutes in as Moten drove for a one-handed stuff and Hallice got a twisting layup to fall for a 19-9 advantage.
The Bears maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the half, and ultimately went ahead 13 inside the final media timeout of the period. At the break, the Bears led 33-21 and owned a dominant 20-8 lead in rebounding.
The margin grew to 18 early on in the second half, as Bryan cashed a 3-pointer and Nwamu got a fast-break layup to cap a 9-3 charge out of intermission. Another Lewis three-ball put the Bears up 25 with 13:50 to play, and from there the buffer would stretch to as many as 30 before the final whistle.
Jelks scored his 11 points in 20 minutes of work while adding four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Samford 76, Western Carolina 72
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Despite leading by 21 points with 10:37 to play, the Catamounts of the Western Carolina men’s basketball team fell at home to Samford 76-72. The Bulldogs used a 24-2 run midway through the second half to erase a 21-point deficit and eventually hung on to claim their first victory inside the Ramsey Center in program history. The Bulldogs had previously gone 0-7 in Cullowhee against the Catamounts.
The loss drops Western Carolina’s record to 11-13 overall and 6-6 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs improve to 11-14 overall and 4-8 in conference action.
Junior Mike Brown scored 23 points in the losing effort as he was 8-12 from the field, 2-3 from 3-point range and 5-6 at the free throw line. Senior James Sinclair added 17 points and 10 rebounds to complete his second career double-double. He also had a team-high five steals in the game. Brown and Sinclair were WCU’s only double-digit scorers. Junior Justin Browning added nine points off the bench to go along with a team-high five assists while junior Rhett Harrelson had eight points.
Samford had three double-digit scorers in the game including Tyler Hood and Darius Jones-Gibson who each had 18 points. Christen Cunningham added 12 points, five assists and four steals.
The Bulldogs took advantage of the free throw line and WCU’s mistakes in the second half. Samford scored 13 points at the charity stripe and converted 10 WCU turnovers into 17 points in the second half. They also shot lights out in the period knocking down 61.5 percent of their shots (16-26).
The first half was back-and-forth with both teams taking leads throughout the period. Samford largest advantage came at the 10:50 mark when a layup by Jones-Gibson gave the Bulldogs a four-point lead. A 7-0 run by the Catamounts late in the first half opened up an 11-point lead for WCU. A pair of Bulldog free throws with 57 seconds left in the period were the final points scored before half as WCU led 35-26.
The second half opened with a bang for the Catamounts as Harrelson made a steal on Samford’s opening possession and then knocked down a 3-pointer on the other end to open up a 12-point lead for the Catamounts. The lead would eventually balloon to 21 points when Sinclair knocked down a pair of free throws.
The Bulldogs began a 24-2 run at that point that featured six WCU turnovers and five missed shots. The Bulldogs on the other hand were 3-3 from 3-point range, 4-5 from inside the arc and 7-8 at the free throw line with just one turnover in that span. A jumper by Sinclair ended the run and gave WCU back a one-point lead.
The two teams would trade the lead back-and-forth over the next several possessions. A small 4-0 run by the Catamounts opened up a three-point lead for WCU but the Bulldogs answered four-straight of their own to retake the advantage with 53 seconds left in the game. A nice high-low play by Browning and junior Torrion Brummitt gave WCU back the lead with 41 seconds to play but once again the Bulldogs had the answer with a 3-pointer by Hood.
Browning tied the game at 71 with a nice driving layup with 12 seconds left to play and he was fouled and converted the and-one to make it 72-71 in WCU’s favor. Hood once again buried a 3-pointer from the wing with two seconds to play giving Samford a 74-72 lead. WCU’s inbounds heave was intercepted by Cunningham and he hit two free throws with a second remaining to seal the victory, 76-72.
Wofford 74, ETSU 64
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Using a lop-sided advantage at the foul line and holding off a late rally by the ETSU men’s basketball team, the Wofford Terriers continued to roll in Southern Conference play with a 74-64 win over the Buccaneers Thursday night at Freedom Hall.
The Terriers (19-5 overall, 10-1 SoCon) made a total of 29 free throws on the night compared to 18 for the Bucs, and ultimately built a lead of as many as 22 points at 62-40 with six minutes left in regulation. ETSU – which dropped to 13-9, 6-6 – then employed a full-court, trapping defense to ignite a 22-6 run that made it 68-62 with 1:24 left on the clock.
Unfortunately for the Bucs, the Terriers’ Spencer Collins scored the final six points of the game for Wofford and closed out the win.
The Bucs were led by senior guard Rashawn Rembert, who finished with a game-high 17 points, while teammates Desonta Bradford and Jalen Riley finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
For Wofford, forward Lee Skinner finished with another double-double thanks to 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Spencer Collins netted 12 and C.J. Neumann added 11.
In the first half, the Bucs held the advantage for over 10 minutes and led 12-9 with 9:09 left before the intermission. However, Wofford responded at that point, outscoring the Bucs 22-9 over the next seven minutes of action to enjoy their largest lead of the half at 31-21 with 2:02 remaining before halftime.
The Bucs then responded by closing the half on a 4-0 spurt to make it 31-25 at the break. In the first half, sophomore post Isaac Banks (New Orleans) was a bright spot for the Bucs, grabbing seven rebounds, blocking two shots and scoring four points. As a team, the Bucs shot just 37 percent from the floor and were held to a 1-for-5 clip from 3-point range.
After the break, the Terriers consistently got to the line and made a high percentage of those shots, ultimately holding a 19-of-24 clip at the charity stripe compared to the Bucs’ 4-of-6 effort with 15 minutes left in the game. The Wofford lead grew to 62-40 following a 25-9 run midway through the second half, but that’s when the Bucs’ wild defensive switch helped rally the cause.
A handful of Wofford misses at the free throw line and several turnovers led to easy ETSU baskets, and following a layup and foul shot from Bradford, the Bucs had made it 68-62. However, time ran out on the run and the rally.
For the game, the Bucs shot just 29 percent from 3-point range and were 4-of-14 from beyond the arc – six shots below the team’s season average. ETSU did hold advantages in points in the paint (32-28), points off turnovers (21-17), fast break points (17-8) and bench points (31-26), but Wofford finished with the stat that mattered most, a 74-64 victory.
Chattanooga 74, Furman 71 (OT)
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Justin Tuoyo scored 18 of his team-high 20 points after the break, including four in overtime, to lift Chattanooga to a 74-71 overtime victory over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night at Timmons Arena.
Tuoyo opened the extra period with a basket as the Mocs grabbed a 69-65 lead and helped put the game away on a breakaway dunk with 23 seconds remaining. After Chattanooga (16-8, 9-2 SoCon) scored the first two baskets of the overtime period, Furman’s Stephen Croone scored on a floater from the left side and converted a pair of foul shots on the Paladins next possession to knot the game at 69-69. Chattanooga’s Casey Jones grabbed two offensive rebounds on the Mocs’ next possession and scored on the put back off of the second rebound to give his team a 71-69 lead with 1:46 left.
Furman (7-15, 4-7 SoCon) failed to convert on a pair of free throw attempts following and offensive rebound on the next possession. After Chattanooga missed a jumper on the other end, the Paladins’ Devin Sibley had a chance to give Furman the lead but missed off of the back iron from three-point range with 31 seconds left. Furman tried to foul on the inbounds, but Chattanooga escaped and Tre’ McLean fed Tuoyo for the dunk with 23 seconds left to up the lead to 73-69.
The Paladins’ Daniel Fowler scored in the paint with nine second left and Ronrico White made just 1-of-2 free throws on the opposite end to move the Mocs’ lead to 74-71. After crossing half court and calling timeout with 5.6 seconds left, Furman got the ball into Croone in front of the Paladin bench, but the junior’s three missed long and Geoff Beans missed a last second shot from the right wing as time expired.
Tuoyo connected on 7-of-10 shots from the floor and made all six of his free throw attempts to score his 20 points. He added seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Jones tallied 14 points and nine rebounds, while White and Eric Robertson reached double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Croone paced Furman with 31 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field and a 9-for-12 effort at the charity stripe. Fowler, a freshman from Acworth, Ga., contributed 11 points and eight rebounds, while Kendrec Ferrara scored nine points and became the first Paladin since Will Coles in 1996 to block seven shots in a single game.
Furman led by as many as nine points in the first half and Chattanooga by as many as six points before the teams went into halftime tied at 36-36. The Paladins reeled off seven straight points with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation to grab a 57-55 lead when Ferrara capped the run with a free throw with 6:53 left. The Mocs, however, embarked on an 8-0 run following Tuoyo’s dunk with 5:03 left and led 63-59 with under three minutes to play.
Ferrara and Fowler connected on baskets to tie the game and Sibley’s free throw with 1:16 remaining put the Paladins in front 64-63. Croone made 1-of-2 to up the lead to 65-63, but Jones scored on a driving layup to force overtime and setup the Mocs victory.
Furman shot 47.2 percent and managed a 41-32 rebounding edge, but the Mocs scored 20 points off of 13 Paladin turnovers and fashioned a 14-12 edge in second chance points despite the rebounding deficit. The Paladins held Chattanooga to 43.5 percent shooting.