Friday, November 10
Georgia Southern 85, Wake Forest 83
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Ike Smith scored his 1,000th career point on Georgia Southern’s first basket of the game, but his final five of the night will wind up being the most memorable as the Eagles topped Wake Forest 85-83 Friday night in Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
It was the season opener for both schools.
Smith’s 3-pointer from the corner tied the game 83-83 with 59.6 seconds left, and Montae Glenn blocked a shot at the other end to give the Eagles the ball back. Coach Mark Byington elected not to call a timeout, and Tookie Brown found Mike Hughes for a 3-point try with nine ticks left. Hughes’ shot rimmed out, but Smith was there for the rebound and was fouled on the putback attempt. The junior calmly sank them both for an 85-83 lead with 3.6 seconds to go.
After a Wake Forest timeout, the Demon Deacons tried to inbound to 7-footer Doral Moore so he could hit a guard cutting for the hoop with a head of steam, but the ball bounced off Moore’s hands. Brown collected the loose ball and fired it into the air as time expired.
Smith finished with 18 points, and Brown scored 22. Mike Hughes, the Winston-Salem native, scored 18 and hit a 3-pointer from the wing that gave the Eagles their first lead of the game with 2:10 to play.
Montae Glenn matched his career high with 14 points, including 12 in the second half, and added a career-high 13 rebounds with eight coming on the offensive end. Jared Hamilton was the fifth Eagle in double figures with 10 points to go along with three boards and two assists, and Coye Simmons, another Winston-Salem native, chipped in four rebounds.
Keyshawn Woods led Wake Forest with 25 points to go along with six rebounds, and Chaundee Brown tallied 21 points and nine assists in his collegiate debut. Bryan Crawford finished with 19 points, and Terrence Thompson tallied nine points and 11 rebounds.
The last two minutes of the game saw three lead changes and a tie, which started with Hughes’ 3-pointer that gave GS an 80-79 lead. Wood answered with a jumper, and Bryant stole the ball from Tookie Brown and hit teammate Chaundee Brown for a fastbreak layup and an 83-80 cushion with 1:15 to go.
The Eagles came right back down and found an open Smith in the corner for the tying triple. The momentum swing was just some of the adversity Georgia Southern had to overcome in the second half. With under five minutes to go, the Eagles had been whistled for 14 fouls compared to three for Wake Forest, and the Demon Deacons reached the bonus with 11:59 left in the game.
The Eagles got off to a nervy start, committing four turnovers in the first 2:30 of the contest, and found themselves trailing 14-4 early on. Brown scored 10 points in a row, and his layup gave Wake Forest a 27-13 cushion with 9:54 left in the first.
Smith hit a jumper, Jake Allsmiller nailed a 3-pointer and Hughes scored five straight points to spark a 16-4 Eagle run over the next 3:30, and Georgia Southern trailed 46-40 at halftime. GS kept Wake in its sights in the second half, never allowing the home side more than a six-point lead.
Smith’s 1,000th point came on a pull-up jumper 1:40 into the contest.
Georgia State 90, Carver Bible College 50
ATLANTA - Sophomore D’Marcus Simonds recorded the first triple-double in school history and Georgia State cruised to a 90-50 win over Carver Bible College on the opening night of basketball season on Friday.
Simonds finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in just 28 minutes of action. He went 9-of-13 from the floor while also swiping four steals.
Junior Malik Benlevi added 17 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while senior Jordan Session just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Junior Devin Mitchell also added 18 points as four Panthers scored in double figures.
Georgia State (1-0) improved to 7-0 in regular season home openers under head coach Ron Hunter, winning by an average margin of 30.3 points per game. Carver fell to 0-5 on the season.
“Although we came away with the win, I was not happy with our mental preparation the last two days,” Hunter said. “I didn’t think we executed to our ability and made too many mistakes. With that said, give Carver a lot of credit. They came in and played hard for all 40 minutes.”
Carver kept the game close early, taking a 7-6 lead with just under 16 minutes to play as the Cougars knocked down three of their first four shots.
With just under eight minutes to play, Georgia State still only led by three, 16-13, before the Panthers went on a 15-0 run to lead 31-13 with 4:28 to play.
The Panthers went into the half leading 42-19 led by Simonds who scored 12 and Benlevi who had 10. Georgia State forced Carver into 13 first-half turnovers and just 34.8 percent shooting while outscoring the Cougars 24-6 in the paint.
Georgia State scored the first seven points of the second half and then used an 11-0 run midway thru the second 20 minutes to build a 64-27 lead with 13:21 play following a Simonds pass-off-the-backboard dunk.
The Panthers led by as many as 50 with 3:47 to play before Hunter cleared his bench.
Redshirt-sophomore Jordan Tyson added eight points and seven rebounds, while freshman Josh Linder also finished with eight points.
Saveyon Edwards led Carver Bible College with 15 points and four assists, while Ja’Myri Evans chipped in with eight points.
Georgia State will return to the court on Tuesday opening the MGM Grand Main Event at Rice in Houston, Texas. Tip is set for 8 p.m. ET and can be seen live on FloSports.tv.
Piedmont 102, Coastal Carolina 50
CONWAY, S.C. - Coastal Carolina University started the 2017-18 season in strong fashion in defeating Piedmont International 102-50.
Five players reached double-digits as CCU shot 55 percent from the field, including an incredible 70 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
Zac Cuthbertson made his first regular season game with the Chants a monster in scoring 22 point in only 16 minutes of action. Josh Coleman and Jaylen Shaw each contributed with 14 points with Shaw going perfect from the field. He hit all five of his field goals and hit one three point field goal and all three of his free throws.
Matt Lindsey knocked down three field goals from beyond the three point line and finished with 11 points while Demario Beck scored 10 points and had seven rebounds.
The Chants out rebounded PIU (2-1) 53-31 as Artur Labinowicz had a team and game-high eight followed by Coleman who matched Beck's seven rebounds.
CCU (1-0) hit 39 field goals and did a good job distributing the basketball as they had 20 assists in the game. Shaw had a game-high six.
In shooting 70 percent in the opening half, CCU hit 21 of its 30 field goals and that includes knocking down seven of its 13 three point field goals as the Chants opened up a 61-28 halftime lead.
Shaw was a perfect four-for-four from the field to lead the team with 12 first half points. Cuthbertson scored 10 early points before picking up his second foul and only played the first five minutes of the game.
CCU will now hit the road for its next four games, beginning with a Nov. 14 game at Lamar. Opening tip is set for 8 p.m. Following that game the Chants will head to Nassau for the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase for three games, before returning home for a Nov. 21 game against St. Andrews.
Evansville 77, Arkansas State 63
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Ty Cockfield poured in 22 points but Arkansas State men’s basketball dropped its season opener 77-63 at Evansville Friday night.
Cockfield, a junior college transfer, was 8-of-13 from the field for a game-high 22 points. Redshirt-sophomore Connor Kern also finished in double figures as he posted 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting. Senior Tamas Bruce led A-State (0-1) on the glass as he had eight boards to go along with eight points. Ryan Taylor paced Evansville (1-0) with 21 points.
A-State shot 40.7 percent (24-59) on the night and struggled to 5-for-19 (26 percent) from 3-point range. Evansville shot 45 percent (23-51) from the field while also struggling beyond the arc (5-17/29 percent), but went 26-for-34 (77 percent) at the charity stripe compared to 10-of-12 (83 percent) for A-State
The Red Wolves won the battle on the boards 36-34 and 12 offensive boards led to 15 second chance points for A-State. Evansville turned 16 A-State turnovers into 19 points while 13 turnovers for the Purple Aces were turned into 13 points for the Red Wolves. Both teams had success in the paint finishing with 34 points. Evansville had a distinct advantage off the bench, outscoring A-State 32-18.
Cockfield got the Red Wolves off to a strong start as he scored the first four points as A-State got out to an early lead. Cockfield poured in 14 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting.
Evansville used a 6-0 run to build a 14-8 advantage and later led 21-14 with 7:39 to play in the half. A trey by Cockfield trimmed the deficit to 21-17, but the Purple Aces pulled away with an 8-2 run to build a 10-point lead.
Behind 46 percent shooting (13-28), Evansville took a 38-27 lead into halftime. Evansville took advantage at the foul line, shooting 11-of-13 (85 percent) at the charity stripe while A-State was 5-for-6 (83 percent).
Newcomers were responsible for all 27 points in the first half with Cockfield leading way with 14 points. Gillard added seven points while Marquis Eaton had four points and redshirt-freshman Jake Scoggins added a bucket.
Evansville scored the first five points of the half to lead 43-27, but A-State answered with a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to nine. A trey by Evansville increased the deficit to double figures once again and A-State was unable to pull any closer.
A-State went nearly nine minutes without a field goal as the Purple Aces built a 24 point advantage, 67-43, with 5:55 to play. A jumper by Rashad Lindsey sparked a 13-4 run late in the second half, but the final margin of 14 points would be as close as the Red Wolves could get.
Ole Miss 94, Louisiana 76
OXFORD, Miss. – Terence Davis scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and Ole Miss used a 14-3 run midway through the second half to pull away and claim a 94-76 win over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the men’s basketball opener for both teams on Friday at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
Deandre Burnett scored 17 points while Marcanvis Hymon posted a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds as Ole Miss (1-0) outscored Louisiana (0-1), 54-34, in the second half.
Louisiana led 54-53 when Bryce Washington hit a free throw with 13:47 remaining before Ole Miss took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Devontae Shuler at the 13:35 mark. The Ragin’ Cajuns twice cut the lead to one – the last coming on Johnatan Stove’s bucket with 12:33 remaining, but the Rebels scored the next 12 points as Davis started the run with a three-point play and a layup before Shuler drained a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Ole Miss closed out the run as Deandre Burnett followed with a bucket and Bruce Stevens added a basket to cap that gave the Rebels a 70-57 lead with 10:22 remaining.
Freshman Cedric Russell, who scored 15 points with five 3-pointers in his Ragin’ Cajuns debut, sank a pair of treys that cut the Ole Miss lead to 72-66 with 7:44 left, but Davis sank a pair of free throws and Stevens hit a jumper as the Rebels pushed the lead back to double digits.
Stove scored 16 points to lead Louisiana with Justin Miller and Marcus Stroman scoring 12 points each for the Ragin’ Cajuns. Shuler scored 14 points for the Rebels in his debut with Breein Tyree adding 10.
Louisiana will return to action on Tuesday when it plays host to Louisiana College in a 7 p.m. contest at the Cajundome.
TCU 83, ULM 73
FORT WORTH, Texas – Four ULM players scored in double figures, led by Sam McDaniel who matched his career high with 21 points, but the Warhawks came up short in their bid to upset TCU, falling 83-73, in the season opener for both teams. TCU returns its top six scorers, including all five starters, from last year's team which claimed the 2017 National Invitation Tournament Championship.
The first half featured two ties and four lead changes. The Warhawks jumped out to an early 6-2 lead on back-to-back three-pointers from Travis Munnings and Jordon Harris. TCU put together a 7-0 run midway through the first half and took a seven-point lead at 23-16 on a layup by Kenrich Williams. ULM responded with an 8-1 spurt and tied the score at 30-all, as Harris buried a three-pointer from the deep left corner with 2:50 left in the first half. Trailing 34-30, the Warhawks again answered and regained the lead at 35-34, thanks to another trey from Harris and steal and assist by McDaniel that led to a fast-break dunk by Marvin Jean-Pierre with 57 seconds left in the first half. TCU took the momentum in to the locker room as Jaylen Fisher hit a runner in the lane at the first-half buzzer and gave the Horned Frogs a 38-35 advantage.
Early in the second half, TCU extended its lead to eight at 48-40 on JD Miller's layup. ULM pulled to within 49-47 on Jean-Pierre's rebound dunk with 16:06 left. Thanks to an 8-0 run, the Frogs built their first double-digit lead at 57-47 on a Fisher three-pointer. TCU led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but back-to-back baskets by Harris sparked an 8-0 run and the Warhawks managed cut their deficit to 76-71 on a jumper by McDaniel with 3:00 to play. The Frogs closed out the game with a 7-2 spurt.
"We played very well for 37 minutes against a Top 35 team, but we didn't finish well the last three minutes," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "We had a layup blocked at the rim that led to a transition basket at the other end. We gave up some layups and turned the ball over; we just didn't close well. It was a 5-point game with 2:08 left. With all that said, I'm pleased by a lot of things I saw tonight.
"We went with our returning players down the stretch to try and finish it out. Those returning guys gained some valuable experience late in the game."
ULM remained within striking distance, thanks to its three-point shooting (12-of-27). The Warhawks made twice as many threes as the Horned Frogs.
"At times, we executed well offensively," Richard said. "In the second half, I really wanted more of a push. I called far too many plays in the second half. I wanted to create more opportunities from the flow of the game. As our game conditioning improves, we'll look to push the ball throughout the game."
McDaniel, who scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, was joined by double-figure scorers Harris (16), Munnings (13) and Jean-Pierre (12). McDaniel also matched his career best with three steals, while Munnings grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
"Sam played very, very well," Richard said. "That's what we need from him if we're going to become a good team. Whether he comes off the bench or starts, we need that consistent production.
"Jordon made some big shots for us, and Travis did his normal things tonight. He's a gritty guy who plays hard. He rebounds and gets trash baskets. We've come to expect that from him."
Five different TCU players reached double figures in scoring, paced by Preseason All-Big 12 selection Vladimir Brodziansky, who netted a team-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. Williams nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. As a team, TCU hit nearly 50 percent (30-of-61) from the floor and outrebounded the Warhawks, 40-35.
"This wasn't a bad way to start the season," Richard said. "The game really turned in about a one-minute span. Our guys had no quit. We'll need that balanced scoring throughout the season. I really liked the way our guys competed. We gave up only nine offensive rebounds to a long, athletic front line. TCU shot a pretty good percentage tonight, so there weren't a ton of opportunities, but our guys really battled on the glass.
"Our newcomers got some great experience playing in this game because every possession counted, and the importance of each possession was magnified. We can talk about these situations in practice, but a young player doesn't fully understand until he's in it."
ULM completes its season-opening two-game road trip Sunday at SMU, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. on ESPN3.
"Sunday is another chance to become better," Richard said. "I felt like this team improved a lot during the preseason, but more importantly, we proved it to ourselves tonight."
Texas Tech 75, South Alabama 50
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech finished the first half on a 10-1 run and later used a 23-6 spurt after halftime to defeat the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 75-50 Friday night at United Supermarkets Arena.
The game was the season opener for both teams.
Sophomore Jordan Andrews led the Jaguars with 15 points – 13 in the first half – and sophomore Herb McGee had a career-best 11, going 3 for 3 from 3-point land.
Zhaire Smith led a group of four Red Raiders in double-digit points with 14 off the bench. Keenan Evans and Tommy Hamilton IV had 12 points each
The largest lead for either team in the first 18 minutes was five, and for a stretch of almost 10 minutes, the two teams were separated by no more than three points
Texas Tech used its press to key the 10-1 first-half ending run – Smith nailed a triple to retake the lead, then converted a turnover into a layup; due to an intentional foul on the play, the Red Raiders hit another layup after keeping possession
The Jaguars turned the ball over with 1:29 left, which led to another layup, this time by Niem Stevenson for a 36-27 advantage
USA trailed by just six in the early going after halftime, but a jumper from Hamilton with 14:24 left started a run of 10 unanswered points for TTU's largest lead of the game, 54-37
A triple from McGee temporarily stopped the bleeding, but Texas Tech reeled off 13 of the next 16 points to put the game out of reach
North Dakota 83, Troy 80
HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Despite 25 points from Wesley Person and 24 from Jordon Varnado, Troy was unable to come out on top in the season opener in an 83-80 loss to North Dakota on Friday.
It was the only season opening game between two conference champions and it certainly lived up to the label. Both teams shot more than 40 percent in a game that had 16 lead changes and was tied at seven different points.
The Trojans trailed by two with 54 seconds left with possession belonging to the Fighting Hawks, but Troy kept hope alive by forcing an errant shot from North Dakota to get the ball back with 25 seconds to play.
Juan Davis, Jr., was off the mark on the ensuing possession but was fouled in the process to get the opportunity to tie or take the lead with 13 seconds remaining. The senior hit two-of-three to force North Dakota to go the length of the court with no timeouts.
With just three seconds remaining, Geno Crandall, who had 41 points on the night, was fouled by B.J. Miller on a 3-point attempt. Crandall hit all three and Troy was unable to get a desperation shot off to force overtime.