Men’s Basketball Notes, December 20, 2009
Men's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending December 20, 2009.
BREVARD - The Tornados dropped their only contest of the week on Thursday, falling at home to Belmont Abbey, 85-75...Led by Josh Roper's 21 points, the Tornados attempted a comeback in the second half after being down by 21 points, bringing the game back within 11 points twice, but Belmont Abbey was able to hit several clutch free throws in the second half to sweep the season series...Jacques Dovonou scored in double-figures for Brevard with 15 points, going four of five from the field and seven of eight from the free throw line, while Jonathan Whitson and Sam Carlisle each had nine points...Darin Dellinger had seven points and seven assists while leading the Tornados offense which connected on 47.2 percent (25-53) of their attempts on the evening...The Tornados are off next week before resuming their season on Tuesday, December 29th at Oakland City College.
CARSON-NEWMAN - Carson-Newman did not play this week … Carson-Newman dropped a 100-87 decision to King College on Saturday in its only game last week to fall to 4-5 on the season … The Eagles lost despite shooting a season-best 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the floor … The Tornado torched the nets for a season-high 16 three-pointers, including 12 in the first half … Three Eagles turned in career highs in points in the loss … Senior forward Darron Maxtion paced C-N with 29 points and nine rebounds … Maxtion was 11-of-15 from the floor and 7-for-8 at the charity stripe … Freshman guard Trey Caruthers and sophomore forward Quinche Dowdell added 19 and 13 points, respectively, for the Eagles … King built a 19-8 lead to open the contest by knocking down seven 3-pointers in the first six minutes of play … The Tornado pushed their lead to as many as 23 points in the half and went into the locker room with a 62-44 lead … C-N opened the second half on a 10-5 run to trim King's lead down to 11 points, but the Eagles failed to cut the King's lead below double digits the rest of the way … C-N returns to action at home on Dec. 30 against Lees-McRae … Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Holt Fieldhouse.
CATAWBA - The Catawba Indians dropped a pair of games last week to fall to 5-5 on the season … Catawba fell to UNC Asheville 94-81 on Tuesday … The Indians were led by Dominick Reid's (Charlotte, NC/Cannon School) game-high 23 points. The junior guard went 9-of-12 from the field. Antonio Houston (Charlotte, NC/E. Mecklenburg HS) finished with 15 points, while Rob Fields (Orangeburg, SC/Orangeburg-Wilkerson HS) contributed 13 points … Johnson C. Smith rallied in the final three minutes to take a 65-59 win over visiting Catawba in men's basketball action on Thursday night at Brayboy Gym ... Catawba trailed by seven with just under 10 minutes to play then rallied back. Rob Fields (Orangeburg, SC/Orangeburg-Wilkerson HS) hit a three-pointer and a layup to pull the Indians within 51-49 with 8:09 left. Donald Rutherford (Morganton, NC/Freedom HS) pulled Catawba even then hit a pair of free throws with 4:39 remaining for a 61-59 lead ... Another free throw by Rutherford at the 3:24 mark gave Catawba a 59-55 edge, but that would be the last points for the Indians on the night … Fields led Catawba with 16 points, while Rutherford added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Indians shot just 34 percent.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne University men's basketball team (2-7) lost both games at the 2009 Hampton Inn & Suites Fall Finals Classic in Savannah, Ga., last Friday and Saturday, respectively … On Friday, Lenoir-Rhyne fell to St. Augustine's by a 65-54 score despite 17 points from junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) … However, the Falcons limited the Bears to just 30 percent shooting (15-of-50) for the game and held L-R without a field goal for the final 9:34 of the contest … Charles Jordan scored a team-high 19 points for St. Augustine's, who pushed its winning streak to seven games … Blackmon tallied his second double-double (24 points and 13 rebounds) of the season despite the 69-66 setback to the host school of the tournament, Armstrong Atlantic State, Saturday night … L-R cut a 19-point second deficit (52-33) to one at 67-66 with eight seconds left but the Pirates' Keron McKenzie iced the game with two free throws from the charity stripe … McKenzie, along with Chris Vanlandingham, each scored 19 points to pace AASU … Blackmon continues to lead L-R in points scored (21.7 ppg), rebounding (7.4 rpg) and assists (2.7 apg) this year … Lenoir-Rhyne next competes in the Lander New Year's Classic on December 28 and 29 in Greenwood, S.C. … L-R plays Georgia Southwestern on December 28 and 5:00 p.m., before playing Lander on December 29 beginning at 7:30 p.m. … Lenoir-Rhyne will be playing Georgia Southwestern for the first time in school history while Lander leads the all-time series with Lenoir-Rhyne, 2-1.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The LMU Railsplitters picked up a pair of victories on the week to improve to 9-1, their best start since the 1927-28 season … LMU took a 73-66 win over King College on Tuesday … Sophomore guard Justin Allen (Lithonia, GA) led the Railsplitters in scoing with 16. Senior Stuart Miller (Harrogate, TN) ended the game with 13 points, while junior forward D'Mario Curry (Detroit, MI) finished with a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds … LMU took a 67-52 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Thursday … The Railsplitters were led by D'Mario Curry (Detroit, MI), who had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Desmond Johnson (Lynch, KY) added in 11 points and five rebounds … After a short break for Christmas, the Railsplitters will look to add to their 9-1 start when they host Temple Baptist on Dec. 28 in the Turner Arena. LMU won the previous meeting this season 98-46 … Tip-off for the Temple Baptist game is at 7:00 p.m. As a present from the staff and the team to their fans during this holiday season, admission to the game is free.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill did not play last week due to the snow storm that hit the area on Friday. Both the Limestone and Queens game will be played after the Christmas break. MHC is 4-4 on the season and will return to action on December 30, when they play at Belmont College. Game time is set for a 4 p.m. start.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College men's basketball team won two and lost one last week to move to 5-6 overall entering the Christmas break... On Tuesday, Newberry jumped out to a 20-point first half lead before falling in heartbreaking fashion to Georgia College, 77-76... Coleman Young was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field for a career high 19 points, including a 5-for-5 day from three-point land... Ray Robinson was also perfect from the floor, making all five of his field goal attempts en route to a 14-point game... Rodney Lee scored 11 points off of the bench and Danny Huffor rounded out Newberry's double-digit scorers with 10 points... Stephane Bakinde filled up the box score with nine points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots, while Jeremee Davis led the team with seven assists... The scarlet and gray's ball movement was impressive throughout the game as Newberry notched 23 assists on 29 made field goals... On Thursday, Newberry broke a 4-game losing streak with a 68-64 win at Southern Wesleyan... Newberry was led by the second double-double of the season from Lee, who recorded game highs with 23 points and 10 rebounds... Nobody else scored in double digits, but Davis scored 8 points, dished out 7 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds... On Saturday, Newberry closed out a stretch of 4 games in 7 days with a 78-67 win over Paine... Newberry was led by 12 points each by Ryan Barnes and Davis, with Bakinde and Huffor each scoring 11 points each... Lee scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds... Newberry returns to action with its final non-conference game on December 30 at North Georgia for a 4 p.m. tipoff... Conference play begins in earnest on January 2 at Carson-Newman.
TUSCULUM - Tusculum (5-5) did not play last week, but wraps up its pre-Christmas schedule Monday night against Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky. … Bellarmine advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 last season.
WINGATE - Six different Bulldogs scored at least nine points as Wingate University edged the Trojans of Mount Olive College 90-85 in NCAA Division II men's basketball action Wednesday night in Cuddy Arena. The Bulldogs enter the Christmas holidays 6-4 overall ... Against the MOC Trojans, sophomore guard Jaime Vaughn led the Wingate attack with 20 points, while also notching six rebounds and two steals. Freshman forward Quan Alexander added 17 points, hitting eight-of-10 shots from the field and collecting five assists and three steals. Freshman forward Odell Turner added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard Larry Staley contributed 10 points ... The Trojans took a 26-18 lead midway through the first half. The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead, cutting it to two on a pair of Vaughn free throws and a jumper from sophomore forward Bradley Van Staalduinen at the 5:11 mark. Mount Olive built the lead back to six on a free throw four seconds before halftime. Wingate answered with a jumper from Vaughn at the buzzer to make it 43-39 Mount Olive at intermission ... The Trojans took a 50-43 lead two minutes into the second half. The Bulldogs answered with a 17-8 run over the next four minutes to take their first lead of the second half on a Vaughn layup. A three-pointer gave the Trojans a 63-60 lead with 12:57 remaining. Wingate answered with threes from sophomore guard Tracy Parks and senior forward/guard David Johnson to regain a three-point advantage ... The Bulldogs used a 10-2 run to take a 74-67 lead at the nine-minute mark. Turner had four points, an assist and a steal in the spurt, while Vaughn capped it with a jumper. The Trojans fought back to cut the lead to three with three minutes remaining. After trading free throws, Vaughn drained a jumper with 1:16 to go to put Wingate on top 84-80. The Trojans sliced the lead to one on a three with 1:02 remaining ... Vaughn would knock down four-of-four free throws in the final minute, while freshman guard Paidrick Matilus added a pair of free throws as the Bulldogs sealed the victory ... Wingate shot 47.9 percent from the field, while holding a 39-30 edge in rebounding. The Bulldogs dominated inside, holding a 42-24 advantage in points in the paint. Wingate committed a season-low seven turnovers on the night. Mount Olive shot 51.7 percent from the field and committed 13 turnovers ... On Monday night, Coker College senior forward Mason Ambler scored a career-high 32 points as the visiting Cobras rallied for a 72-67 NCAA Division II men's basketball victory over Wingate in Cuddy Arena. Ambler added nine rebounds, two assists and two steals to his statistics ledger ... Staley scored a career-high 26 points for the Bulldogs. Staley hit eight-of-12 field goals and nine-of-10 free throws Monday night. Nine Bulldogs scored, but Staley was the only Wingate player in double figures. Alexander added nine points, three rebounds and three steals for the hosts ... The South Atlantic Conference-member Bulldogs led for 36 minutes, until Coker took its first lead on a tip-in at the 3:59 mark of the second half. The put-back gave the Cobras a 62-61 edge ... On the next Coker possession, Ambler converted a traditional three-point to put the visitors up 65-61 with 3:01 remaining in the contest. Wingate was not done, as Matilus hit a 15-footer to cut the deficit to 65-63 with 2:52 to go ... Wingate tied the contest for the third and final time on the Bulldogs' next trip down the court. Alexander calmly drained two free throws to tie the game at 65-65 with 1:53 left to play ... Coker junior guard Ryan Aijian missed two free throws at 1:37, but he wiggled his way to the loose ball and grabbed the rebound to give the Cobras another shot clock. Cobra forward Vatrick Thompson was fouled at the 1:15 plateau and he made both charity tosses to give Coker the lead for good at 67-65 ... After a Wingate miss, Aijian made one-of-two free throws to put Coker up 68-65 with 33 seconds left in regulation. Bulldog sophomore guard Vaughn made a floater in the paint to cut the Coker lead to 68-67 with 21 seconds remaining ... Thanks to relentless pressure by the Bulldogs, Coker committed a turnover in the backcourt with 17 seconds to play. Vaughn picked up the steal for the hosts. Turner had his potential game-winning shot blocked by Ambler, but the rebound went out of bounds to the Bulldogs with nine seconds to go ... Wingate committed a turnover and Ambler was present for the steal. Thompson and Ambler combined to convert four-of-four free throws in the waning moments, accounting for the final margin ... The Cobras hit 12-of-21 field goals in the decisive second half, good for 57.1 percent. For the game, Coker hit 45.8 percent from the floor (22-of-48). The visitors converted 24-of-32 free throws (75 percent), including 18-of-23 after intermission (78.3 percent). Thanks to Ambler's efforts, Coker outscored Wingate 34-22 in the paint ... Wingate hit 44.4 percent of its shots from the floor (24-of-54) Monday. The hosts hit 16-of-23 charity tosses (69.6 percent). The Bulldogs lost the rebounding battle by a slim 32-31 margin. Vaughn led the 'Dogs with five boards. The 2009 All-SAC freshman team member collected seven points and three steals as well ... The Bulldogs return to action Tuesday, Dec. 29, taking on Georgia College in Savannah, Ga. Wingate will play host Armstrong Atlantic State on Dec. 30. The Bulldogs return home Jan. 2 to host Lincoln Memorial University at 4 p.m. ... The Bulldogs return to action Tuesday, Dec. 29, taking on Georgia College in Savannah, Ga. Wingate will play at Armstrong Atlantic State on Dec. 30. The Bulldogs return home Jan. 2 to host Lincoln Memorial University at 4 p.m. Mount Olive plays at Armstrong Atlantic State Friday at 8 p.m.