SoCon MBB Tournament - 1st Round

A recap of Friday's games:


The Citadel 41 - Mercer 66
The Mercer men's basketball program dismantled The Citadel, 66-41, on Friday evening in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament at the Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville in North Carolina. The Bears advance to face Furman in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 4 at 12 p.m. Neither team scored for the first 2:24, but once Mercer started scoring, the points were plentiful. The Citadel had zero points at the first media timeout and zero field goals in the first 9:30 as the Bears led 16-1. The Bulldogs only scored two field goals in the first half as Mercer led 27-10 at half. The Citadel showed more offense in the second half, but the Bears remained steady. Mercer led by no less than 14 points in the second period and extended the lead to 27 in the final three minutes of the game.


VMI 72 - Chattanooga 92   
Jake Stephens returned to the court and Chattanooga moved past VMI by a 92-72 tally to head into the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Championships presented by Ingles. The Mocs used a dominant start and not allowing a glimmer of hope to the Keydets throughout.
The Mocs scored on their first four possessions leading for all but the 12 seconds it was 0-0. They were led by Khristion Courseault and Jake Stephens with 21 points apiece. Courseault set a Mocs tourney record making all nine shot attempts including three from 3pt range. A.J. Caldwell collected 11 rebounds to lead the Mocs to a 12-board advantage for the game, 43-31. VMI's Tony Felder led a trio in double digits with 19. The Mocs take on the two seed Samford Saturday in Harrah's Cherokee Center. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m., on ESPN+.


Tomorrow's games
Game 3 No. 1 Furman vs. No. 8 Mercer 12 p.m.
Game 4 No. 4 Western Carolina vs. No. 5 ETSU 2:30 p.m.
Game 5 No. 2 Samford vs. Game 2 winner 6 p.m.
Game 6 No. 3 UNCG vs. No. 6 Wofford 8:30 p.m.