SoCon MBB - (Jan 21, 2023)

A recap of Saturday's games:

Big upset today, as the Bucs handled the Mocs rather easily, outscoring Chattanooga 45 to 20 in the second half without Jake Stephens playing today. The final score, was 78-62 ETSU on the Mocs home floor. VMI won the battle of the military schools in Lexington, by a final of 60-52. The Keydets are still winless in the SoCon after 8 games. The Spartans handle Mercer in Greensboro, and the Bulldogs remain unbeaten in conference play as they take care of the Catamounts in Homewood.

The Citadel 60 - VMI 52
In what was a tale of two halves, The Citadel erased a nine-point halftime deficit for a 60-52 victory over VMI Saturday afternoon inside Cameron Hall. The first half was one to forget for both teams as they combined to make just 13-of-46 shots in the opening 20 minutes. The tide of the game turned in the final second of the first half as Austin Ash hit a three-pointer to make it 23-14 in favor of VMI. A technical foul was called on the Keydets as the half ended, and Ash made two free throws before the second half began. The Citadel used that sequence to their advantage as they got three-pointers form Ash and David Maynard to pull within three with just over 10 minutes to play. The triple from Maynard was the start of a 9-0 run that saw the Bulldogs take their first lead of the game. AJ Smith hit a jumper with 7:25 left in the game to push the advantage back to six, and the Bulldogs took care of business the rest of the way from the foul line, going 12-of-12 down the stretch to secure the victory.

ETSU 78 - Chattanooga 62
The Bucs shot 79 percent in the second half and outscored Chattanooga by 25, as ETSU men’s basketball team rallied for 78-62 win over the reigning SoCon champions on Saturday afternoon inside McKenzie Arena. ETSU, who moved to 4-0 on the road in SoCon play this season and has won the last six dating back to last year, improved to 8-13 overall and 4-4 in league play. Chattanooga, missing preseason SoCon Player of the Year Jake Stephens, dropped to 11-10, 3-5. Saturday marked the 97th game in the historic rivalry with ETSU moving closer to tying up the series as the Bucs now trail the Mocs, 51-46. The Blue and Gold won for just the sixth time in their last 28 games in Chattanooga.

Mercer 48 - UNCG 59
(UNCG) men's basketball team won its fourth-straight win with a 59-48 victory over Mercer on Saturday evening at the Greensboro Coliseum in Southern Conference (SoCon) play. The 7-1 record in SoCon play continues to match the Spartans' conference start during the 2018-19 season. This was the eighth win of the season by double figures. Mikeal Brown-Jones led the game with 17 points. Twelve of his 17 came in the last five minutes and 23 seconds. Keondre Kennedy also had double digits, scoring 10 points. The Spartans outmatched the Bears in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free throw percentage. UNCG had 36 points in the paint compared to Mercer's 26. The Spartans' 31 fast break points also outmatched the Bears' 18.

Western Carolina 65 - Samford 74
Vonterius Woolbright led three Western Carolina players in double figures with 18 points, but Samford used a big run in the middle stages of the second half to gain separation and emerge with a 74-65 win over the Catamounts on Saturday evening inside the Pete Hanna Center. Samford improves to 14-7 overall and 8-0 in the Southern Conference. WCU falls to 11-10 and 4-4. Woolbright saw his streak of 20-point-plus games end at three straight but finished as the top scorer for WCU for the fourth straight game. Tyzhaun Claude tallied 17 points followed by Russell Jones Jr with 10. Claude and Woolbright both grabbed a team-best six rebounds. Playing in his first game since Nov. 30 due to injury, Ques Glover led the Bulldogs with a game-high 20 points. Jermaine Marshall recorded a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Bubba Parham added 12 points followed by Logan Dye with 11.