The Bulldogs were able to avenge an 88-84 setback to Mercer back on Feb. 17 in Macon. The Bulldogs were able to hold Mercer to just 36.8% () from the field for the game, and after Mercer had blistered the nets on 17-of-30 shooting from long-range in its previous two games, were held to just 22.2% (4-for-18) from long-range.
After taking a 37-28 lead into the half, using a 25-11 run down over the latter portion of the opening half, overturning a 17-12 over the final 13:22 of the half to take control of the game.
In the second half, the Bears could get no closer than eight points, with the latest of those eight-point margins coming after Jake Davis connected on a three-pointer with 10:23 remaining in the contest, making it a 55-47 game. The Bulldogs then used a strong defensive effort to close out the game, limiting the Bears to just one field goal and just four points over almost a six-minute stretch, stretching from the 10:23 mark until the 4:49 mark.
The Bulldogs, which shot 45.0% (27-of-60) for the game, including 41.7% (10-of-24) from three-point land, were led by a pair of players with 15 points, with both Rylan Jones and Garrett Hicks finishing with that exact total, while Achor Achor and Jermaine Marshall adding 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Mercer had three in double figures, led by 14 points from freshman point guard David Thomas, while Jake Davis and Jalyn McCreary finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The second quarterfinal would result in the first upset of the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament, as No. 7 East Tennessee State took down No. 2 UNC Greensboro, 73-62, as it marked the second-straight season the No. 2 seed had been bounced early by the seventh seed. Last season, No. 2 Samford dropped what was a () contest in overtime to Chattanooga.
The Bucs controlled the game on both ends of the floor from the outset of the contest, and they were able to once again enforce their will on both the glass, as well on defense, and were the more physically imposing team against a UNCG team that has prided itself on that aspect of basketball over the past several seasons, dating back to the latter years of the Wes Miller era.
The win was ETSU’s fourth-straight, as the Bucs evened their record to 2-2 against the Spartans in the Southern Conference Tournament.
It marked the third-straight season that the Spartans have fallen at the first hurdle. UNCG dropped contests to both Samford (L, 64-66 ) and Wofford (L, 66-67) each of the past couple of seasons.
The loss was particularly disappointing for head coach Mike Jones and his team, as it saw a season that saw the Spartans win 21 games for a second-straight season, however, not even make it past their first game of the tournament after looking like a contender to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in a four-year span, and even owned a win at No. 14 Arkansas in mid-November. But the Spartans could never seem to find their rhythm offensively.
With ETSU’s advancement to the semifinals, it marks the first time in three years that the Bucs have been able to get past the first two rounds of the tournament. The No. 7 seed has made at least the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament each of the past three seasons.
This time around, however, the game wouldn't come down to the wire, as the Bucs made sure the game would be well-decided before that point.
Leading the way in the ETSU win was Ebby Asamoah, as the graduate transfer from the University of Delaware was able to tie a season-high with 24 points, as well as made three-point field goals, knocking down six after going an impressive 60% (6-for-10) from three-point range. At the conclusion of the contest, Asamoah had 94 threes on the season, which pulled him into a tie for fourth for threes made in a single-season, with 94.
Jadyn Parker's two blocked shots allowed him to set a new single-season record for blocked shots at ETSU, as his two swats gave him 73, surpassing Isiah Brown's 71 shot redirections set back in the 2009-10 season. With his eight rebounds, which included seven on the offensive end, Parker joined former greats Jeromy Rodriguez, Zakee Wadood, and Rodney English as the only players to reach triple digits in rebounds in a single-season.
Quimari Peterson finished the contest with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Jaden Seymour completed his afternoon with 12 points, three assists and two steals. Karon Boyd led the Bucs on the boards with a career-high 12 boards. He also contributed four points, three assists and three steals.
The Bucs finished the afternoon connecting on 43% (26-of-60) from the field, which included a 50% (12-of-24) from three-point land. The Spartans finished the contest shooting 40% (24-of-60) from the field, which included a 25.9% (7-of-27) from long range.
The Spartans finished the contest with four players in double figures, with Jalen Breath leading the way with 11 points, while Donovan Atwell, Keyshaun Langley and Kobe Langley added 10 points apiece in the loss. For the Langleys, the
abrupt end for the Spartans also brought an end to an era bvffc UNCG basketball over the past six years, with the duo being a part of some of the most successful moments in recent history for Spartans basketball.
UNCG and ETSU both struggled offensively early, however, the Spartans held an early 9-5 lead before the Bucs 13-1 run over the next seven minutes to take an 18-10 lead on a Jayden Seymour jumper with 6:46 left in the half. The Spartans missed 14-straight shots during that ETSU run, and the Bucs were able to build their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes when Peterson connected on a three-pointer with 4:24 left in the half.
The Spartans would end the half closing the margin to a manageable margin, as UNCG closed out the final four minutes and change with a 9-5 run, however, it was ETSU that take the momentum to the locker room, thanks to a three-pointer from Peterson that would give the Bucs a two-possession, 29-23, lead at the break.
In the second half, UNCG started strong, getting to within 36-33 following a Keyshaun Langley triple in transition with 16:33 remaining. However, the Bucs would respond with a 10-0 run, beginning with an Asamoah three off an offensive rebound and concluding with a Jaden Seymour triple at the 14:36 mark to give ETSU the 46-33 lead.
From that point forward, ETSU's effort on the defensive end of the floor would prove pivotal, as the Bucs never allowed UNCG to get closer than eight points the rest of the way en route to a somewhat surprising result. ETSU allowed the Spartans to get as close as eight (48-40), but no closer en route getting the 11-point win. The win over the Spartans was the second in the span of a week for the Bucs, who closed out the regular-season with a 66-65 win over UNCG in Johnson City.
In the third matchup of the day, Chattanooga and Wofford battled one another and lately, it's been one of those matchups that the Mocs have dominated as of late, and this matchup would be no different, as Chattanooga ended up getting better end of the Terriers once again, as the Mocs handed the Terriers a 75-57, season-ending loss. The Mocs improved to 3-2 all-time against Wofford in the Southern Conference Tournament, while improving to 64-34 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament.
While the Mocs would improve to 21-11 and move on to the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament for a third-straight season, the Terriers would see their 2023-24 season--it's first official campaign under new head coach Dwight Perry--end with what was a 17-15 record. The win also allowed the Mocs sweep the season series between the two and marked Chattanooga's fourth-straight win over the Terriers.
The Mocs trailed for less than a minute in total in the contest, and led by a game-high 19 points from Birthday boy Demetrius Davis in the win.
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| Chattanooga forward Tyler Millin (photo courtesy of Chattanooga athletics) |
The Mocs shot 45.3% (24-of-53) from the floor from for the game and connected on an impressive 41.9% (13-of-31) from three-point range in the win.
Chattanooga also did the job on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Mocs to just 36.1% from the field (22-for-61) and 28% (7-for-25) from three-point range, helping the Mocs get their tournament in Asheville underway in strong fashion.
The opening five minutes of the contest went back-and-forth, featuring five lead changes. Honor Huff's triple with 14:08 remaining in the opening half would ultimately allow the Mocs to take an 18-15 lead and the Blue and Gold would not surrender the lead the rest of the night.
The Mocs were able to build that lead through the remainder of the opening half by getting 10 points in the opening frame from Sam Alexis, who posted 10 in the opening half of play and would go on to finish with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, marking what was Alexis' ninth double-double of the season. Eventually, the Mocs would take a 38-32 lead into the halftime locker room.
While the Mocs had control of the game, they were unable to put the game away in the second half until late, as the Terriers hung around for much of the frame due to their overall quality. A Corey Tripp three-pointer with just over 14 minutes remaining put Wofford to within striking distance once again, getting the Terriers to within 45-42.
The Mocs had too much in the paint for Wofford to handle however, it was Jan Zidek and Demetrius Davis that helped Chattanooga maintain the lead throughout the second half and move on to the semifinals with an 18-point win. Zidek would end his night with 13 points and five rebounds, getting his tournament off to a strong start, and it would be one that would eventually end with him garner second-team all-tournament honors.
Honor Huff finished out the contest as the final Mocs player in double figures, with 12 points and four assists to round out the four Mocs in double figures. Davis equaled his career-high with four threes, finishing the contest with a 4-of-5 effort from long range.
Wofford finished with a pair of players in double figures, as Corey Tripp led the way with 15 points, while Jeromy Lorenz came off the bench with 12. Tripp, a second-team all-league pick, finished the contest connecting on just 6-of-22 shots from the field, which included a 2-for-10 effort from three-point range. The Terriers finished the night going just 7-of-25 from three-point land, which saw Wofford complete the campaign with 306 three-pointers, ranking fifth in the league in both three-pointers made and three-point field goal percentage (35.9%).
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| Furman freshman center Cooper Bowser (photo courtesy of Furman athletics |
The final game of quarterfinal Saturday ended up being one of the games of the 2024 Southern Conference Basketball, living up to the pre-tourney hype and then some.
Much of the chatter around the Harrah's Cherokee Center for the opening couple of days was about how folks, especially members of the media that didn't cover either Furman or Western Carolina, couldn't wait to take in the all-purple affair between a pair of teams that many thought had more than realistic chances to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament, despite the fact the two were the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively.
The Catamounts arrived in their home away from home with a school-record tying 22 wins under the direction of third-year head coach Justin Gray, who would officially be named the new head coach at Coastal Carolina a couple of days later, as well as having the league's unquestionable Player of the Year, in Vonterius Woolbright.
The Catamounts had defeated the Paladins 85-77 a little over a week earlier to gain the regular-season split, however, many knew the Purple and Gold were still smarting from an 83-80 overtime loss to the Paladins in the semifinals of the tournament in 2023 in a game many Catamount fans remained salty over the fact that Furman had shot 46 foul shots in that game.
With that said, the Paladins had closed the season with two-straight losses, as the defending champs stumbled into the 2024 tournament looking a shell of the team that had won it for the first time in 43 years the previous season. With that said, the Paladins had the talent and pedigree to do it again. Furman's resume included a 10-point win over top seed and regular-season champion Samford, but also included a 79-74 loss in its final non-conference game to Division II Anderson University.
The Paladins weren't ever going to go down without a fight, despite battling through a tougher than expected season in defense of their title with seven of their top nine players back in the fold.
In sport, one of the hardest things to do is defend a title. The only thing harder than defending it might be knocking the crown off the defending champion's head, but that's exactly what No. 4 Western Carolina tried to do when it met No. 5 Furman in the final quarterfinal of the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament Men's Basketball Tournament late Saturday evening at the Harrah's Cherokee Center.
It was another classic overtime battle between the Paladins and Catamounts at the Southern Conference Tournament, and in the end, the victor would be the same one as last season by the same margin, however, only a round earlier, as the defending champion held off the potential title contender, 79-76, in overtime.
With the win, No. 5 Furman improves to 17-15 overall, while Western Carolina concludes its season at 22-10 and will evaluate any postseason invitations in the coming week ahead. The 22 wins ties a Division I school record, matching the 2009-10 Catamounts.
The win marked Furman's 198th victory since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is tied with UNCG for the most overall wins in the league in that same span. The Paladins also improved to 58-63 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament action, remaining perfect against Western Carolina, moving to 6-0.
The Paladins got a sterling performance from JP Pegues, who finished the contest with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field, which included a 6-for-11 effort from three-point range. He was also 4-for-5 at the free throw line. The junior guard from Nashville notched his 15th performance or 20 or more points in a game this season.
Pegues was joined in double figures for the Paladins by Marcus Foster, who finished with 18 points, while PJay Smith Jr. added 12.
Alex Williams was notable with eight points early in the game, but his impact defensively throughout the game could not be overlooked, as his job on league Player of the Year Vonterius Woolbright was notable down the stretch, and in combination with Foster, the two ended up holding Woolbright to just 11 points. Woolbright entered the contest as the SoCon's leading scorer, averaging 20.5 PPG.
Woolbright, who has five triple-doubles this season, threatened another one, as he also finished with 10 rebounds, while dishing out nine of the team's 12 assists.
The Catamounts were led in scoring in the contest by Kamar Robertson, who posted 17 points to lead three Catamounts in double figures. He was 6-for-8 from the field, which included a perfect 3-for-3 effort from three-point range. Tre Jackson finished the contest with 11 points to round out the Catamounts in double figures in the game.
The game would feature 16 ties and five lead changes, and after getting out to an early 11-3 lead, which included eight from Robertson, as well as a perfect 3-for-3 start from long range, the Catamounts definitely looked the part of being one of the favorites to take the 2024 Southern Conference basketball crown in Asheville.
The Paladins rallied, however, and an alley-oop dunk and free throw on a three-point play the old-fashioned way by Cooper Bowser got Furman to within one, at 13-12, and though the Paladins never held a first-half lead, Furman would remain within striking distance for much of the opening half of play.
The Catamounts would threaten to grow their lead to double digits on a couple of occasions in the opening half of play, before eventually achieving that goal. Western Carolina made three-straight triples, with the final two coming from Tre Jackson, as the Catamounts assumed a 40-28 lead with 4:11 remaining in the half.
The Paladins weren't going anywhere, though, as Furman used a 12-2 run to close the half, which included a pair of three-pointers from PJay Smith Jr. and one from JP Pegues, as the Paladins went to the locker room with all the momentum.
In the second half, Furman assumed its first lead, at 44-42, following a pair of free throws by Pegues at the 18:38 mark. The margin would never grow larger than four points for either team the remainder of the game. A Vonterius Woolbright layup with 2:27 remaining would give the Catamounts a 67-63 lead.
Marcus Foster answered with a layup for the Paladins on the other end, and then a flagrant foul was issued against Western Carolina for a hook-and-hold on the rebound attempt by Garrett Hien. Hien missed both foul shots, but on the hook-and-hold, the Paladins got the ball back underneath the WCU basket. Foster worked his way underneath the bucket and scored on another layup to tie the game, 67-67, with 2:04 left.
After misses on both ends by Kamar Robertson and a three-pointer in transition by Alex Williams, the Paladins would re-take the lead on a layup from Garrett Hien, who was fouled in the process, but missed the foul shot, leaving the Paladins with a 69-67 lead with 38 seconds left.
On the other end, Furman fouled Charles Lampten, but he missed both foul shots, but Woolbright corralled the rebound and converted the layup to tie the game, 69-69, with 29 seconds remaining. The Paladins had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Carter Whitt’s layup attempt rolled off the rim and was no good, sending the game into overtime.
Pegues missed a jumper to open the extra session, however, the PJay Smith got the offensive rebound and made a jumper in the paint to give Furman a 71-69 lead. It was the first of four-straight made field goals for the Paladins.
With the game tied, 76-76, following a layup by Woolbright with 1:13 remaining, Furman regained the lead with 47 seconds remaining off an excellent feed from Pegues to Whitt for the wide-open layup to give Furman a 78-76 lead.
Russell Jones Jr. then missed a well-defended layup on the other end with just 33 seconds remaining and the ball was rebounded by Carter Whitt, however, he would turn the ball over on what was a backcourt violation and it would be the Paladins' only turnover of the second half and was one of only six turnovers for the entire game for Furman, who did as good of a job taking care of the basketball as in any game of the 2023-24 season.
On the ensuing Catamount possession, Alex Williams played some absolutely stellar defense against Catamount star guard Vonterius Woolbright and he missed the layup attempt wide left and then Williams stripped the ball away from Woolbright on the rebound and the loose ball was corralled by Marcus Foster, who was immediately fouled.
Foster missed the first and made the second free throw of the two-shot bonus to increase the Furman advantage to three with 13 seconds left and on the next possession, Russell Jones Jr. missed a potential game-tying three with seven seconds left and the ball rolled loose on the floor, with Williams eventually coming up with it and dribbled out the clock on his way to a dunk after time expired, as the Paladins held on for a three-point overtime win over their purple rivals for a second-straight season.
It would set up a rubber match with top seed Samford in the first semifinal of Semifinal Sunday, making it a quicker than usual turnaround. It was one of the few tweaks made to the tournament time slots in order to protect the top two spots in the postseason, and after such a tough game that went late into the Asheville night, it was going to be a short turnaround before facing Bucky Ball, which by nature, forces teams to expend more energy than they wish in any scenario.
Day 3 (Semifinals/March 10, 2024)
The Southern Conference Tournament seemingly delivers the goods year-in and year-out, rarely ever disappointing in terms of producing multiple thrilling endings throughout the course of the weekend, and the 2024 Tournament will likely be mostly remembered for its final two matchups of the day in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively, with both needing overtime to decide and both seeing lower seeds emerge victorious.
In the final quarterfinal on Saturday night, Furman came back from a 12-point deficit in the first half to claim what was a 79-76 overtime win over Western Carolina. In Sunday night's epic semifinal classic, ETSU posted its comeback win with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game, trailing by 20 points with 14:16 left (54-34) only to use the press to help fuel a furious rally en route ton what was a unforgettable 85-84 overtime win over Chattanooga.
With former boss and ETSU head coach Steve Forbes looking on, the pupil Brooks Savage made his mentor smile at the end of Sunday night's game, and now Savage must figure out how to get his Bucs enough legs and energy to find enough for one more fight in Monday night's championship game against top seed and 28-win Samford.
It's been said that the penultimate stage of a tournament is the toughest hurdle to clear, and if you as any one of the Furman Paladins that made that magical run to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years last March, they likely agree with that statement, as last season's semifinal win over Western Carolina was easily Furman's toughest.
Could Furman provide that type of opposition to top overall seed Samford this season? The answer was no, and despite fighting to the finish in a game that the Paladins were never really out of, a combination of solid defense played by unquestionably the best team in the SoCon coupled with tired legs from the night before were too much for Furman to overcome.
Even had the Paladins not played the night before, it would have been a tough task. The best team in the SoCon in 2023-24 ultimately won and was moving on to the championship, while the defending I champion gave up its crown and saw a frustrating season end.
Samford held No. 5 and defending champion Furman to 34.2% (21-of-61) and Achor Achor scored 28 points and ripped down 14 rebounds, as the Bulldogs became the 10th-straight No. 1 seed to reach the championship game, as the Bulldogs held off the feisty Paladins, 84-77, in the first of two semifinal matchups Sunday evening at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 28-5 overall, while the Paladins conclude their 2023-24 season with a 17-16 overall mark. Furman finishes the season tied with UNC Greensboro for most wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, as the Paladins and Spartans both have 198 victories over that span. The Paladins are now 198-98 over the past nine seasons overall, while the Spartans sport a 198-100 mark.
The Bulldogs improved to 10-15 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament action, while also moving to 3-4 all-time against Furman in the tournament. The Bulldogs claimed two out the three meetings on the season, as Samford also held off Furman, 74-72, in Birmingham in late February.
Furman fell to 58-64 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament, which includes a 12-18 mark in the semifinal round of the tournament.
The Paladins actually handed Samford its first of three SoCon losses, with a 78-68 win in Greenville, snapping the Bulldogs’ 17-game winning streak, which was tops in Division college basketball at the time.
Achor Achor finished his evening going 12-of-15 from the field, and went 1-for-1 from three-point range, as well as connecting on 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. The 14 rebounds matched a season and career-high for Achor, and marked his third double-double of the season.
Joining Achor in double figures in the winning effort were Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones, who finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
The Paladins were paced in the losing effort by JP Pegues, who record his 16th game of the season with 20 or more points, following up his 28-point performance in the quarterfinal win over Western Carolina by adding 22 in the semifinals against Samford.
The native of Nashville, Tenn., closed out his junior season as a Paladin by connecting on 4-of-12 shots from the field, including 3-for-7 from long-range, and was 11-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Carter Whitt finished off one of his better performances of the season, adding 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point land and was 2-of-2 from the line.
Furman got off to a quick start, and a Ben VanderWal layup of a missed three-pointer from Marcus Foster, who scored the Paladins' first eight points of the game, gave the Paladins their largest lead of the contest, at 23-14.
From there, the wheels became to run of the championship train for the Paladins, which would struggle to score for the remainder of the opening half of play, as the Bulldogs closed the opening half on a 20-5 run, which included a stretch for the Paladins that saw them miss their final 12 shots of the frame, which led to a 34-28 Samford halftime advantage. The Paladins finished the final 4:40 of the opening half without a field goal.
The Bulldogs assumed complete control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 14-7 run out of the locker room to assume a 48-35 advantage following three Jaden Campbell foul shots after he was fouled on a three-pointer by Alex Williams with 15:19 left.
Samford eventually took its largest lead of the night on a big dunk off the right side following a Paladin turnover, making it a 66-50 Bulldogs advantage with 5:40 left.
Furman employed its own version of a press to trim the Bulldogs lead to five following a JP Pegues three with 38 seconds remaining, however, it was too little too late for the defending champions, who finally had their crown stolen by the Bulldogs, as their will be a new Southern Conference champion in 2024.
For the game, Samford connected on 54.9% (28-of-51) from the field, which included just a 6-for-21 (28.6%) effort from three-point land. The Bulldogs shot 68.6% (22-of-32) from the charity stripe.
The Paladins on the other hand, connected on just 34.4% (21-of-61) from the field, which included a 28.9% (11-of-38) effort from long range.
The Bulldogs held a substantial 42-20 edge in points in the paint, while Furman finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (25-18), second-chance points (7-6), and bench scoring (32-24).
Samford also held a narrow 36-34 edge in total rebounds, as well as posting a 15-12 advantage in total assists. While Samford is quickly become this year's version of "America's Team" in March Madness, it's not been a rosy follow-up campaign for the 2023 league champions and what was "America's Team" last March after posting the first moment of the 2023 tournament with the magical win over Virginia in Orlando.
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| UTC point guard Trey Bonham |
The second semifinal between East Tennessee State and Chattanooga produced one of the more exciting games of the weekend, and it was a game that would see an old Southern Conference rivalry renewed at the penultimate stage of the tournament.
The Bucs were able to make up a 20-point deficit with just over 14 minutes remaining, coming all the way back to garner what was a 85-84 win in overtime, posting a fourth-straight conference tournament win over the Mocs.
In recent tournaments, we’ve seen some similar trends of teams overcoming large deficits within games to tie games or even take leads in the second half, however, what transpired in the second semifinal matchup was truly remarkable, as well as a testament to what first-year head coach Brooks Savage in terms of a winning culture to the ETSU basketball program.
The win saw the Bucs improve to 19-15 overall, and will move on to play in the championship game for the 13th time in school history, while their opponent—the No. 1 seed Samford Bulldogs—will be taking part in their first tournament championship game since joining the SoCon in 2008. It was ETSU's 188th win since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is second to only Furman and UNC Greensboro in total wins over the past nine seasons.
The Mocs finished their 2023-24 season with a 21-12 mark. The Bucs improved to 45-25 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament, including upping their overall mark to 10-8 in tournament games against the Mocs. Chattanooga fell to 64-35 in tournament play all-time.
The Bucs are 8-4 in title game matchups, and their eight tourney titles rank second only to current SoCon member Chattanooga, which has won 12. The Bucs became the four No. 7 seed to reach the title game in the past seven seasons, looking to become the first team to win four games in the tournament since 1939.
The Bucs kept their bitter rivals from the Volunteer State at 12 titles, preventing the Mocs from reaching their third-straight Monday night title tilt by using a furious second half rally, which saw Brooks Savage employ a tenacious press that Dan Earl simply had no answers or adjustments for.
ETSU would be led in scoring in the contest by Quimari Peterson, who dropped in a game-high 27 points on 8-of-24 shooting from the field, which included a 5-for-14 effort from three-point range and was also 6-of-9 at the charity stripe.
Ebby Asamoah, who fouled out with 4:38 remaining, posted 21 points and 21 minutes of action and was one of the key components in the epic come-from-behind win for the Bucs. Asamoah was 50% from the field, connecting on 8-for-16 from the field, which included a 5-for-9 effort from three. All-SoCon selection Jaden Seymour finished out the contest as the final Bucs player in double figures, finishing with 15.
Chattanooga was led by Jan Zidek, who posted 26 points, while Trey Bonham added 19 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Honor Huff posted 16 points and Sam Alexis finished with 11 before fouling out.
Zidek, who was a grad transfer from Pepperdine, finished his final game for Chattanooga by going 7-of-12 from the field and 1-for-4 from three-point land, while posting an 11-of-12 performance from the charity stripe.
At the center of ETSU's magical come-from-behind win was their work on the backboards, and in particular, on the offensive glass, securing 24 offensive boards en route to a 52-41 advantage on the glass. It also led to an 18-3 advantage in second-chance points for the Bucs.
If that stat doesn't blow your mind, check this out. The Bucs won the game despite shooting 17.1% (6-of-35) in the opening half of play and only 32.9% (26-of-79) for the game. The Bucs found themselves behind 38-27 at the break.
As much as the scoring was a part of ETSU's memorable semifinal win, it was the sum of its parts that also played a major role with a number of winning plays that don't always show up on a stats sheet, including Allen Strothers, who came off the bench to record five steals and knocked away a late ball on an apparent clear breakaway layup for the Mocs off an ETSU turnover. Strothers' five steals in the game were a career-high.
The Bucs knocked down double-digit threes for the third-straight game, connecting on 12-of-37 () from long-range. Meanwhile, Chattanooga, which came into the game leading the SoCon and ranking fifth nationally in three-pointers made with 343, connected on just 6-of-17 long-range attempts in the contest. The Bucs ended up outscoring the Mocs 36-18 from beyond the arc.
The six threes by the Mocs marked just the 10th time this season that UTC has failed to reach double digits in made long-range efforts, with only the five made threes against Mercer on Jan. 17 in a road win ranking as a lower total of made threes this season.
The five made triples against the Bears marked the first time in 52-straight games in Dan Earl's short tenure as head coach of Chattanooga that the Mocs had failed to connect on at least six threes in a game, which had been the longest streak in NCAA Division I college basketball.
The Mocs also connected on just six threes a win over Southeast Missouri (W, 72-56) and a loss vs. Samford (L, 58-78). The 17 attempted threes were the second fewest of the season, with only the game against SEMO ranking lower, as the Mocs only put up 16 triple attempts in that contest.
Meanwhile, ETSU's 853 attempted threes this season and is a school record, while the 266 made threes rank in the Top 10 all-time in made three-point field goals.
The Bucs found themselves trailing 38-27 at the break, and shot just 17% (6-for-35) from the field in the opening half of play. The Mocs grew their lead to 20 points following a Jan Zidek triple with 14:18 remaining in the game, as Chattanooga assumed a 54-34 lead.
ETSU went into desperation mode and employed the press, flipping the game on its head. As first-year head coach Brooks Savage would go on to say in his postgame presser, he alluded to the fact that small guards don't like to be pressed in his experience as a basketball coach. That assumption proved to be 100% accurate against Chattanooga's diminutive, yet quick guards, in Honor Huff and Trey Bonham.
The Bucs got to within 10 points with just under 10 minutes remaining, when big man DJ Hughes found his all-league teammate Jaden Seymour open for a three to make it a 59-49 contest 9:37 remaining.
However, the Mocs would stretch the lead back to 14 points when Huff converted a layup in the paint to make it a 66-52 Mocs lead with 7:50 remaining. A quick six points by the Bucs, which was fueled by ETSU's tenacious press, however, trimmed the margin to just eight after Ebby Asamoah's three was nothing but net with 7:23 remaining, making it a 66-58 game. The Bucs eventually got to within six when Seymour got one of ETSU's 13 steals in the game and converted it into a layup, trimming the Mocs lead to 68-62 with 6:36 remaining.
After the Mocs took what was a brief eight-point lead once again when Huff knocked down a pair of free throws with just over six minutes left, and then a Noah Melson foul shot equaled the eight-point lead (71-63) with 4:38 remaining, the Bucs then went to work and would never let the lead get beyond seven for Chattanooga from that point forward in the game, eventually forcing overtime.
ETSU outscored the Mocs 18-9 over the final 3:31 to eventually force the five extra minutes of basketball. The Mocs took a 76-69 lead with just 2:03 remaining following a Trey Bonham layup in the paint. However, from there, ETSU would close the game strong and Seymour's layup with 1:19 remaining made it a 76-71 Bucs deficit.
The would fall behind by seven once more with just over a minute remaining following a pair of Jan Zidek charity shots, however, those would put the Mocs ahead by seven, at 78-71, with 1:18 remaining. The Bucs would then mount a furious rally inside the final minute to get the game to overtime.
Quimari Peterson came down and then connected on arguably the most important shot of the game, as his three-pointer cut UTC's lead to four, 78-74, with 1:12 remaining. The Bucs immediately fouled Bonham and he would go 1-of-2 at the free throw line to take the UTC lead back to five points, at 79-74.
Peterson and the Bucs would continue to charge, and a three-point play the old-fashioned way by the former JUCO national champion guard got the Bucs to within two, at 79-77, with just 39 seconds remaining. Then on UTC's final possession of the game, Peterson came with a steal and layup with one second remaining to tie the game, tying the game, 79-79.
Chattanooga's halfcourt heave at the buzzer was no good, and the game needed an extra five minutes to settle a winner. The Mocs started the overtime in strong fashion, getting the ball to Zidek, who scored the first points
of the extra session to make it an 81-79 UTC lead. However, the Bucs responded would with four-straight points on a free throw by Seymour and a three by Peterson to give the Bucs an 83-81 lead with 3:11 remaining.
UTC scored three-straight points on foul shots to make it an 84-83 UTC lead, with the final two coming from Randy Brady with 1:31 left. Those would turn out to be the final points of the game for UTC.
Huff would miss a three for the Mocs with 42 seconds remaining, and DJ Hughes pulled down the crucial
rebound for the Bucs and then the ball found its way to jet-quick ETSU point guard Allen Strothers, who lobbed over the top to USC Aiken transfer Karon Boyd--the Bucs' ultimate "glue guy"--who laid the ball off the glass with 15 seconds remaining, giving the Bucs an 85-84 lead.
On the game's final possession, the Mocs had a pair of chances to win the game, and after a timeout by Dan Earl to draw up a play, Bonham missed a short jumper, which was well-defended by ETSU and the offensive rebound came right to leading scorer Zidek just inside the foul line, but his hurried, but open look hit the front of the rim and was no good and the buzzer sounded, as ETSU held on for the thrilling one-point win to move into the Monday night championship game to take on top-seed Samford.
Wild scenes of excitement from ETSU fans would follow, while Mocs fans could only wear an expression of disbelief from what they had transpire over the final 19 minutes of basketball inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center. The game will go down as easily one of the best come-from-behind wins in the rich history of the nation's oldest postseason college basketball tournament.
Day 4 (Championship Game/March 11, 2024)
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| ETSU forward DJ Hughes vs. Samford |
For the fourth time in the past five seasons, the No. 1 and No. 7 seed would contest the Southern Conference Tournament title game inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center, and for the fifth-straight season and ninth time in the past 10 seasons, it would be the No. 1 seed that would be the SoCon's representative in the NCAA Tournament, as Samford held off No. 7 East Tennessee State, 76-69, in the 104th edition of the Southern Conference Tournament.
It was the 10th championship game of the past 15 title tilts that would be decided by less than 10 points, including the fourth in a row.
The seven-point win by the Bulldogs marks the first Southern Conference title for Samford since joining the SoCon in 2008 in what was also the program's first SoCon title game contested in its 16-year membership inside the league. The Bulldogs were making their first appearance in a conference tournament title game since losing to Murray State, 74-57, in the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference championship game.
The win allowed the Bulldogs to punch just their third ticket all-time to the NCAA Tournament, joining the 1999 and 2000 teams, which were coached by Jimmy Tillette, who helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Tillette's version of Samford basketball was a stark contrast to the current Bulldogs, which ran a Princeton style offense and ranked 277th (65.2) in adjusted offensive efficiency and tempo according to KenPom back in 1999, which was the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as an NCAA Division I member.
Some 25 years later, the Bulldogs rank 13th in KenPom in adjusted offensive efficiency and tempo (72.6) and led the SoCon in scoring offense (86.0 PPG). The 86.0 PPG currently ranks fifth in college basketball in scoring offense. The Bulldogs are the second-straight SoCon champion to have led the Southern Conference in scoring offense to go on to win the title. Last season, Furman, which returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years, became the first SoCon champion since 2013 to win the Southern Conference Tournament title to have led the SoCon in scoring offense throughout the season, finishing the 2022-23 season averaging 80.9 PPG.
The 86.0 PPG ranks ninth in SoCon history among champions that have won the league title that have also led the league in scoring offense. Below are the order of scoring champions that have gone on to win the SoCon Tournament title.
1. ETSU--1990-91 (94.1 PPG)
2. West Virginia--1959-60 (89.5 PPG)
3. ETSU--1989-90 (89.2 PPG)
4. West Virginia--1966-67 (87.2 PPG)
5. Davidson--1968-69 (87.1 PPG)
6. West Virginia--1957-58 (86.9 PPG)
7. Furman--1972-73 (86.2 PPG)
8. ETSU--1991-92 (86.1 PPG)
9. Samford 2023-24 (86.0 PPG)
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SAMFORD WINS TITLE!
No. 1 Samford 76, No. 7 East Tennessee State 69
Recap: No. 1 seed Samford got 25 points from SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player Achor Achor, while SoCon First-Team All-Tournament selection Jermaine Marshall added 23, as the Bulldogs held off feisty No. 7 seed East Tennessee State for a 76-69 win before a championship game crowd of 5,112 on hand at the Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville to witness the Bulldogs return to the Big Dance for the first time in 24 years.
The win sees the Bulldogs punch their ticket to their first NCAA Tournament since 2000, and improve to 29-5 and will await its opening round NCAA Tournament opponent on Sunday,March 17 on CBS at 6 p.m. EST.
With the loss, ETSU's valiant effort over the course of the four-day tournament comes to an end, as the Bucs finish the season 19-16 and fall to 8-5 all-time in conference tournament title games. The Bucs were attempting to do something that hasn't been done in 75 years, which is win four games to claim the Southern Conference Tournament crown.
Clemson's four wins to claim the 1939 SoCon crown remains intact for at least another season. Monday night's title win by the top overall seed marks the seventh-straight season the No. 1 overall seed entering the Southern Conference Tournament has claimed the tournament title.The Bucs were the fourth No. 7 seed to play for the Southern Conference title game in the past five years. The No. 1 seed improved to 9-1 in the championship game over the past 10 seasons.
Samford's tournament title marks just the third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and the 29 wins are a school record. For the second-straight season, the winner of the Southern Conference Tournament ends a long streak of not having made the Big Dance, as last season Furman ended a 43-year NCAA Tournament drought to move on to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, while a year later, the Bulldogs will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 24 years, as well as their first as a Southern Conference member.
Should the Bulldogs win an NCAA Tournament First Round game, it would mark just the fifth time in league history that a team has won 30 games in a season. Samford would join NC State (1950-51), North Carolina (1945-46), Wofford (2018-19) and East Tennessee State (2019-20) as the only teams in league history. Not counting the COVID-19 compromised season, the SoCon champion has won at least 27 games in each of the past eight seasons.
The Bulldogs could join some rare company over the past 16 years should they win a game in March Madness, as one of three teams to win an NCAA Tournament game, alongside Furman (2023) and Wofford (2019). The Terriers were ranked in the NCAA Top 25 entering the 2019 NCAA Tournament before knocking off Seton Hall in the opening round of the tournament. The Paladins, which also achieved the program's first national Top 25 ranking during the 2018-19 alongside Wofford, won the school's first NCAA Tournament game in 49 years last March with their win over Virginia.
The ticket punched marks just the third time in program history that has happened, and the first two came in consecutive seasons, as the Bulldogs would make the 1999 and 2000 tournaments, respectively, as members of the Trans America Athletic Conference, which is now the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Bulldogs are 0-2 all-time in the Big Dance, with its last game in 2000 seeing Samford drop a 79-65 to Syracuse in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Samford improved to 7-16 all-time against ETSU, which includes winning all three matchups this season, as the Bulldogs also captured a 75-72 win in Johnson City last month, while clinching the Southern Conference regular-season title with an 87-71 win over the Bucs a couple of weeks ago in Homewood. The Bulldogs have now won six-straight overall in the series dating back to the 2021-22 season.
Achor Achor was a major factor in both the semifinal and championship wins for the Bulldogs. Following a 28-point, 14-rebound effort in Samford's 84-77 semifinal win over Furman, the 6-9 junior from Melbourne, Australia posted his 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 11-of-14 from the charity stripe, while also adding nine rebounds, including five offensive boards, to showcase his overall prowess on the offensive end. On the defensive end, Achor was also a menace, swatting away four ETSU shots, while also recording a pair of steals.
Marshall, meanwhile, recorded his 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and went 1-of-3 from three-point range and was 8-for-13 from the charity stripe. Jaden Campbell added 11 points to round out the double-figure scorers for the Bulldogs. Rylan Jones, a steadying force throughout the 2023-24 season for the Bulldogs after transferring in from Utah State, finished the game with six points, four assists, two steals and no turnovers in 32:47 of total court action. The SoCon's "Newcomer of the Year" was a second-team all-tournament selection.
ETSU ended up the evening with a couple of players in double figures, with all-tournament selections Ebby Asamoah and Quimari Peterson leading the way, posting 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Asamoah finished out his career for the Bucs in stellar fashion, posting his 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and his 3-for-11 performance from three-point land saw the graduate transfer from Delaware set a new Southern Conference Tournament standard with 16 triples, averaging four a game over the course of the weekend.
The Bulldogs finished the title tilt connecting on 43.4% (23-of-53) from the field, while the Bucs connected on 40.7% (23-of-53) from the field for the game. The Bucs saw their string of three-straight games having made double-digit threes come to an end, as ETSU went just 6-of-23 (26.1%) from downtown. The Bulldogs, who led the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage for much of the season, finished connecting on just 27.8% (5-for-18) from long range.
ETSU held statistical advantages in second-chance points (13-6) and total rebounds (41-32), while Samford finished with advantages in points from turnovers (16-11), points in the paint (36-24) and fast-break points (10-2).
ETSU Effort
ETSU's effort and energy was almost astonishing throughout the entirety of the weekend considering they had to play four games in four days, nearly pulling off the unthinkable in the process. The Bucs posted an overtime, 85-84, win over Chattanooga in almost unbelievable fashion in a game that ran two hours and twenty-eight minutes before turning around and playing a two-hour and thirty-seven minute affair in the championship game, which featured 53 fouls whistled. ETSU claimed 168 rebounds over the course of four games, including 93 in the semifinal and championship alone to go along with 39 offensive rebounds in the two games.
The Bucs also set a SoCon Tournament record with 42 steals in four games, as the Bucs charted a combined 19 in the semifinals and championship and another 23 against VMI and UNC Greensboro in its first two games of the tournament.
Bucky's Ball!
The Cinderella Story might be head coach Bucky McMillan himself, as the former high school coach made the move to the Division I level almost seamlessly. He's a hometown product from Birmingham, and played his college basketball at Birmingham Southern where he was coached by current assistant coach Duane Reboul, who was one of the top coaches in the country for 17 seasons at the helm of the Birmingham Southern program.
Reboul led the transition for Birmingham-Southern from the NAIA level to the NCAA Division I level, as he led the Panthers to the 2004 Big South Conference Title, and was named Big South Coach of the Year on two occasions (2004 and '06).
McMillan now gets to take Bucky Ball--a high-intensity style of relentless full-court pressure that forces the opposition into miscues--to the Big Dance. Bucky Ball will also likely determine how long Bucky stays at the Ball as a Cinderella, and given the right matchup, the Bulldogs could cause some havoc in the Big Dance.
How It Happened:
The Bulldogs carried a narrow 40-38 lead into the halftime locker room, however, it looked as though Samford might run away with the game in the early portions of the game, as the Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run after the Bucs got the first points of the night on a layup by Karon Boyd.
The Bucs then went on a 9-2 run to get right back in the game. Neither team would lead by more than four points the remainder of the half, as the Bulldogs went to half leading by a bucket
The Bucs fell behind as nine on three occasions in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, with the last coming on an Achor Achor layup in the paint with 12:42 remaining to give the Bulldogs the 56-47 lead. ETSU, however, continued to manage from never letting the Bulldog lead grow to double digits. With the Bulldogs ahead 63-56 with 9:13 remaining, ETSU would mount one final surge, using an 8-2 run to get within 65-64 following an Asamoah jumper in the lane as the Bucs crowd came alive once again with excitement.
On the next possession, Rylan Jones responded with maybe the most important made shot of the night, taking his own deflected pass out of the air and re-directing it towards the basket in one-motion, and the ball splashed through the net to give the Bulldogs a 67-64 lead with just over six minutes remaining.
The Bulldogs would eventually grow their lead to three possessions, at a margin of seven points with just a minute remaining, as Jermaine Marshall connected on a pair of free throws to make it a 73-66 game. Samford would make only one more field goal for the game, as they would score seven of their final nine points from the line. In fact, over the final 6:23 of the game, both ETSU and Samford combined to make only four shots from the field.
2024 Southern Conference Tournament Scoreboard and All-Tournament Teams
All-Tournament Teams and Individual Awards
First team
Ebby Asamoah, ETSU
Quimari Peterson, ETSU
JP Pegues, Furman
Achor Achor, Samford
Jermaine Marshall, Samford
Second team
Jaden Seymour, ETSU
Marcus Foster, Furman
David Thomas, Mercer
Rylan Jones, Samford
Jan Zidek, Chattanooga
Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Achor Achor, Samford
Pinnacle Award (highest GPA on championship-winning team)
Nathan Johnson, Samford
