SoCon MBB - 11-20-22

Sunday's game recaps: The SoCon went 4-2 on games scheduled for Sunday. Furman picked up a win over an SEC foe, while WCU won their second straight overtime game, picking up three wins in the McNeese MTE. Samford picked up a win over Texas Southern, a SWAC team and Wofford beat NC A&T from the CAA.


Furman 79 - South Carolina 60
Junior Garrett Hien poured in a career-high 20 points to propel Furman to a 79-60 victory over instate foe South Carolina Sunday morning in the final round of the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic at TD Arena. South Carolina raced out to an early seven-point lead and led 16-11 when Hien hustled down the court following a made basket to score a layup and start a 19-2 Paladin run. Joe Anderson assisted on back-to-back buckets from Marcus Foster and Jalen Slawson to give Furman the lead before burying a triple of his own to up the Paladin advantage to 23-18. Hien drained a three, JP Pegues connected on a jumper and Ben VanderWal converted on two free throws to cap a 15-0 spurt that put Furman in front 30-18 with 6:35 left in the half.

Lindenwood 88 - Western Carolina 90
Russell Jones Jr.'s three-point play with six seconds remaining in overtime lifted Western Carolina to a 90-88 victory over Lindenwood on Sunday at the Legacy Center as part of the McNeese State MTE. WCU improves to 4-2 on the season, earning its fourth straight win and second straight overtime triumph following a 98-91 win over Lamar on Saturday. Lindenwood drops to 2-4. Trailing 88-84 with 54 seconds remaining in overtime, a Harris 3-pointer brought the Catamounts within one with 42 seconds left. Following a missed layup by Caldwell Jr., Jones Jr. grabbed the defensive rebound and made the go-ahead basket with six seconds left for an 89-88 lead. The Blythewood, S.C. native was fouled on the play and made his free throw for the game's final point. Both teams finished with 43 rebounds. For the game, WCU finished 31-for-76 (40.8 percent) from the field, 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) behind the 3-point line, and 18-for-21 (85.7 percent) at the free throw line. Lindenwood was 35-for-68 (51.5 percent) from the field, 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) in 3-point attempts, and 13-for-20 (65 percent) at the charity stripe.

Texas Southern 63 - Samford 78
Ques Glover scored 18 points as Samford beat Texas Southern 78-63 on Sunday night. Glover was 7 of 14 shooting (3 for 5 from distance) for the Bulldogs (5-0). Logan Dye scored 11 points, going 4 of 7 from the field. Achor Achor finished 5 of 7 from the field to finish with 10 points. The Tigers (1-6) were led in scoring by Davon Barnes, who finished with 30 points. John Walker III added 15 points for Texas Southern. Joirdon Karl Nicholas also put up six points and seven rebounds.

ETSU 62 - Tenn. Tech 69
Playing its first true road game of the season, the ETSU men’s basketball team couldn’t pass the test. Shooting 35 percent from the field and 29 percent from long distance, the Buccaneers suffered a 69-62 setback to Tennessee Tech on Sunday inside the Eblen Center. ETSU, who was held nearly 20 points below its season average, dipped to 3-2 on the season following the road loss in Cookeville. Tennessee Tech snapped a two-game skid, improving to 2-3. Sunday marked the 75th all-time meeting in the series with the Golden Eagles now taking the 38-37 lead, while the Bucs still haven’t won in Cookeville since Nov. 24, 2008. ETSU went 19-of-54 (35%) from the field and 7-of-24 (29%) from three-point range, while Tennessee Tech finished 26-of-57 (46%) from the floor and 10-for-27 from beyond the arc (37%). The Bucs managed to shoot 77 percent at the free throw line (17-22), while the Golden Eagles finished 78 percent (7-9).

VMI 67 - Fairleigh Dickinson 93
Ahead 21-16 midway through the opening half, the VMI basketball struggled to keep pace the rest of the way as the SIU Edwardsville Cougars pulled ahead moments later and built a 46-27 halftime lead en route to a 93-67 win over the Keydets Saturday night at Willett Hall at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton scored 21 points each in Fairleigh Dickinson's 93-89 win over VMI on Sunday night to wrap up the JK54 Classic. Roberts shot 5 for 15, making four 3-pointers, and going 7 of 8 from the free throw line for the Knights (3-3). Singleton was 8 of 15 shooting, also making four 3-pointers. Heru Bligen added 19 points. Sean Conway finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for the Keydets (1-5). Asher Woods also scored 20 points and had five assists for VMI. Tyler Houser scored 15 points.

NC A&T 64 - Wofford 78
The Wofford men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 78-64 win over North Carolina A&T on Sunday afternoon at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Aggies cut the Wofford lead to 49-46 in the second half before the Terriers pulled away for good with a 15-1 run. The win improves the Terriers' record to 3-2 to start the season, while North Carolina A&T is now 1-4 overall. By virtue of wins over Gardner-Webb on Friday and the Aggies on Sunday, the Battle of the Carolinas event was won by Wofford. Jackson Paveletzke led all scorers with a career-high 21 points, along with a career-high six assists. Jackson Sivills added 12 points, B.J. Mack had 12 points and Kyler Filewich had 13 points. Messiah Jones was the leading rebounded on the night with nine. The Aggies were led by Kam Woods with 17 points.