Samford and VMI move on to Saturday

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—Bubba Parham recorded a career-high 41 points and posted the highest point total since TJ Cromer scored 41 points for East Tennessee State two years ago in a SoCon semifinal matchup with Samford, as No. 8 VMI captured a 96-83 opening game win over No. 9 Western Carolina at the 2019 Ingles Southern Conference Tournament at the US Cellular Center.

VMI center Jake Stephens

The win means that VMI (11-20) move into tomorrow’s noon quarterfinal clash with top-seeded and SoCon unbeaten Wofford (26-4). Western Carolina’s season comes to an end with a final mark of 7-25 in head coach Mark Prosser’s first year in charge. The win for VMI marked its first in the tournament since 2003, when the Keydets made a run all the way to the semifinals of the tournament.

The 2003 tournament saw the Keydets win games over Furman (63-56) and then shocked No. 1 seed Davidson (W, 66-60) before eventually falling to Chattanooga (L, 58-77) in the semifinals. Led by Radee Skipworth, VMI made one of the more memorable Cinderella runs in the SoCon Tournament back in that 2003 edition, which was played at the North Charleston Coliseum and eventually won by East Tennessee State.

The story of the night was the guard play for the Keydets, as a trio of backcourt teammates combined for 75 of the team’s 96 points in the SoCon Tournament opening victory.

Parham finished his historic night against the Catamounts, connecting on 9-of-16 shots from the field, including going 6-for-8 from three-point range. Also having a big night for the Keydets was Sarju Patel, who finished with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, which included a 4-of-6 from the three-point land and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

Garrett Gilkeson rounded out the trio of starting guards that accounted for all but 21 of the Keydet points, as he posted 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, and 1-for-4 from long range.

Not to be outdone were Western Carolina’s Carlos Dotson (27 pts, 13 rebs) and Kameron Gibson (23 pts), as both finished off outstanding inaugural seasons in the Purple and Gold.

Dotson, a junior transfer from Central Florida Junior College, finished out his first season as a Catamount by connecting on 9-of-16 shots from the field and 9-of-12 from the line. It marked his 13th double-double of the season, and the 27 points tied a career-high for Dotson, which he also established earlier this season against Furman.

Both teams came out shooting the basketball well in the opening minutes of the second half prior to the first media timeout, with Gibson opening the half with a three for the Catamounts, giving the Catamounts a brief lead, however, five-straight points from Myles Lewis and Sarju Patel, extending the Keydets lead to four (50-46), and the Keydets took a 53-48 lead into the first media timeout of the second half.

Following the first media timeout, a bucket by the Catamounts made it 53-50, but the Keydets began to flex their muscles and show why they were one of the hotter teams coming into the 2019 Southern Conference Tournament, using a 10-0 run to assume a 13-point (63-50) lead, capped by a Garrett Gilkeson three-point play the old-fashioned way. That’s the way the score would remain heading into the second media of the second half.

The Catamounts would respond, however, using an 8-2 spurt to get the deficit back under 10, slicing VMI’s lead to seven on a Dotson rebound and put-back, however, Dotson picked up his fourth foul on the other end.

Following a pair of free throws from Parham, a Gibson jumper kept it at seven (67-60) and prompted a VMI timeout with 8:26 remaining. Off the timeout, Stephens nailed a three to extend the Keydet lead back to double digits.

VMI led 70-60, with 7:41 to play. That lead remained ten (81-71) at the final media timeout, with 4:15 left, and grew to as many, with Parham scoring eight of 11 points during the stretch, as his monster night continued.

The Keydets closed out the game by knocking down its foul shots, never letting the Catamounts to get closer than seven points over the final five minutes of the game. 

Gibson led the Catamounts in the opening half of play offensively, posting a team-high 10 points, while Dotson chipped in with nine points and four boards. VMI’s Bubba Parham led all scorers in the opening half of play, posting 15 of his 41 points in the opening half of play, as the Keydets took a 41-39 lead into the halftime locker room.

The Catamounts shot 46.9% in the opening half of play, while the Keydets connected on 45.2% from the field in the opening frame. VMI connected on eight first-half threes, and finished the half connecting on a solid 44.4% shots from long range.

“Bubba has shown throughout the year that he knows how to score the ball. He’s doing a good job on knowing when to distribute and when to score. He’s making really good decisions. Sarju Patel is playing his best basketball, just a phenomenal game from him as well,” VMI head coach Dan Earl said.

For the game, VMI sizzled from both the charity stripe and the three-point line, thanks in large part to the performances by both Parham and Patel. 

Samford point guard Josh Sharkey

The Keydets shot 83.3% (25-of-30) from the line, including going 20-for-24 from the line in the second half, and also shot a season-high 51.7% (15-of-29) from three-point land. That led to a substantial advantage from the Catamounts in the paint, finishing with a 28-10 advantage in that category.

In the second game of the night, No. 7 Samford took advantage of a short-handed tenth-seeded Citadel club, as the visitors from Birmingham picked a solid 100-71 Southern Conference Tournament opening round win.

The win means Samford improves to 17-15 overall and moves on to the quarterfinal of the Ingles Southern Conference Tournament presented by General Shale, facing No. 2 UNC Greensboro in a game slated for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off Saturday afternoon at the US Cellular Center. The loss saw The Citadel conclude its season with a 12-18 overall record.

Less than 24 hours before its Southern Conference opener, The Citadel would receive a big blow, when it was learned senior graduate transfer guard and the SoCon’s third-leading scorer Lew Stallworth (20.2 PPG) was declared academically ineligible for the Southern Conference Tournament due to a mis-communication regarding a dropped class.

Without Stallworth, the Bulldogs had to employ the services of true freshman point guard Jerry Higgins III, who showed flashes of brilliance at times and a promising future, but lacked the maturity and know-how of a Stallworth.

Samford was led in the contest by Alabama transfer Brandon Austin, who poured in 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including going 6-of-12 from long range. He was also 4-for-4 from the line and grabbed seven rebounds.

Austin was one of five Samford players in double figures in the contest, and was joined by Josh Sharkey (16 pts, 8 assts, 2 stls), Myron Gordon (15 pts, 4 assts), Ruben Guerrero (12 pts, 8 rebs), and Robert Allen (11 pts, 8 rebs). Sharkey’s eight assists set the Samford new single-season school record, at 232, breaking Christen Cunningham’s former single-season mark of 225 set back in the 2016-17 season.

The Citadel was paced by senior center Zane Najdawi, who posted 15 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and a steal playing in his final game for The Citadel. It was Najdawi’s seventh double-double of the season. In his first start of the season, Higgins III finished with 12 points and six assists, while
Alex Reed’s 10 points rounded out the double-figure scorers for The Citadel.

Samford led most of the way en route to victory, leading for 38:03 of the 40 minutes of game action. The Citadel was never able to find its cutting edge offensively without Lew Stallworth in the lineup, but things were good early on in the contest, as Kaiden Rice’s jumper got The Citadel within two, at 24-22, with 11 minutes remaining in the opening half of play.

However, Samford would break open in the game from this point and went on a 13-4 run to take command of the contest, as the Samford lead swelled to 11 points following a Myron Gordon jumper with 4:33 remaining in the opening half of play. That run would eventually reach 19-4, as Samford senior center Ruben Guerrero slammed it home to make it a 43-26 game with 2:36 remaining in the opening half of play. The Bulldogs took a 45-30 lead into the halftime locker room.

In the second half, it was more of the same from Samford, as the Bulldogs from Birmingham would increase their lead to 20 or more points three times over the final 20 minutes of basketball, with the Samford lead only dipping below 20 points for the final time on a Jerry Higgins III jumper with 4:52 remaining, which cut The Citadel’s deficit to 19, at 84-65.

However, a dunk by Guerrero off an alley-oop from Austin and a three-pointer by Austin off a Samford steal saw the lead balloon back to 24, at 89-65, with 4:04 to play. The Bulldogs were able to close out the night with an emphatic 29-point win.

Samford finished the game shooting a blistering 60.7% from the field for the game, while holding The Citadel to just 38.4% for the contest.

Quarterfinal Session 1 Notes:

--Wofford won a pair of contests vs. VMI during the regular-season, claiming a 90-76 win in Lexington, and a 95-84 win in Spartanburg.

--UNC Greensboro claimed both regular-season meetings against Samford, posting an 83-75 in late December, and 75-67 at UNC Greensboro in early February.

--Wofford has won 12-straight against VMI heading into Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal matchup. The last VMI win in the series came on Feb. 10, 2001, as the Keydets posted an 68-60 win at Cameron Hall in Lexington, VA.

--Mike Young is 12-0 all-time vs. VMI, with the last time the Keydets won being the final season for Richard Johnson as the head coach.