Saturday, December 9, 2017
Georgia State 71, Montana 68
ATLANTA -- Isaiah Williams and Jeff Thomas each scored 15 points and Georgia State fought off Montana at the end for a 71-68 win on Saturday.
Montana (5-4) rallied to tie it at 68 with 70 seconds left on Jamar Akoh's tip-in, but the Grizzlies missed their final three shots, including Ahmaad Rorie's 3-point attempt as time expired.
Devin Mitchell made two free throws and Malik Benlevi made 1 of 2 and Georgia State (6-3) held on. The free throws served as the Panthers' only points in the last two minutes.
Georgia State led 43-26 at halftime before Montana went on a 12-3 run and made it 46-38 on Michael Oguine's tip-in basket with 14:09 left.
Williams was 4-for-6 shooting from the field and 6 of 7 at the free-throw line, and Thomas was 5 of 10 from the floor and had eight rebounds. Benlevi finished with 14 points.
Rorie led Montana with 22 points.
Georgia Southern 102, Savannah State 91
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Tookie Brown had 32 points, just two shy of his career high, to lead Georgia Southern to a 102-91 win over Savannah State on Saturday.
Brown, who nailed 5 of 8 from distance, easily eclipsed his season average of 15 points a game. Brown also dished out six assists, which leaves him just 15 away from 300 for his career.
Georgia Southern (7-2), which started the season with five-straight victories before dropping games to Towson and Bradley by a total of seven points, has now won two consecutive games.
The Eagles, leading 50-43 at the break, never trailed in the second half but could not pull free of Savannah State until the final minutes. Georgia Southern led 68-64 midway in the second half.
Jake Allsmiller had 19 points and Montae Glenn added 11 with a career-best 16 rebounds. B.J. Gladden also had 11 points for the Eagles.
Javaris Jenkins led Savannah State (3-8) with 31 points.
South Carolina 80, Coastal Carolina 78
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- For most of Saturday's game against Coastal Carolina, South Carolina point guard Hassani Gravett was in Gamecock coach Frank Martin's doghouse.
Despite struggling on both ends of the court, Gravett stepped up with 6.5 second remaining to make a 3-point play to give the Gamecocks an 80-78 come-from-behind victory over Coastal Carolina.
The play allowed USC to earn a victory in a game it trailed throughout much of the second half. The Gamecocks survived Coastal Carolina getting two shots off as time ran out. The win, which improved USC's record to 8-2, was its third straight since returning home.
"Obviously we were fortunate to win that game, lucky to win that game actually," Martin said. "It is what it is. I'm not worried about the score of games.I've got two, three, maybe four guys that have been pretty consistent with listening right now but, outside of that we've got a lot of room for improvement."
Gravett has made just two of eight shots prior to the winning play when he banked in a short jumper following a drive, then hit the accompanying free throw.
"I just had to do whatever coach wanted of me," Gravett said. "We came down. He called a play and we tried to execute it. I saw I had the open drive so I just drove the ball. (Martin) is going to get on you for making mistakes and he should. But you have to keep your head in there and be ready whenever you name is called."
The win, which improved USC's record to 8-2, was its third straight since returning home following a loss to Temple in Madison Square Garden.
Martin was pleased Gravett made the winning shot, but believes he must improve if the Gamecocks are to be successful.
"Good for him," said Martin. "He made a shot to help us win the game. He's got a lot of growing up to do. We've got to figure out what we need to do to get him to be more consistent with his approach, his focus."
The loss dropped the Chanticleers to 5-5. Coach Cliff Ellis was pleased with the performance of his team, however.
"It's really disappointing," said Ellis. "We had an opportunity to win, but I can't say enough about the effort of our team or (South Carolina).We did what we needed to do. We just came up short.
"It will be a tough bus ride back. We thought we should have won, but give credit to South Carolina."
Martin has built his coaching reputation on defense. He has been frustrated that this year's team has not displayed toughness on that side of the court.
The Chanticleers exploited South Carolina's perimeter defense throughout, making 10 of 24 3-point attempts. When Coastal wasn't scoring from long range, its guards managed to beat defenders off the dribble.
The Chanticleers continued to take advantage of USC's defense in the second half, earning its largest lead (69-64) with 7:56 remaining on an Arthur Labinowicz jumper.
The Gamecocks pulled within one on several occasions, but appeared unable to re-gain the advantage until Gravett's play.
Jacksonville State 85, ULM 56
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Malcolm Drumwright scored 18 points with four 3-pointers, leading four into double figures as Jacksonville State rallied in the second half to defeat ULM 75-56 Saturday.
Drumwright has reached double figures six times this season. Jamall Gregory scored 14 points, Christian Cunningham scored 12 with 12 rebounds and Marlon Hunter also contributed 12 points for Jacksonville State (7-2). Jason Burnell had five of the Gamecocks' 10 blocked shots.
Sam McDaniel led the Warhawks (3-5) with 16 points and Marvin Jean-Pierre added 11. ULM led 35-33 at halftime, but Cunningham scored on a putback and Gregory dunked as Jacksonville State captured the lead barely more than a minute into the second half and never looked back.
The lead was up to 50-40 when Hunter scored with 13:44 left to play. ULM missed five of its first seven shots after halftime and turned the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the second half.
Florida Gulf Coast 85, UTA 78
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Brandon Goodwin scored 23 points with five rebounds and eight assists as Florida Gulf Coast beat UT Arlington 85-78 on Saturday afternoon.
Goodwin was 7 of 17 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line for the Eagles (7-4). Christian Terrell and Dinero Mercurius added 16 points apiece and Zach Johnson 13.
The team averaged 55 percent shooting from the floor -- compared to 47 percent for UT Arlington -- and 53 percent (10 of 19) from beyond the arc.
FGCU led 37-32 at the break and a Johnson 3-pointer to start the second half sparked a 15-9 surge capped by a Mercurius 3 to stretch it to 57-44 with 12:24 to play. UT Arlington trailed throughout the period but closed it to 80-74 with 2:24 remaining.
Kevin Hervey led the Mavericks (7-3) with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Abilene Christian 72, Texas State 68
ABILENE, Texas -- Jalone Friday was on the mark Saturday, scoring 22 points and adding a career-best five blocked shots to lead Abilene Christian to a 72-68 victory over Texas State.
Friday knocked down 9 of 16 shots from the floor and added six rebounds for the Wildcats (7-3), who beat the Bobcats (5-5) for the first time since 1982 in picking up their fourth straight win. Texas State leads the all-time series 40-18.
Immanuel King hit 7 of 10 shots and scored 15 with 11 rebounds for Texas State. Nedeljko Prijovic added 13 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Bobcats, while Nijal Pearson and Tyler Blount each scored 11.
Texas State led 34-22 with 3:04 left in the first half, but Drake Green's 3-pointer keyed a 5-1 run and Abilene Christian trailed 35-27 at intermission.
Pearson's 3-pointer to open the second half pushed the lead to 38-27, but Friday buried jumpers to bookend a 23-10 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Tevin Foster and the Wildcats led 50-48 with 11:49 left to play. The lead changed hands several times down the stretch, but after Prijovic's 3-pointer pulled the Bobcats within 69-68 with 59 seconds left, Foster made a layup and 1 of 2 free throws to preserve the win.
Akron 94, Appalachian State 89
AKRON, Ohio -- Malcolm Duvivier hit 6 of 9 from 3-point range and scored 24 and Daniel Utomi added a double-double to propel Akron to a 94-89 victory over Appalachian State on Saturday night in a game that tipped off three hours late because of weather conditions.
Utomi finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and the sophomore buried two late 3-pointers to help the Zips (5-2) hold off the Mountaineers (5-6) in the first meeting between the schools.
Griffin Kinney poured in a career-high 28 points for Appalachian State. The senior made 9 of 13 shots from the floor and 9 of 11 free throws. Ronshad Shabazz scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half and added five assists, while Justin Forrest scored 13 with five assists.
Virshon Cotton and Duvivier hit back-to-back 3-pointers to key a 14-7 run and the Zips led 47-38 at the half.
The Mountaineers battled back and led 77-76 on two Kinney free throws with 4:32 remaining in the game, but Cotton hit two free throws, Duvivier made a jumper and Utomi hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead 86-79 and the Zips held on from there.
Arkansas State 90, Henderson State 76
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Grantham Gillard had a career-high 23 points and Ty Cockfield added 15 as Arkansas State took control late in the first half and rolled to a 90-76 win over Division II Henderson State to halt a four-game losing skid on Saturday night.
The Red Wolves, ahead 44-34 at the break, slowly pulled away in the second half to lead 73-59 following Gillard's trey with 8:06 remaining and cruised to the win.
Gillard was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, hitting 7 of 10 field-goal attempts. Tamas Bruce had 14 points with six rebounds and Marquis Eaton added 11 points as all nine Red Wolves got in the scoring column.
Arkansas State (3-6) shot 54 percent (34-63) from the floor while limiting Henderson State to 26-of-58 (45 percent) shooting.
Josh Jones led the Reddies with 16 points and Kaylon Tappin added 14 with Eric Dailey chipping in 11.
Central Arkansas 69, Little Rock 54
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Grantham Gillard had a career-high 23 points and Ty Cockfield added 15 as Arkansas State took control late in the first half and rolled to a 90-76 win over Division II Henderson State to halt a four-game losing skid on Saturday night.
The Red Wolves, ahead 44-34 at the break, slowly pulled away in the second half to lead 73-59 following Gillard's trey with 8:06 remaining and cruised to the win.
Gillard was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, hitting 7 of 10 field-goal attempts. Tamas Bruce had 14 points with six rebounds and Marquis Eaton added 11 points as all nine Red Wolves got in the scoring column.
Arkansas State (3-6) shot 54 percent (34-63) from the floor while limiting Henderson State to 26-of-58 (45 percent) shooting.
Josh Jones led the Reddies with 16 points and Kaylon Tappin added 14 with Eric Dailey chipping in 11.