Second Half Run Sends Furman into Saturday’s Quarterfinals
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Leading by eight with 12:36 remaining in the second half, Furman used a 22-4 run to grab a 73-56 victory over The Citadel in the second game of the first round of the 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by General Shale. The win moves Furman to 9-21 on the season and advances the Paladins into a Saturday quarterfinal match-up with Chattanooga. The loss ends The Citadel’s season at 11-19.
Furman was led by Stephen Croone with 27 points, including a perfect night from the free throw line (6-6). SoCon Freshman of the Year Devin Sibley was the only other Paladin in double-figures with 11 points, adding two assists and two steals. Kris Acox pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while Kendrec Ferrara added six points on two threes, five reboudns and a team-high four blocks.
Three Bulldogs scored in double figures, with Marshall Harris III and Brian White each posting 11 and senior Ashton Moore adding 10. PJ Horgan pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, while also adding three assists.
Furman opened the game with back-to-back threes to take an early 6-2 lead over The Citadel, before Horgan completed the three-point play to cut the lead to one at 6-5. Both teams were held scoreless for the next 2:39, with Furman holding on to the one-point lead heading into the first media timeout of the half.
Stephen Croone knocked down a pair of free throws to end Furman’s scoring drought, but back-to-back threes by Harris gave the Bulldogs the 11-8 lead with 13:08 remaining, forcing Furman to call a quick timeout. Out of the timeout, it was Furman who used back-to-back threes to regain the lead at 14-11 with 11:59 remaining, before forcing a Citadel turnover heading into the under-12:00 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, Furman kept up the pressure on the offensive end, stretching it’s run to 13-0 behind John Davis III and Geoff Beans, with Beans’ second three forcing The Citadel to call a timeout with 10:00 left in the half, trailing 21-11. A free throw by White ended the Bulldog scoring drought at 3:09, cutting Furman’s lead to nine at 21-12 with 9:47 left in the half. A basket by White then cut the Furman lead to seven, before Croone slashed to the basket and score to push the lead back to nine. The teams then traded baskets, sending the game to the under-8:00 media timeout with Furman on top, 25-16.
Both teams came out sloppy after the timeout, trading turnovers before two free throws by Moore cut the Furman lead to seven with 6:05 remaining. The Citadel used two free throws from Harris to cut the lead to five, before a Daniel Fowler layup and a free throw by Davis pushed Furman’s lead back to eight with five minutes left in the half. The Citadel used four quick points to cut Furman’s lead to four, before back-to-back baskets by Croone and Sibley pushed the lead back to eight heading into the final media timeout of the half.
Furman forced three Citadel turnovers out of the timeout and a 6-2 run by Croone pushed the Furman lead to 38-26 with 1:12 left in the half. Warren Sledge made one-of-two free throws for the Citadel and Furman’s buzzer-beater try fell short, giving Furman the 38-27 halftime lead.
The Paladins came out strong in the second half, using a three by Fowler and a fast-break layup by Croone to push their lead to 16 at 43-27, prompting The Citadel to call its first timeout of the half. Back-to-Back layups by Sibley opened up a 20-point lead for Furman with 16:21 remaining, before a three-pointer by Jake Wright got The Citadel on the board in the second half. Another Bulldog layup capped off a quick 5-0 run for The Citadel heading into the first media timeout of the half.
The Citadel continued to chip into Furman’s lead out of the timeout, using another 5-0 run to cut the lead to ten at 47-37. A layup by Beans pushed Furman’s lead back to 12, but two free throws by Moore again cut the lead to ten. A layup by CJ Bray then cut Furman’s lead to eight with 12:27 remaining, the closest The Citadel had been since the 3:36 mark of the first half, but a Bulldog turnover sent the teams into the under-12:00 timeout with Furman leading 49-41.
A put-back by Acox out of the timeout pushed the Paladin lead back to ten, before a Croone three-point play gave Furman the 13-point advantage with 10:28 to go. Croone then knocked down his third three of the day to push Furman’s run to 8-0, giving the Paladins the 57-41 advantage. Following a Bulldog timeout, Harris nailed his second three of the day to cut the Furman lead to 14, but a three by Ferrara on the other end pushed it back to 17. Furman then used a layup by Croone to cap off a 13-3 run and give the Paladins the 62-44 advantage heading into the under-8:00 timeout.
A drive to the basket by Acox gave Furman its second 20-point lead of the game with 6:57 remaining, before Sibley split two defenders on a drive to the basket to give Furman the 66-44 lead. The Paladins continued to stay hot from three, as Ferrara drained his second of the day, before a fast-break dunk by Fowler gave Furman the 27-point advantage with 4:40 remaining.
Four-straight free throws by White ended The Citadel’s 5:52 scoring drought, cutting Furman’s lead to 71-48 with 2:32 remaining. A layup by Aaron O’Neill pushed Furman’s lead back to 73-48, before a layup and three free throws by The Citadel cut Furman’s lead to 18 at 73-55, but the Paladins held on for the 73-56 victory to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
UNCG Hangs on Against Samford to Advance to Quarterfinals
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Six of the seven Spartans that saw action on Friday evening scored in double-figures and UNCG held on to a lead over the game’s final five minutes to defeat Samford, 81-76, in the first game of the 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, presented by General Shale. The win moves UNCG to 11-21 on the season and into Saturday’s quarterfinals, where it will face top-seeded Wofford. The loss ends Samford’s season at 13-19.
Tevon Saddler, Marvin Smith, Jr., Diante Baldwin, Kayel Locke, Nicholas Paulos, and RJ White each scored in double-figures for UNCG, who shot 49.2 percent for the game, including 50.0 percent from three. Locke pulled down ten rebounds to go along with his 11 points for his first double-double of the season. Baldwin led the Spartans with 19 points and dished out a team-high five assists.
Samford was led by Darius Jones-Gibson with19 points, while Michael Bradley, Evan Taylor, and Christen Cunningham each also scored in double-figures. Tyler Hood grabbed a team-high six rebounds, while Bradley dished out a team-high-tying three assists to add to his 13 points. Samford finished the game shooting 51.9 percent, including 55.6 percent in the second half.
UNCG opened the game with a quick score from Tevon Saddler, before three free throws from Samford gave the Bulldogs the early lead. UNCG’s defense held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the first 2:05, but Samford kept it close from the free throw line. The teams then traded buckets for the next 2:55, taking an 11-11 tie into the first media timeout of the game.
Sparked by an RJ White three-pointer out of the timeout, UNCG used a 9-2 run over the next 3:30 to increase its lead to 20-13 with 11:14 remaining in the half. Out of the under-12:00 media timeout, UNCG used a layup from Diante Baldwin to stretch the lead to 22-13, until a free throw from Michael Bradley ended the Samford scoring drought with 10:33 left in the half. The Spartans used a three-point play to take the 11-point lead until a dunk by Bradley, followed by a three by Tyler Hood brought Samford back to within six at 25-19 with 8:55 remaining.
A put-back by White pushed the UNCG lead back to eight out of the under-8:00 timeout, but five quick points by Jamal Shabazz, followed by a Tyler Hood three-pointer cut the UNCG lead to one at 27-26 with 6:35 remaining, forcing a Spartan timeout. UNCG used back-to-back baskets by Diante Baldwin out of the timeout to push the lead back to five, before a layup by Kayel Locke gave the Spartans a seven-point advantage, forcing Samford to call a timeout of its own with 4:59 left in the half.
UNCG again pushed the lead to nine on a dunk by White, but a free throw by Darius Jones-Gibson, followed by a layup from Christen Cunningham cut the lead to five with 2:00 left in the half. The teams traded baskets to end the half, with UNCG taking a 38-32 lead into the locker room.
UNCG opened the half on a quick 9-4 run to push the lead back to nine heading into the first timeout of the half. Two free throws by Kayel Locke pushed UNCG’s lead back to 11, tying for the Spartans’ largest of the game, with 13:20 remaining. Back-to-back buckets for Samford then cut the lead to seven, prompting a quick timeout call from UNCG, just 25 seconds from the under-12:00 media timeout.
Samford forced a shot-clock violation leading into the media timeout, followed by a three-point play from Michael Bradley to cut the lead to four at 51-47 with 11:30 remaining. A free throw by Evan Taylor then cut the lead to three, the closest UNCG had been since the 6:09 mark in the first half. Following a UNCG free throw, Samford cut the lead to two on a layup by Bradley, before the Spartans used four quick points to push the lead back to six.
Samford cut the lead to three on two-straight baskets, but Asad Lamot knocked down his first three of the game to push it back to six heading into the under-8:00 media timeout. Samford then used two free throws and a jumper by Bradley to cut the lead to two, before a three-point play by RJ White kept the Bulldogs at bay, giving UNCG a five-point lead with 6:55 remaining.
A tip-in by Kayel Locke gave UNCG a 67-60 lead with just under six minutes remaining, before Marcus Johnson knocked down a three to again cut it to four. Out of a Samford timeout, the Bulldogs forced a turnover and used a layup by Evan Taylor to pull to within to, before a quick 5-0 Spartan run gave UNCG the 72-65 lead with four minutes remaining. The teams then traded baskets with the Spartans taking the 74-67 lead into the final media timeout of the game.
Tevon Saddler drained a free throw to give UNCG a six-point lead out of the timeout, but the Bulldogs countered with two of their own to cut the lead to four with 2:24 left. As was the story for most of the game, the teams traded baskets out of the timeout, until Samford was fouled with 1:19 remaining with a chance to cut the Spartan lead to two. The Bulldogs drained one-of-two from the line to cut the lead to three before sending UNCG to the line with a chance to seal the win.
UNCG sank one-of-two for a two-possession lead with just 37 seconds remaining, before Christen Cunningham raced down the court for Samford and laid the ball in to cut the lead to two with 23.3 seconds on the clock. UNCG then drained two free throws on the other end to take a four-point lead with 21 seconds. Samford had a chance to cut the lead to one with two different looks from three, but UNCG grabbed a rebound and knocked down a free throw to hold on for the 81-76 victory.