CAA MEN'S BASKETBALL RECAP - NOV. 19
UNC Wilmington 80, Penn State 69
Box Score
CHARLESTON, S.C. - UNC Wilmington dialed long distance, connecting on 10-for-16 behind the arc, to stun defending NIT champion Penn State, 80-69, in an opening-round game of the Charleston Classic Thursday at Carolina First Arena.
The Seahawks notched their first win of the new season in three tires to move to 1-2 on the campaign. The Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference now stand 2-1. UNCW advanced in the bracketed, eight-team event to play Miami, a 74-54 winner earlier in the day over Tulane, on Friday at 3 p.m. PSU faces Tulane on Friday at 12:30 p.m.
UNCW, competing with a full complement of players for the first time this season, was led by junior guard Chad Tomko's 21 points. Freshman center Will Ohuaregbe was the only other player in double figures for the Seahawks with 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Naismith Award candidate Talor Battle of PSU poured in a game-high 29 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in just three seasons. Junior forward David Jackson chipped in 12 points for the Nittany Lions, who shot only 32.2 percent from the floor, including a dismal 29.4 percent in the second half.
In Friday's upset, the Seahawks shot 61.5 percent in the first half to build a 40-31 cushion and never relinquished the lead down the stretch. Penn State managed to climb within two points with just under three minutes remaining, but UNCW sealed the deal with solid interior defense and clutch free throw shooting.
Trailing 40-31 at the break, the Nittany Lions scored the first four points of the second half as Chris Babb canned a 3-pointer and later added a free throw to slice the lead to 40-35. But Tomko broke the ice for the Seahawks after the break with a long three and UNCW pushed the lead to 43-35 at 18:42.
The Seahawks then answered another PSU run with a 7-0 spurt to increase the margin to 52-42 with 12:35 left on Johnny Wolf's long trifecta from the top of the key.
Ohuaregbe staked UNCW to its largest lead of the contest, 60-47, on a layup with 8:04 left before PSU made another run. The Nittany Lions scored eight consecutive points in the front end of a 15-4 run to climb within, 64-62. A thunderous dunk by Jeff Brooks at 2:54 made the Seahawk faithful who made the 180-mile trek nervous.
But junior forward Dominique Lacy scored on a layup on the next trip down the floor and the Seahawks added five more points to boost the lead back to 71-62 with just over one minute left. UNCW scored its final 12 points at the free throw line, converting 12-of-14 charity tosses in the final minute to improve to 3-4 lifetime against Big Ten opponents.
UNCW used deft long range shooting to jump out to a 40-31 lead at intermission. The Seahawks went 7-for-11 behind the arc to stun the Nittany Lions as eight different players scored in the opening 20 minutes.
After Brooks gave PSU a 7-5 edge with a three-pointer at 17:22, the Seahawks reeled off eight straight points and Ahmad Grant's triple from the right corner gave UNCW a 13-7 advantage with 15:44 left in the first half.
Penn State could get no closer than three points in the first half and UNCW enjoyed its largest lead, 31-21, when Darryl Felder drilled a trey in front of the Nittany Lion bench with 7:21 remaining in the opening stanza.
Old Dominion 73, Liberty 41
Box Score
LYNCHBURG, VA - Junior forward Keyon Carter ( Riviera Beach, FL., )scored a career high tying 17 points to lead the Monarchs of Old Dominion (3-0) to a 73-41 win over Liberty University.
The 17 points by Carter equaled last year's output against William and Mary and The Citadel. He Was seven-for-eight from the floor and a perfect three-for-three from beyond three point range. Marsharee Neely (Greensboro, NC.) added 11 points and Gerald Lee hauled down eight rebounds. The Monarchs .508 (31-61) from the field, while holding the Flames to .277 (13-47) night. The Monarchs again dominated the boards, 42-28.
All 11 Monarchs played and all but one scored. ODU led by as much as 36 with eight minutes Left on a Trian Iliadis (Perth, Western Australia) trey making it 60-24. Iliadis finished the night with Six points, while freshman Chris Cooper tied his career high with eight points.
The Monarchs , leading 5-4, then ran off 11 consecutive points, capped by a Kent Bazemore (Kelford, NC.).break-away dunk. After a Liberty basket, ODU then went on a 13-0 run to take a 29-6 lead With 4:55 remaining in the first half. In all, ODU went on a 24-2 run and held the Flames to only One field goal in a 12:16 span.
Bazemore finished with eight points, while junior guard Darius James (Virginia Beach, Va.) Dished out a season high seven assists.
In the second half, the Monarchs kept the pressure on with a 10-0 run to start the half. Liberty did not hit its first three-point field goal until the 6:06 mark of the second half. The Flames were 1-15 from behind the arc. The Monarchs return home to take on Marshall, Saturday in the Ted Constant Convocation Center at 7 p.m. It will be ODU's fourth game in seven days.
William & Mary 78, Richmond 71
Box Score
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary men's basketball team opened the home slate with a resounding 78-71 win over highly regarded Richmond of the Atlantic 10 on Thursday night at Kaplan Arena. W&M used a late first-half run and a spurt midway through the second-half to overcome a 13-point first half deficit to knock off the Spiders. The Tribe shot 51 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from beyond the 3-point arc in outdistancing UR. The College improved to 1-2 on the young season, while Richmond, who was picked to finish third and garnered four first place votes in the preseason A10 poll, suffered its first loss at 2-1.
Senior guard David Schneider led the Tribe with 25 points, including four 3-pointers, to go along with six rebounds. Seniors Danny Sumner and Sean McCurdy each finished with 11 points in the victory. McCurdy enjoyed another impressive floor game for the College as he finished with four assists compared to only one turnover in 30 minutes of action. Senior forward Steven Hess finished as the Tribe's leading rebounder with a career-effort of nine boards to go along with a career-best nine points in just 17 minutes of action.
Richmond rolled out of the gates, hitting its first three shots while opening up an 8-0 lead through the first two minutes of the contest. David Gonzalvez knocked on a 3-pointer to open the game for the Spiders, before a steal and fast-break conventional 3-point play by Ryan Butler gave UR an eight-point cushion at the 18:15 mark.
The Spiders increased its lead to double digits for the first time on a trifecta from Francis Martel at the 13:20 mark of the opening stanza. The lead ballooned to as many as 13 following Gonzalvez's second 3-pointer of the contest. The Spiders also led by 13 at 21-8 with 11 minutes remaining in the half.
W&M closed to within seven on trey from freshman Matt Rum at the 4:40 mark, but Gonzalvez, who finished with 18 points on six 3-pointers, answered as Richmond maintained its double-digit advantage. The Green and Gold took the momentum to the half though with an 11-point spurt, highlighted by some impressive marksmanship from beyond the arc. Sumner scored on a lay-up to get W&M back within single digits at the 2:39, before the Tribe got hot from long range. Over the final 1:20 of the first half, Rum, sophomore forward Quinn McDowell and Schneider each drained 3-pointers. The final of the sequence gave the College a 29-28 lead at the intermission and came from the senior captain just in front of the Spider bench off a perfect pass and screen from junior forward Marcus Kitts.
The two teams traded punches out of the locker room as McCurdy gave the College a four-point cushion on its opening possession with a 3-pointer. Richmond answered right back tying the game at 34, and UR bigman Dan Geriot gave the Spiders a 42-40 lead at the 11:48 mark with a jumper.
Schneider came alive for the Tribe and ignited a 12-0 run to give the College a double-digit cushion. The Phoenix, Ariz., native scored eight straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers to put the College back on top. McCurdy found his fellow classmate in transition for the final jumper, giving the Tribe a 48-42 lead and forcing a Spider timeout with 10:30 remaining.
Out of the timeout, the Tribe continued its run as Hess scored with a nice move and hook shot in the paint. Sumner put a cap on the run as McDowell found the senior wing for a lay-up, pushing the College's advantage to 52-42 with 8:55 left. The Tribe's lead reach as many as 12 as the Spiders lost Sumner in transition and Rum found him for a 3-pointer from the left wing with 6:39 remaining.
Richmond closed to within six points at 62-56 with 2:54 left in the contest. On the ensuing Green and Gold possession, McCurdy drilled a huge 3-point from the right side of the key to push margin back to nine points.
The Tribe lead again reached double digits on a pair of free throws from Schneider at the 1:24 mark. Richmond was able to close to within five points, 76-71, in the final minute, but the College was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe over the waning minutes to pull out the victory.
W&M finished the game shooting 51-percent (26-of-51) from the floor, including a 56-percent (14-of-25) clip in the second half. The Green and Gold also canned double-digit 3-pointers for the third straight game, connecting on 10-of-22 from long range (45.5 percent). The Tribe held a 35-32 advantage on the glass and finished with 16 assists compared to only 11 turnovers.
The Tribe's two-headed post monster of Hess (9p, 9r) and junior Marcus Kitts (7p, 7r) provided the pop in the middle for the Green and Gold combining for 16 points and 16 rebounds. Along with McDowell, the group turned in an impressive effort against Richmond's frontcourt of Geriot and Justin Harper. The pair entered the contest averaging a combined 31 points and 18 rebounds. Geriot was averaging a double-double at 13.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, while Harper was the Spiders top scorer on the season at 17.5 points per contest. Against W&M, the duo combined for just 12 points on 4-of-12 from the floor to go along with eight rebounds.
Kevin Anderson led the Spiders with 23 points and four steals. UR finished shooting 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the field and 35.5 percent (11-of-31) from 3-point range.
The College will return to action when it travels to face the Manhattan Jaspers on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. The contest is a return game from last season's ESPNU BracketBusters event in which Manhattan tallied a 54-39 win in Williamsburg over the Tribe. The audio broadcast of the game will be available on the Internet at TribeAthletics.com. Due to the Tribe football game at Richmond on Saturday, the Tribe Radio Network with pick up the W&M-Manhattan game in the second half at the conclusion of the football game. W&M assistant sports information director Scott Burns will be on the call for the Tribe.
Live video of the contest will also be available at the Manhattan Athletics Web site, GoJaspers.com. The cost of the video feed is $5.95. Live stats will also be available at GoJaspers.com.
#5 Villanova 69, George Mason 68
Box Score
San Juan, Puerto Rico - The George Mason men's basketball team led for nearly the entire game on Thursday afternoon against fifth-ranked Villanova, but the Wildcats made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute and the Patriots were unable to get a shot off in the closing seconds as Villanova beat the Patriots, 69-68 in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan.
After Luke Hancock's free throw with 47 seconds to play gave Mason a 67-63 lead, Maalik Wayns' trey made it 67-66. Sherrod Wright made a free throw on Mason's next possession, but Isaiah Armwood who played just four minutes and was on the floor after four Villanova players had fouled out, hoisted a 3-pointer that went in to make it 69-68 with 17 seconds to play. The Patriots called a timeout with 13 seconds to go but could not get a shot off on the ensuing possession.
The Patriots played down the stretch with a lineup that included Hancock and Wright, both freshmen, Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius, both sophomores, and alternately sophomore Mike Morrison and redshirt freshman Kevin Foster. They never backed down from Villanova, which returned four starters from last year's Final Four team and is ranked fifth in the nation by the Associated Press and sixth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Patriots were without leader Cam Long for most of the second half as he was out with leg cramps.
Mason started the game shooting better than 60 percent while Villanova opened cold, shooting less than 25 percent. That differential allowed Mason to jump out to a 21-8 lead on the nation's fifth-ranked team. Pearson scored nine of those points with four field goals and a free throw while Cam Long had six and Cornelius had five. Villanova came back with a 15-5 run to make it a 26-23 game with five minutes to go in the half. Scottie Reynolds had a pair of free throws while Corey Fisher continued to get to the free throw line. Fisher was 10 of 12 from the line in the first half and finished the game 14 of 18.
The Patriots closed the half strong as Long made a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, Hancock scored a pair inside, Rashad Whack drained a pair of free throws and Foster's breakaway dunk off a Whack steal with 18 seconds to play gave Mason a double-digit lead. Fisher's free throw with 5.7 seconds to play made it 37-28 at the half.
Villanova opened the second half much sharper and it managed a 16-7 run to tie the score. They needed just 6:27 to make up the nine-point deficit and in that span, Mason was called for six fouls. The Patriots were able to go back up by five, but the Wildcats again tied the score, this time at 54-54 with 7:39 to play. Reynolds' jumper with 7:06 to go gave Villanova its first lead of the game.
Pearson responded with a runner to tie the score and with 4:51 to go, Hancock made a pair of free throws to put the Patriots back on top. It didn't last long as Taylor King's 3-pointer from the wing have the Wildcats a 59-58 edge. That's when Mason started going back inside. First Pearson scored a basket, then, after drawing a shot-clock violation, Hancock drove the baseline for one of his patented reverse layups to make it 62-59. A Villanova miss turned into a Cornelius trip to the free throw line and he made both to make it 64-59.
A Fisher free throw ended a three-minute scoring drought for Villanova and after a Mason turnover, Maurice Sutton scored on a third-chance basket to cut the Patriot lead to 64-62. Foster made a pair of free throws in four attempts to set up the dramatic finish.
Pearson led Mason with 14 points and eight rebounds while Long had 13 in just 22 minutes. Cornelius had 13 points while Hancock finished with nine points and five rebounds. Foster had eight points and seven rebounds in just 16 minutes.
Mason will take the court at 1 p.m. EST on Friday against Georgia Tech The Yellow Jackets are 19th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 21st in the AP poll. They lost to Dayton on Thursday, 63-59. This will be the first time Mason has faced ranked teams in back-to-back games since the Old Spice Classic in 2007, when Mason beat Kansas State before losing to Villanova. Mason also faced ranked teams in back-to-back games in 2005-2006 and 2004-2005.