By Matt Hill
WEEKEND GAMES
The Citadel 65, VMI 43
This rivalry between two military schools is one of the most prestigious in the Southern Conference and one of the oldest in the country and on Saturday the two universities locked horns on the basketball court.
Yes, this game was to stay out of the cellar in the Southern Conference, but there was plenty of pride to be played for.
This is the Army-Navy game of the Southeast. Even though it isn't quite as big of a deal on the basketball court as it is in the fall on Saturday afternoons, these teams really wanted to win.
In the end, It was The Citadel taking a comfortable victory over the Keydets.
The Citadel had four players in double figures led by AJ Smith with 19 points and nine rebounds. Elijah Morgan finished with 15 for the Bulldogs
It was a tale of two different halves in the one. The first one was tight while the second was all Bulldogs.
The Citadel was ahead 27-19 with 7:04 left in the first half but VMI outscored the Bulldogs 11-7 the rest of the way as nothing fell for the Bulldogs.
The Citadel led 34-30 at halftime, but it wasn't a game very long.
The Citadel started the half on a 19-4 run led by Smith and the Bulldogs were cruising toward the win.
Smith does not get the attention that other players in the SoCon get because he is playing for one of the bottom teams, but he has been steady all year long for The Citadel.
With 7:14 left in the game, it was 65-43 Bulldogs and it was over
The Citadel defense was solid, holding the Keydets to 21 second half points.
Taeshaud Jackson topped VMI with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Mercer 88, Samford 84
In a shocking result Mercer took down league leading Samford on Mercer's home court on Saturday.
This result sent shockwaves to the league but it shows how hard it is to win every game on the road in the SoCon.
Samford led 40-38 at the half, but Mercer outscored Samford 50-44 in the second half to take the win.
Achor Achor had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. Jalyn McCreary had 27 points and David Thomas had 19 for the victorious Bears.
Western Carolina 70, ETSU 65
In a game that had a lot of people talking on social media afterward, Western Carolina squeaked by ETSU.
There was some controversy at the end as ETSU attempted a shot and hit the back of the basket and went out of bounds with eight seconds left on the shot clock in the final minute. They ruled on the floor that the ball was out on WCU and it was reviewed and it was ETSU's ball.
However, they didn't reset the shot clock, and the clock was put back at eight seconds. The Bucs missed and this gave Western the basketball.
Western had control from there and won the game.
Ebby Asamoah netted 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucs. Vonterius Woolbright finished 21 points and 10 rebounds while Russell Jones Jr. also had 21 points for the Catamounts.
UNCG 58, Wofford 47
Donovan Atwell tallied 15 points and Keshaun Langley finished with 13 in a defensive struggle won by the visiting Spartans.
The Spartans only scored 20 points in the second half but they held Wofford to 21.
Corey Tripp topped Wofford with 13 points while Kyler Filewich had another double digit rebounding game for Terriers with 11.
Furman 82. Chattanooga 65
JP Pegues finished with 22 points as the Paladins routed the Mocs in a nationally televised game on Sunday afternoon in Timmons Arena.
Chattanooga shot 20 percent in the first and this game was over quick. Furman led 48-29 at halftime and held a 25 point edge in the second half.
Honor Huff had 26 to top Chattanooga. Marcus Foster added 25 in a balanced Furman attack.
WEEKDAY GAMES
Chattanooga 84, ETSU 71
Honor Huff led the Mocs to all honors in a win over ETSU.
Huff finished a career high 31 points and hit six three-pointers in the second half.
The Bucs had no answer for Huff and no answer for the hot-shooting Mocs. On a night when one of the great players in Chattanooga history, Malachi Smith, was honored, the Mocs played very inspired and completely dominated the Bucs
.
ETSU went on a 10-5 run in the second half to cut the Mocs lead to 59-48, but that was about as close as the Bucs would get.
Chattanooga shot 59 percent from the field in the first half.
Trey Bonham added 14 for Chattanooga while Tyler Millin had 12 for the Mocs.
Quimari Peterson tallied 22 to lead ETSU while Jaden Seymour finished with 19 points and six rebounds and Jadyn Parker had seven rebounds.
Samford 88, Western Carolina 62
The Bulldogs continue to be the class of the Southern Conference and they continued their domination of the league with an 88-62 over the Catamounts.
Samford led 38-29 at the half, then went on to put 50 on the board in the second half.
The Bulldogs have been playing Jermaine Marshall sparingly but he has been extremely effective, netting 16 points in just 12 minutes for Samford. Achor Achor topped Samford with 18 points followed by Jaden Campbell with 16.
Vonterius Woolbright topped Western Carolina with 21 point, the likely Player-of-the-Year in the Southern Conference.
UNCG 76, The Citadel 61
Keyshaun Langley netted 21 poiunts and Donovan Dowell added 17 to lead the Spartans to an solid win over the Bulldogs.
UNCG led 42-26 at halftime and cruised from there on night that UNCG's Jalen Breath sack eight rebounds.
AJ Smith had 20 points and 11 rebounds to top The Citadel while Quentin Millora Brown had 14 for the Bulldogs.
Wofford 73 Mercer 60
Mercer led 31-26 at the half and looked primed for an upset but the Terriers outscored the Bears 47-29 in the second half to take back to Spartanburg a SoCon victory
.
Dillion Bailey had 17 points for Wofford while Jackson Sivillis netted 16 points and seven rebounds. Kyler Filewich had nine rebounds for the Terriers
Jake Davis had 15 to lead Mercer.
Furman 75, VMI 62
Ben Wanderwal had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Furman as the Paladins cruised to the win over the Keydets.
Furman only had a 39-34 advantage at halftime, but outscored the Keydets 36-28 in the second half to take the win at Timmons Arena. JP pegues had 14 and Marcus Foster tallied 13 for the Paladins.
Taeshaud Jackson had 14 points and 12 rebounds in a solid effort for the Keydets.
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