Saturday's SoCon Hoops Recap
Samford, UNCG and Western Carolina continue to be the class of the league through in the early going, as both moved to 2-0 with key wins, with the Spartans pulling away late to defeat East Tennessee State, 70-54, at the Greensboro Coliseum, while Western Carolina was able to hold off Wofford for a sixth-straight victory, 70-66, inside the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center. Samford's 13th-straight win, which came in dominant fashion by downing The Citadel 80-64.
The 13-straight wins by the Bulldogs marks the nation's second-longest winning streak. It also ties the 1998-99 Samford team, which also won 13 in a row. A win vs UNCG on Wednesday night would tie the school record of 14-straight victories, which was previously established by the 1960-61 Samford team.
Other action saw a pair of 0-1 matchups in the league, as VMI hosted Mercer in the opening matchup of the afternoon, while defending champion Furman was in the Scenic City to battle Chattanooga in a rematch of the last two SoCon Tournament title games.
The Bears had little trouble on the road, overwhelming the Keydets on their home floor in emphatic fashion, downing the Keydets, handing the Keydets an 86-64 home setback.
Chattanooga used a stout defense in the opening half, while knocking down six threes in the opening half to build a 23-point (43-20) halftime lead en route to sending the Paladins to 0-2 in league play for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Woolbright Honored Again
Vonterius Woolbright once again performed at an optimal level, and claimed his fifth Southern Conference Player of the Week award after a strong start to league play. The league's preseason Player of the Year finished the week with a pair of double-doubles, posting 18 points and 14 boards in WCU's four-point home win over Wofford this past Saturday.
His fifth player of the week award helped him surpass former Catamount scoring sensation Frankie King, who garnered four weekly awards during the 1993-94 season, while his fifth honor of the season helped the Catamount star tie another former NBA Draft pick--Kevin Martin (2001-03)--who had his number retired earlier this season.
Earlier in the week in a win at The Citadel, Woolbright posted 22 points, 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists in leading the Catamounts to a nine-point road win.
Saturday's superlatives and brief recaps
In Samford's 16-point road win over The Citadel, Achor Achor continued his strong start to the 2023-24 season, posting 19 points in just 12 minutes of floor time. Jaden Campbell and Josh Holloway both added 12, while Riley Allenspach finished with 10.
Samford was going on the road for just the fifth time this season when it visited one of the toughest road venues in the SoCon, in McAlister Field House.
However, the visiting Bulldogs didn't seem to be phased, and made the hometown Bulldogs--a program that had recently blasted ACC member Notre Dame by 20 on the road for their second ACC win in the past three seasons--look like the team they were projected to be, which is ninth-place in the Southern Conference, as Samford's Bulldogs claimed a rather easy 80-64 win away from the Pete Hanna Center.
In UNCG's win over East Tennessee State Saturday, Mikeal Brown-Jones was again instrumental in helping the Spartans to a win on their home floor, leading three in double figures with 14 points, while Keyshaun Langley scored 10 and Jalen Breath posted his first-career double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.
A pair of runs were instrumental in helping the Spartans to a tough win over a gritty ETSU team. The Spartans looked like they might run away with the game after getting off to a 12-0 start, however, the Bucs would rally with a 16-8 run late in the opening 20 minutes to get within 33-31 at the break.
Early in the second half, a Bucs foul shot cut the Spartans lead to 33-32 early in the second half. However, the Spartans would break open a close game with just under nine minutes remaining on a jumper by Keyshaun Langley, which commenced a 19-2 run. All ten of Langley's would come during the stretch, as the Spartans pushed the lead to as much as 21 before settling for the 16-point win.
Jaden Seymour led three Bucs in double figures with 13 points, while Ebby Asamoah and Quimari Peterson finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Chattanooga used an awesome defensive effort in the opening half against the Paladins, holding Furman to just 24.1% shooting in the opening half of play en route to what was a 43-20 halftime lead.
The Mocs would grow that lead to as much as 28 points in the second half before the Paladins would trim that to 12 twice inside the final three minutes, however, that's as close as things would get the remainder of the way, as the Mocs coasted to the 15-point win to even their league mark, at 1-1, while Furman fell to 0-2 for the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Mocs also improved to 9-6 overall, snapping a three-game losing streak, while the Paladins fell to 6-9 by dropping their third-straight game.
Chattanooga was paced in the contest by Tyler Millin, who led five Mocs in double figures, finishing with 16 points. Sam Alexis added a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Trey Bonham had 12 points, while Dan Zedek matched that 12 points off the bench for Chattanooga. Honor Huff rounded out the double-figure scorers for Chattanooga with 10.
The Paladins returned two of its top three scorers from injury, with both JP Pegues and Alex Williams returning to the fold. Pegues would lead the Paladins and he notched his second double-double of the season, posting 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Williams added 15 off the bench. The duo combined to go just 1-of-19 from three-point land on a night when Furman connected on just 4-of-33 from beyond the arc. The Paladins are now 18-of-111 from three-point land over the past four games, which computes to 16.2%.
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| Mercer guard Robby Carmody hit three of the team's 12 triples in Saturday's road win at VMI (photo courtesy of Mercer athletics) |
The biggest blowout of the day was also the first game of the day, as VMI hosted Mercer at Cameron Hall. The Bears improved to 8-7 overall and evened their mark at 1-1 in league play with an 86-64 blowout win over the Keydets.
The Bears were again without Jayln McCreary, who was out with an injury, but even without him coming off the bench for the Bears, Mercer still was able to forge a 37-14 advantage in bench scoring. Notre Dame graduate transfer Robby Carmody and freshman guard David Thomas led the way, scoring 20 points apiece, while freshman big man Jake Davis added 14 points en route to lead the Bears to the 22-point win.
The Bears shot 45.9% from the field, and connected on 12-of-32 from three-point range, while a solid defensive effort was able to limit the Keydets to just 41.5% shooting, including just a 4-for-14 effort from three-point land. Tyran Cook led the Keydets with 19 points, while Stephen Olowoniyi added 14 points off the bench. Rounding out the Keydets in double figures on the day was Taeshaud Jackson, who added a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards.
The loss sees the Keydets drop to 3-12 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Keydets turned the ball over 20 times in the contest, which led to 24 Mercer points.
Wofford has played better than many thought they would coming into the season, and that would be on display in who the Terriers responded by falling behind to the hometown Catamounts midway through the second half on Saturday afternoon. In fact, WCU would lead by as many as 19 (60-41) in the second half, however, the Terriers would erase nearly all of its before falling to the league-leading Catamounts, 70-66, in what was Saturday afternoon's most competitive hardwood tilt.
The win would see Western Carolina improve to 13-2 overall and 2-0 in league action, while Wofford fell to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in league play.
The Terriers were able to use a 15-3 run, while holding the Catamounts to 0-of-7 from the field, while the Terriers knocked down 6-of-11 shots en route to getting back into the game.
However, while the Terriers had no answer as to how to stop or slow down Vonterius Woolbright, who posted another double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while DJ Campbell also chipped in with 18 and Tre Jackson added 13 to round out the Catamount players in double figures.
For Wofford, it had a pair of players finish in double figures, led by 17 points from point guard Corey Tripp, while big man Kyler Filewich continued his strong start to the 2023-24 season, posting a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort.
Power Rankings:
1. Samford--The Bulldogs sport the nation's second-longest winning streak.
2. Western Carolina--The Catamounts have used the best scoring backcourt in mid-major hoops to take their spot among the league's title contenders
3. UNCG--The Spartans are getting back to looking like the team to beat with Mikeal Brown-Jones having made his return to the fold.
4. Wofford--Terriers are better than we thought, but at some point they will have to shooting the ball a little better from the perimeter, and playing a little better on the defensive end.
5. East Tennessee State--Bucs looked good through the middle portions of the game in Saturday's loss at UNCG, but it was the start and finish where they struggled to find any offensive consistency.
6. Chattanooga--When the Mocs play the kind of defense they did in the opening half against Furman Saturday night, they can beat anyone in the league, however, like ETSU, they aren't immune to offensive scoring woes when threes aren't falling.
7. Mercer--The Bears have looked like a better teams at times over the past couple of contests without McCreary, but can they continue to rely on a pair of freshmen for their scoring production?
8. Furman--As shocking as it might seem, Furman finds itself ranked eighth in the first league power rankings release, but some of that has to do with injuries, while the other part of that is a sudden struggle to make shots.
9. The Citadel--Like Furman, The Citadel is a different team when AJ Smith isn't in the lineup, the Bulldogs have struggled. The Bulldogs have been without four regulars as of late and head to Furman Wednesday night.
10. VMI-- It seemed that Saturday might have offered one of VMI's best chances to get a league win, however, with the 22-point home loss, the Bulldogs fell to 0-12 vs. Division I foes this season.
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