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Wednesday's men's basketball roundup
Conference play opens for all 10 teams
Behind a school-record 17 made threes and Jaden Seymour notching a triple-double, the Buccaneers opened Southern Conference play with an 84-69 win over VMI in front of 3,311 fans on Wednesday afternoon inside Freedom Hall.
VMI - The VMI basketball team rallied to tie the score at 38 apiece with host ETSU but could not sustain the momentum as the Bucs earned an 84-69 win over the Keydets Wednesday afternoon at Freedom Hall in the Southern Conference opener for both schools.
UNCG - The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's basketball team came out on top, 68-66, in a defensive matchup in The Southern Conference (SoCon) play on New Year's Day at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
With the victory, UNCG handed Wofford its first loss at home after winning four straight games. The Spartans extended their regular season win streak against the Terriers to seven.WOF - The Wofford men's basketball (6-8, 0-1) dropped the Southern Conference opener 68-66 to the UNCG Spartans (8-6, 1-0) on Wednesday afternoon at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Terriers led in the final minute, but a three-pointer from UNCG with 10 seconds left lifted the Spartans to a win.
Corey Tripp, who finished with a game-high 17 points, surpassed the 1,000-point mark on a three-pointer in the second half. Tripp becomes just the 52nd player in program history to achieve the feat.
Furman 90, Western Carolina 61
FUR - Nick Anderson scored 20 points and Charles Johnston added 17 to pace six Paladins in double figures as Furman cruised to its sixth consecutive win with a 90-61 victory over Western Carolina in the Southern Conference opener for both schools on Wednesday afternoon at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.
The victory improved the Paladins to 13-1, which marks the best start for a Furman team since posting a 15-1 record during the 1932 season and ties Furman with Florida and Oklahoma for the NCAA Division I lead in wins this season.
WCU - Senior Bernard Pelote tallied his second double-double of the season, but chromatic rival Furman rode a strong start to build a double-digit lead and drained 11 3-pointers to push past Western Carolina 90-61 in the men's basketball Southern Conference opener for both teams on Wednesday afternoon from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Mercer 99, Chattanooga 94 (OT)
MER - Tyler Johnson and Ahmad Robinson combined to score 51 points to help lead the Mercer Bears to a 99-94 overtime win over Chattanooga in the SoCon opener Wednesday afternoon from Hawkins Arena.
After Chattanooga hit a game-tying shot to beat the buzzer in regulation and force overtime, Mercer never wavered, outscoring the Mocs 14-9 in overtime to earn a hard-fought win to start 1-0 in conference play this season.
UTC - The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team erased a late five-point deficit with seconds remaining to force overtime, but eventually fell 99-94 at Mercer in the Southern Conference opener on Wednesday afternoon inside Hawkins Arena in Macon, Ga.
A fast-paced tilt for much of the first half, Chattanooga (8-6, 0-1) built a lead as large as eight (30-22, 8:36) with the help of the deep ball and a balanced scoring attack. Mercer (8-6, 1-0) responded by outscoring the Mocs 20-7 over the final eight-plus minutes to ultimately take a 42-37 lead into the break, using a 22-2 points-off-turnover advantage in the process.
SAM - The Samford men's basketball team opened up Southern Conference play tonight as they hosted The Citadel at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford led wire-to-wire in root to an 86-56 victory to take their record to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in SoCon play on the season while the visiting Bulldogs drop to 5-7.
Once again the Samford offense was led by Trey Fort early on in a game. The senior guard from Mississippi hit on his first five shots of the night as he came out aggressive and scored the team's first 14 points. Eight different players scored in the half, including nine from Rylan Jones, for the Dogs as they led by as much as 19 in the opening 20 minutes.
CIT - The Citadel basketball team fell behind early before Samford used a strong start to the second half to send the Bulldogs home with a loss on Wednesday evening.
Alabama native Colby McAllister led the Bulldogs with 12 points and seven boards. Brody Fox and Sola Adebisi added 10 points each.