CHATTANOOGA — Georgia Southern turned the ball over under its own basket trailing by three points with 1.1 seconds left Monday, as Chattanooga held on for a 97-94 Southern Conference victory Monday.
GSU’s Julius Jenkins made the first of two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to three. He missed the second, and Jean Francois pulled down the rebound for the Eagles and called timeout. Kordel Gibson passed to Jenkins, who was lined up behind the 3-point line, but UTC’s Alphonso Pugh was able to knock it away, ending the game.
“They were turning the ball over constantly, but we dug a hole too deep for ourselves,” Jenkins said.
A 16-6 UTC spurt, keyed by nine points from Jason Rogan, pushed the Mocs margin to 75-58 at 11:58 of the second half. The Eagles (11-9, 4-5 SoCon) used a 23-6 blitz of their own, including 11 points by Jenkins, to slice the margin to 81-75 with 8:26 to play.
UTC (15-6, 7-3) scored the next eight points to go up 88-75 with 6:44 left, but Jenkins’ fifth 3-pointer of the game whittled the score to 88-82 at 5:34. The margin wavered between six and eight until a Gibson 3-pointer got the Eagles to within one at 94-93 with 29 seconds remaining.
Pugh’s two free throws with 24 seconds on the clock pushed the advantage back to three, and the two teams made one free throw apiece in the last nine seconds.
Wofford 98
Davidson 82
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Mike Lenzly had 26 points, six rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers to lead the Terriers over the Wildcats.
The Terriers’ 54.0 field-goal percentage was their second-best effort of the year and their highest against a Division I opponent this season.
The Terriers’ 5-4 SoCon record equals their best start (1999-00) in their six-year SoCon history. Wofford is 9-10 overall. Davidson drops to 12-7 overall and 6-3 in the SoCon.
The Citadel 69
Furman 55
CHARLETSON, S.C. –Junior forward Max Mombollet posted a career-high 25 points and hauled down 10 rebounds to help the Bulldogs past the Paladins.
“Max played his heart out tonight and was a strong force on the inside,” Citadel head coach Pat Dennis said. “Max is really turning himself into a terrific Southern Conference player.”
Mombollet’s double-double was his third this season and fifth of his career. The Central African Republic native has scored in double figures in all but one SoCon affair this season. Mombollet was not the only star of the game for the Bulldogs as senior forward Clyde Wormley posted 15 points.
“Clyde did a great job guarding (Guilherme) Da Luz all night, while Kenny Milford gave us a lot of energy off the bench tonight and that helped our defense,” Dennis said. “We defended extremely well tonight and played with a lot of intensity and toughness.”
The Citadel’s defense scored 23 points off of 15 turnovers on the evening, while the Bulldogs only turned the ball over seven times in the contest. Furman (9-15, 3-7 SoCon) out rebounded The Citadel (8-12, 3-6) 43-31.
“We have played uninspired basketball all year,” Furman head coach Larry Davis said. “The Citadel was well prepared tonight and they finished their shots inside. Mombollet played very well for them tonight.”
Senior forward Karim Souchu, who posted 18 points and eight rebounds, led the Paladins. The only other Furman player in double digits was senior point guard Guilherme Da Luz who posted 11 points.
Coll. of Charleston 71
UNC Greensboro 69
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mike Benton’s tip-in with 11 seconds left and his rebound of Jay Joseph’s missed 3-point attempt with one second left lifted the Cougars to the win over the Spartans.
Charleston’s sixth straight win put the Cougars at 17-5 on the season and 7-2 in SoCon action. UNCG slips to 6-15 overall and 2-7 in league play.
Cougar coach Tom Herrion tied John Kresse for most wins by a rookie head coach set during the 1979-80 season (17-11).
Appalachian State 99
Western Carolina 69
BOONE, N.C. — The Mountaineers used 22 points from Chris McFarland and 18 from Johnathan Mitchell to top the Catamounts. The win extends Appalachian’s home court win streak to 11-0 this season. Appalachian also avenged its only SoCon loss of the season, a one-point loss at Cullowhee two weeks ago.
Appalachian (15-5, 8-1) used a 15-0 run to start the second half, after leading 42-37 at the break. ASU jumped out to a 20-point advantage, at 57-37 with 14:37 to play in the second half and went on to outscore Western Carolina 57-32 in the second half.
Kevin Martin paced Western Carolina (6-14, 3-6 SoCon) with 24 points on an 8-of-20 shooting performance. Martin was limited to six points and 2-of-8 from the floor in the second frame.
McFarland, the Mountaineers’ leading scorer each of the past two games, used an 8-of-10 effort at the foul line to post his fourth 20-point game of the season. The sophomore forward also dished five assists.
Mitchell registered game-highs with five blocks and eight rebounds. Appalachian finished with 11 blocked shots.
Without leading scorer Shawn Hall, who was sidelined for the game, Appalachian had six players score in double-digits. All nine ASU players scored. Josh Shehan tallied 14 points, keyed by a 5-of-7 effort from the floor. Nate Carson posted 12 points, four blocked shots, and four assists. Graham Bunn recorded 11 points and six assists, while Matt Jones scored 10 points.

Author