No. 3 Chattanooga 75, No. 6 Wofford 57
 
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – With Wofford trailing only 52-47 midway through the second half, Chattanooga reserves Noah Melson and Demetrius Davis hit consecutive three-point shots to give the Mocs an 11-point lead and virtually salt away the game, as No. 3 seed Chattanooga beat the No. 6 seed Terriers for the third time this season, 75-57, in a quarterfinal game at the 2024 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
 
Chattanooga (21-11), which earned third place in the SoCon regular-season standings with a 12-6 mark, advances to Sunday’s semifinals at 6:30 p.m. to play in-state foe No. 7 seed ETSU.
 
Davis, a 6-9 senior forward from Atlanta, Georgia, paced a balanced Mocs scoring attack, recording 19 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
 
Chattanooga guards Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, considered one of the best scoring tandems in the SoCon this year, combined for 21 points in support of Davis. Jan Zidek, the SoCon Sixth Man of the Year, chipped in with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
In a back-and-forth affair where the score was tied six times and had four lead changes, Chattanooga secured a 38-32 halftime lead. Mocs forward Sam Alexis poured in 10 points in the first half and did not score in the second half, but yanked down eight of his game-high 11 rebounds after halftime.
 
Wofford, which had tied the game 23-23 on a Kyler Filewich layup with 11:18 remaining in the first half, trailed from that moment forward as the Mocs gradually pulled away.
 
Corey Tripp, a second-team all-conference selection, led the Terriers in scoring with 15 points.  Jeremy Lorenz added 12 points, while Filewich contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
 
RECORDS:  No. 3 Chattanooga 21-11, No. 6 Wofford 17-15
 
STATS TO KNOW

• Chattanooga held a decisive edge over Wofford in three-point shots, hitting 13-of-31 (42%) compared to 7-of-25 (28%) for the Terriers.
• Chattanooga was the 2022 SoCon Tournament champion and is gunning for its third straight championship game appearance.
• The Mocs’ defense thoroughly muzzled Wofford’s shooters, who connected on only 36 percent (22-for-61) of their field goal attempts

 
******
 
No. 5 Furman 79, No. 4 Western Carolina 76
 
ASHEVILLE, N.C.-- Carter Whitt scored a layup with 47 seconds left and Marcus Foster added a free throw with 13.6 seconds remaining, lifting No. 5 seed Furman to a stirring 79-76 overtime win over No. 4 seed Western Carolina in a quarterfinal game Saturday night at the 2024 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
 
Furman (17-15) advances to a semifinal contest against the No. 1 seed Samford Bulldogs (27-5) Sunday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs, ranked 11th in CollegeInsider’s Mid-Major Top 25 national poll, defeated No. 8 Mercer earlier today, 70-57.
 
In a matchup of two of the league’s top three scorers, Furman’s JP Pegues won the individual battle with Western Carolina’s Vonterius Woolbright, outscoring the SoCon Player of the Year, 28 to 11 points.
 
Pegues, the conference’s No. 3 scorer (18.0 ppg) this season, was brilliant in victory.  The 6-1 junior from Nashville, Tennessee, nailed 9-of-21 field goals, including going 6-of-11 beyond the arc.  He buried a 3-pointer which gave Furman a 74-71 lead with 3:11 left in overtime and it was his pass that assisted Whitt’s winning basket with 47 seconds on the clock.
 
Woolbright, the SoCon Player of the Year, had a rare off-night shooting, making just 5-of-14 shots from the field.  However, he did contribute 10 rebounds and nine assists to narrowly miss a triple-double.  The 6-6 senior from Albany, Georgia, tied the game, 69-69, with a layup with 29 seconds left in regulation to send the game in overtime.
 
Behind Pegues, guards Marcus Foster (18 points and seven rebounds) and PJay Smith Jr. (12 points) played instrumental roles in the win.  Foster hit two clutch field goals in the final 2:17 of the second half to send the game into OT.
 
On Woolbright’s cold night, several Catamount players picked up the slack, with guards Kamar Robertson (17 points) and Tre Jackson (15 points, seven rebounds) leading the scoring.
 
Robertson ignited an 11-3 opening first-half surge by Western Carolina, as he scored eight of the Catamounts’ first 11 points.  But Furman stayed close to trail only 42-40 at intermission. 
 
Both schools shot with great accuracy in the opening 20 minutes, Western Carolina made 59 percent of its field goals (17 for 29) and Furman making exactly half of its 28 tries. Three-point shots fell throughout the half, with Furman converting nine treys and Western Carolina eight.
 
Western Carolina, which was ranked as high as No. 5 nationally on Jan. 15 by CollegeInsider in its Mid-Major poll, ended its season with a 22-10 record.
 
RECORDS:  No. 4 Western Carolina 22-10, No. 5 Furman, 17-15
 
STATS TO KNOW

• Furman is now 6-0 in SoCon Tournament play against Western Carolina.  The Paladins and Catamounts also played an overtime game in the conference tournament last season, with Furman winning 83-80.
• Woolbright was named the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week last week.  It was Woolbright’s ninth weekly honor of the season, breaking SoCon Hall of Famer Steph Curry’s record for the most player of the week selections in conference history. Curry won SoCon player of the week eight times in the 2008-09 season.

 
 
 
2024 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship
Friday, March 8 (ESPN+)
Game 1 - (8) Mercer 84, (9) The Citadel 76
Game 2 - (7) ETSU 98, (10) VMI 66
 
Saturday, March 9 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 3 - (1) Samford 70, (8) Mercer 57
Game 4 - (7) ETSU 73, (2) UNCG 62
Game 5 - (3) Chattanooga 75, (6) Wofford 57
Game 6 - (5) Furman 79, (4) Western Carolina 76 (OT)
 
Sunday, March 10 (ESPNU)
Game 7 - (1) Samford vs. (5) Furman, 4 p.m.
Game 8 - (7) ETSU vs. (3) Chattanooga, 6:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 11 (ESPN)
Championship game, 7 p.m.