SoCon Basketball - Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018

It was a good day for the SoCon, winning 3 of the 4 scheduled games today.

Three games are scheduled for Sunday, one conference game and two out of conference games.  More chances to improve the conference RPI.




Saturday's game recaps - 

Western Carolina  - 71
UNC Asheville - 59
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- WCU;s Kameron Gibson hit three 3 from beyond the arc and scored 15 points total as three other Catamounts scored in double figures to beat UNC Asheville 71-59 on Saturday afternoon. Matt Halvorsen scored 14 points with three 3s, Marc Gosselin added 13 points and five assists and Onnon Steger put up 10 points for the Cats, giving the Bulldogs their 10 loss of the season. The Catamounts went up for good at 4-2 and steadily pulled ahead to a 41-21 halftime lead.  Gibson's jumper with 8:28 left in the game put the Cats up by 25 points. Coty Jude scored 18 points with four 3-pointers to lead the Bulldogs in scoring.



Georgia Southern - 89 
Mercer -  74
MACON, Ga. -- GSU's Ike Smith hit 5 from long range to total 24 points and Isaiah Crawley added 19 Georgia Southern took control late in the game, beating Mercer 89-74 on Saturday. Montae Glenn added 13 points with seven rebounds, Quan Jackson had 12 points and Tookie Brown chipped in 11 while dishing out six assists with three steals for Georgia Southern which opened the season with five straight victories. Mercer took its first lead 43-42 after Ross Cummings nailed a 3 at the 16:43 mark. The Eagles retook the lead and pushed its advantage to 66-54 after Smith and Simeon Carter hit back-to-back jumpers. Smith drained his fifth and final 3-pointer for a 74-61 advantage with 5:14 remaining.


UT Martin - 62
ETSU - 80
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- ETSU's Jeromy Rodriguez scored a career-high 21 points as he led the Bucs past UT Martin 80-62 on Saturday night. ETSU got 20 points from Tray Boyd III, Patrick Good scored 14 and Mladen Armus scored 10 with eight rebounds and six assists. The Bucs owned a 45-29 rebounding advantage and shot 31 of 61 from the field. UT Martin led 38-33 at halftime but poor shooting after the break resulted in just 8 of 26 shots.


#25 Furman - 74 
South Carolina Upstate - 60
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Furman's Jordan Lyons scored 20 points while Noah Gurley added 15 points to lead Furman to a 74-60 win over USC Upstate on Saturday. The Paladins survived the program's first-ever week in the AP Top 25 unscathed  Upstate led the game 34-30 at halftime, however, the Paladins made a layup and a free throw at the opening of the second half that started a 24-5 run for the Paladins. Southern Conference Player of the Month Matt Rafferty finished with 11 points after scoring just two in the first half. He had two key steals and an assist as Furman scored on six of its first eight possessions after halftime.




Today's games -

VMI (5-5, 0-0 Southern) at  Chattanooga  (4-5, 0-0 Southern)   1 pm   ESPN+

Coastal Carolina (5-4, 1-3 Away) at  Wofford  (7-3, 5-1 Home)    2 pm   ESPN+

Samford (7-2, 2-1 Away) at  Alabama A&M  (0-8, 0-2 Home)   5 pm



This season's SoCon out-of-conference record:  (as of 12-6-18)
American Athletic ................................................1-1
Atlantic Coast ..................................................... 0-7
Atlantic Sun ........................................................ 4-1
Big 12 ..................................................................0-3
Big East ...............................................................1-1
Big South ............................................................ 8-1
Big Ten .................................................................0-1
Colonial ............................................................... 4-2
Conference USA ................................................. 2-3
Horizon ............................................................... 1-1
Independent ........................................................ 0-0
Ivy ....................................................................... 0-0
Mid-American ...................................................... 0-0
Mid-Eastern Athletic ............................................ 4-0
Missouri Valley .................................................... 1-0
Mountain West .................................................... 0-0
Non-Division I .....................................................22-0
Ohio Valley .......................................................... 5-3
Pac-12 ................................................................. 0-0
Patriot .................................................................. 0-1
Southeastern ....................................................... 1-3
Southland ............................................................ 1-0
Southwestern Athletic ......................................... 1-0
Summit ................................................................ 2-0
Sun Belt ............................................................... 1-4
Western Athletic .................................................. 1-0


Conference RPI  - RealTime RPI   (as of 12-8-18)
#9  Southern Conference
#18 Sun Belt

#20 CAA

#22 Atlantic Sun
#27 OVC
#28 Big South


NCAA NET Rankings     (12-7-18)
32 - Furman
62 - Wofford
82 - UNCG
86 - ETSU
95 - Samford

111 - Citadel

164 - Mercer
292 - Western Carolina
303 - Chattanooga
306 - VMI


Conference Standings

Basketball (M)	Conference	Overall
Furman	1 - 0	10 - 0
The Citadel	1 - 0	7 - 2
Wofford	1 - 0	7 - 3
UNCG	0 - 0	8 - 2
Samford	0 - 0	7 - 2
VMI	0 - 0	5 - 5
Chattanooga	0 - 0	4 - 5
ETSU	0 - 1	8 - 3
Mercer	0 - 1	4 - 6
Western Carolina	0 - 1	3 - 8

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