SoCon MBB (1-7-23)

Recap of Saturday's games:

The Catamounts continue to surprise, this night with a defensive domination of the Mercer Bears in Cullowhee, the Samford Bulldogs continue their undefeated streak in conference games (4-0), and we now have two teams with 0-4 records in conference games (Mercer & VMI).

VMI 78 - Chattanooga 85
Jake Stephens scored 37 points and hauled in 15 rebounds against his former school to help lift the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team to an 85-78 victory over VMI in Southern Conference action on Saturday afternoon inside McKenzie Arena. Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in SoCon play. VMI falls to 5-12 overall and 0-4 inside league action. Stephens 37 points marked the most for a Moc against a DI opponent since Ricky Taylor dropped 41 against UNCG on January 27, 2011. It was the most overall since Z. Mason posted 41 against Hiwassee on December 10, 2013. Chattanooga controlled majority of the game and led for a whopping 38:31 while seeing their lead grow to as many as 23 in the second half. VMI shot the ball at an incredibly high efficiency over the final 20 minutes and used a late flurry to trim the final score to just eight.

Furman 70 - ETSU 56
Redshirt-junior Marcus Foster poured in 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to pace Furman to a 70-56 victory over East Tennessee State in Southern Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn. The Paladins, who improved to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in league play, held the Buccaneers to just 33.3% shooting from the field and 14.3% from three-point range. Both shooting totals marked season-lows for a Paladin opponent. Furman's 14-point margin of victory marked its second largest ever versus the Bucs in Johnson City, trailing only a 78-54 triumph during the 1984-85 campaign.

Samford 70 - UNCG 68
The Samford Men's Basketball Team knocked down a season-high 15 threes and held off a late charge by UNCG to claim a 70-68 road win against the Spartans on Saturday to move to the top of the Southern Conference Standings. With the win, Samford improves to 10-7 overall and 4-0 in SoCon play. UNCG drops to 9-8 overall and 3-1 in league play. The win marks the Bulldogs' first 4-0 start in conference play since the 2006-07 season as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. A.J. Staton-McCray scored a season-high 17 points while Logan Dye also registered 17 to go along with eight rebounds. Bubba Parham converted on four of six three-pointers en route to a 15-point performance while Jermaine Marshall grabbed a team-high eight rebounds on six points.

Mercer 45 - Western Carolina 73
Russell Jones Jr. sparked Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon, scoring a career-high 23 points and spearheading a stifling defensive effort that held the visiting Mercer Bears to a season-low 45 points as the Catamounts earned a 73-45 Southern Conference win on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Saturday night. Jones eclipsed the 20-point plateau for a second-straight game in helping the Catamounts to a third-consecutive SoCon victory, eclipsing his previous career-best of 21 scored in the road win at ETSU in the midweek. WCU improves to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in SoCon play. The 3-1 start matches the best opening four-game stretch in league action for the Catamounts since the 2019-20 season. Mercer drops to 7-10 and 0-4.

The Citadel 57 - Wofford 77
The Citadel men's basketball team made a run out of the locker room in the second half, but a slow start in the first half was too much to overcome in a 77-57 setback at Wofford Saturday evening. The Citadel missed each of its first 10 shots to start the game, falling behind 8-0 in the first six-plus minutes of the game. The Bulldogs would make their next two shots to pull within four, but the Terriers were able to push the lead to double with under 10 minutes to play in the half. The Citadel would get as close as nine in the half on a layup from David Maynard before going into the half down 27-15. The second half saw the Bulldogs come out of the locker room knocking down shots. After a three-point play from AJ Smith, and a jumper from Dylan Engler, the Bulldogs only trailed by nine. The Terriers would answer any run from the Bulldogs with hot outside shooting in the second half. Wofford hit eight three pointers in the second half to stay ahead of the Bulldogs.


Current SoCon standing after Saturday's games...