DREXEL-COLL OF CHARLESTON
Drexel beats College of Charleston 59-45
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Tavon Allen had 18 points with five assists and Drexel won its fifth straight with a 59-45 victory over College of Charleston on Saturday.
The Dragons (9-14, 7-5 Colonial Athletic Association) pulled within a game of Northeastern (16-9, 8-4) for third place in the association.
Allen made four 3-pointers on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. Damion Lee added 12 points with two treys for the Dragons, who hit 9 of 15 from beyond the arc (60 percent).
Drexel led 27-18 at the break. Allen scored five straight points, and Rodney Williams had a dunk to stretch Drexel’s lead to 49-31 with 6:19 remaining, and the Dragons cruised from there.
Anthony Stitt scored 15 points to lead Charleston (7-18, 2-10). The Cougars, who snapped a five-game losing streak Thursday night with a win over CAA leader William & Mary, was held under 49 points for the third time.
SC STATE-COPPIN ST
Coppin St. edges in front of South Carolina St. 77-74
BALTIMORE (AP) — Taariq Cephas scored 18 points — including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds — and Coppin State edged in front of South Carolina State 77-74 on Saturday afternoon.
Coppin State (5-18, 4-6 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) led by 15 points two minutes into the second half. The Bulldogs (9-16, 6-4) went on a 10-0 run — which included eight-straight from Edward Stephens — and closed to 59-58 with 11:08 remaining. Six lead changes and two ties followed, and with 25 seconds left, Cephas knocked down a 3-pointer to give Coppin State a 76-74 advantage.
The Eagles got all but 11 points from four players — Sterling Smith had 18, Arnold Fripp finished with 17, and Dallas Gary chipped in 13 points. Cephas finished 5 of 7 from the floor and 4 of 6 from distance.
Stephens led South Carolina State, tying his career-high for the second time with 26 points.
MERCER-FURMAN
Moten, Nwamu lead Mercer past Furman 74-68
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Darious Moten and Ike Nwamu scored 19 points apiece and Mercer pulled away in the closing minutes to defeat Furman 74-68 on Saturday.
Furman led 36-31 at halftime — the first time in nine games Mercer trailed at the break — was within 55-53 on Daniel Fowlers 3-pointer with 7:36 to play. Mercer then made six free throws and Nwamu and Jibri Bryan had 3s over the next five possessions to pull ahead 67-58.
The Paladins got within four with 35 seconds left but a Moten dunk started a 5-0 run to ice it.
T.J. Hallice added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears (14-11, 9-3 Southern Conference), who made 17 of 28 free throws while the Paladins were 9 of 14 from the line.
Kris Acox and Fowler had 13 points each for the Paladins (7-16, 4-8) with Acox getting 10 rebounds. Stephen Croone had 10, ending a streak of four-straight 20-plus point games.
SOUTH CAROLINA-VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt rallies to beat South Carolina 65-50
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Riley LaChance scored 19 points to lead a Vanderbilt comeback as the Commodores rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat South Carolina 65-50 at Memorial Gym on Saturday.
The Commodores (13-10, 3-7 Southeastern Conference) trailed 41-27 with 13:46 left before rallying.
An 18-0 run triggered the comeback for Vanderbilt, which has won two straight since ending a seven-game losing streak in Tuesday’s win over Florida.
LaChance made back-to-back 3-pointers to give Vanderbilt a 45-43 lead with 8:25 left.
South Carolina (11-11, 2-8) has lost six of its last seven games.
James Siakam added 16 points for Vanderbilt and Wade Baldwin IV scored 12.
Sindarius Thornwell led the Gamecocks with 12 points and Duane Notice added 10.
South Carolina has lost 20 of its last 21 SEC road games, including a 0-5 record this season.
SC-UPSTATE-KENNESAW ST
South Carolina Upstate rolls over Kennesaw State 74-46
KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Ty Greene scored 21 points with five 3-pointers and South Carolina Upstate rolled over Kennesaw State 74-46 on Saturday.
South Carolina Upstate (18-7, 5-3 Atlantic Sun) raced out to a 13-5 lead, and then went on a 16-0 run later in the half — including four 3-pointers by three shooters — and led 38-24 at intermission.
The Spartans then opened the second half with a 21-3 run, including six points in the paint from Michael Buchanan, to more than double the score at 59-27.
Buchanan had nine rebounds to go with his eight points. Fred Miller scored 11 points with seven boards and Josh Cuthbertson added 10 points. The Spartans shot 47 percent from the floor and were 12 of 12 from the line.
Yonel Brown led Kennesaw State (8-17, 2-6) with nine points.
UNC GREENSBORO-THE CITADEL
UNC Greensboro beats The Citadel 79-63
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Diante Baldwin led four Spartans in double figures with 17 points and added eight assists as UNC Greensboro defeated The Citadel 79-63 on Saturday.
Tevon Saddler and RJ White scored 15 apiece and Nicholas Paulos, 4 of 4 from the arc, added 14 for the Spartans (8-17, 4-8 Southern), who played only seven scholarship players and one walk-on because of injuries. Kayel Locke added nine points and became the 20th UNCG player to reach 1,000.
The Citadel’s Ashton Moore scored a season-high 32 points, making 15 of 16 free throws, the first time a Bulldog has made 15 since 2009. He has three career 30-point games. The Bulldogs (8-15, 3-9) dropped their sixth consecutive game.
The Citadel led by one at halftime but shot only 23.1 percent in the second half to UNCG’s 62.5 percent. A 12-2 run gave UNCG the lead at 51-45 as it pulled away from there.
WOFFORD-VMI
Wofford hangs on against VMI, 65-62
LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) — Karl Cochran scored 18 points and added 12 rebounds to help lead Wofford to a 65-62 victory over VMI on Saturday, extending its season-long winning streak to seven games.
Wofford (20-5, 11-1 Southern Conference) held a commanding 42-24 lead at the break. However VMI stormed back in the second half, highlighted by a 9-0 run in the final four minutes capped off by a Brian Brown 3 to tie the game at 60 with 1:15 to play. But the Terriers scored the next five points in the final minute to put VMI away.
Spencer Collins added 10 points for the Terriers, whose 20-5 record is their best start since the 1993-94 season.
The Terriers held VMI to 37.1 percent shooting and forced 15 Keydets turnovers. During its seven game streak, Wofford has held opponents to just 35 percent shooting.
Brown led VMI (8-16, 4-9) with 14 points.
