Scanning the SoCon (Saturday March 2, 2024)

Saturday, March 2, 2024

All ten teams are in action on the final Saturday of the conference regular season.  Only 3 of the 10 seeds have been finalized prior to Saturday's games, they are #1, #9, and #10.  So the outcome of these five games are critical to the final seedings.  

The day kicks off with Wofford traveling to Lexington, VA. While VMI's fate is sealed, the Terriers is not. In game two of the day, tipping off at 2 pm in Timmons Arena, the Paladins host Mercer, both with identical 7-10 conference records. Game three starts at 2 pm as well and has the Catamounts traveling across the mountain to face the Mocs in Chattanooga, while the Cats are trying to move up to a #4 seed, the Mocs wants to hold on two a share of the #2 spot in the conference standings. The Citadel travels to Homewood, AL to face the other Bulldogs in a game where the results will not effect the standings as Samford has nailed down the #1 seen and The Citadel will hold down the #9 seed win or lose.  The final game of the day tips at 4 pm in Johnson City as the Spartans travel to the Freedom Center to face the ETSU Bucs, that second place in the standing is also at play for the Spartans should they win, on the "Road to Asheville"

1:00 PM - on ESPN+
Wofford (16-14, 9-8 SoCon) at VMI (4-26, 1-16 SoCon)
Cameron Hall - Lexington, VA

2:00 PM - on ESPN+
Mercer (14-16. 7-10 SoCon) at Furman (16-14. 10-7 SoCon)
Timmons Arena - Greenview, SC

2:00 PM - on ESPN+
Western Carolina (21-9, 10-7 SoCon) at Chattanooga (20-10, 12-5 SoCon)
McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, TN

3:00 PM - on ESPN+
The Citadel (11-19, 3-14 SoCon) at Samford (25-5, 14-3 SoCon)
Pete Hanna Center - Homewood, AL

4:00 PM - on ESPN+
UNCG (21-9, 12-5 SoCon) at ETSU (15-15, 7-10 SoCon)
Freedom Hall Civic Center - Johnson City, TN

Game #30 - Furman (the rematch)

 

Who: Furman Paladins
Where: Ramsey Center, Cullowhee, NC
When: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Time: 7 pm
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
Video/TV: ESPNU

Live Stats: Live Stats
Nickname: Paladins
Colors: Purple and White
Fan Message Board: GoPaladins.com

Head Coach: Bob Richey enters his seventh season as head coach and 13th season with the Furman program

Richey's Record at Furman: 148-64 (7th season)
Richey's Record vs. WCU: 16-1
Gray's Record vs. Furman: 1-5

Furman's Current Record: 16-13 overall, 12-2 home, 4-9 away, 0-2 neutral, 10-6 conference.
Furman's Last Season Record: 28-8 overall, 14-2 home, 8-3 away, 6-3 neutral, 15-3 conference.

The Series: Western has a 30-55 overall record in the series with Furman that tipped off in 1977. The Cats are 1-9 in the last 10 games played and are 21-17 overall in games played in Cullowhee, but have dropped the last three games played to the Paladins. 

This game is a Purple Out in Cullowhee, as the Cats - "Paint It Purple!"  Wear Purple!

The preseason favorite Paladins currently sit tied for 5th place in the SoCon standings with Chattanooga, both holding 3-2 conference records. Furman has conference win over VMI, the Citadel, & ETSU, with losses to Chattanooga and UNCG.

Western dropped a very close 62-65 loss to Furman in January. 

SoCon MBB Power Ranking (2-26-24)

Welcome to Purple & Gold's 2024 SoCon Men's Basketball Power Rankings

This is the Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, SoCon Basketball Power Rankings. 

Last week's ranking in parentheses. 

   

   1. (1) Samford

   2. (2) UNCG

   3. (3) Chattanooga  

   4. (4) Furman 

   5. (5) Western Carolina                  

   6. (6) Wofford

   7. (7) Mercer

   8. (8) ETSU  

   9. (9) The Citadel 

 10. (10) VMI

  

 

SoCon MBB Power Ranking (2-19-24)

Welcome to Purple & Gold's 2024 SoCon Men's Basketball Power Rankings

This is the Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, SoCon Basketball Power Rankings. 

Last week's ranking in parentheses. 

   

   1. (1) Samford

   2. (3) UNCG

   3. (2) Chattanooga  

   4. (6) Furman 

   5. (4) Western Carolina                  

   6. (5) Wofford

   7. (8) Mercer

   8. (7) ETSU  

   9. (9) The Citadel 

 10. (10) VMI

  

 

WCU Player of the ETSU Game (Woolbright)

Purple & Gold's Catamount "Player of the Game" versus the ETSU Bucs on February 17th in the Ramsey Center, is senior guard Vonterius Woolbright.  

Vonterius Woolbright tallied a SoCon and nationally-leading twenty-third double-double of the season, with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists against the Bucs In Saturday's game in Cullowhee. 

Woolbright hit 5 of 14 field goals and went 11 of 12 at the charity stripe. Woolbright's rebounds consisted of 9 defensive rebounds and 1 offensive rebound for a total of 10, he also had 3 assists in the game. 

Our congratulations to Vonterius Woolbright on his selection as Player of the Game. 

Pic Courtesy WCU Athletics Media Relations

                                                      

Scanning the SoCon (2-17-24)

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Only four games were on the schedule today, as Furman and Chattanooga will face on Sunday on the CBS Sports Network in a nationally televised game with a tipoff at 2 pm in Timmons Arena. In Saturday's games, there was a major upset as the Mercer Bears upset the league-leading Samford Bulldogs in Macon.  In other games, The Citadel won the military school battle over rival VMI in Charleston, while UNCG handled Wofford and the Catamounts picked up a 5-point win in Cullowhee to get a firmer grip on that important 6th position in the conference standings, which will avoid the Friday play-in games at the start of the SoCon MBB Tournament, on the "Road to Asheville"

Samford  84 -  Mercer 88
Probably the biggest upset of the season was pulled off by Mercer as Jalyn McCreary scored 27 points to lead the Bears over Samford 88-84 on Saturday. David Thomas scored 19 points and added seven assists, while Alex Holt shot 7 of 10 from the field and 2 for 3 from the line to finish with 16 points, and eight rebounds. For the Bulldogs, Achor Achor finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, and Rylan Jones added 19 points. The Bulldogs ended a six-game winning streak with the loss, but remain in first place in the standings

ETSU 65 - Western Carolina 70
The Catamounts Vonterius Woolbright picked up his NCAA-leading 23rd double-double as he and Russell Jones both scored 21 points as the Catamounts beat East Tennessee State 70-65 on Saturday night. Woolbright added 10 rebounds to round out the double as Jones posted three 3-pointers. DJ Campbell had 12 points. The Buccaneers were led by Ebby Asamoah with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Quimari Peterson added 13 points and Jadyn Parker put up nine points and three blocks in the losing effort for the Bucs.

UNCG 58 - Wofford 47
The Spartan's Donovan Atwell hit 15 points to lead UNCG to a 58-47 win against Wofford on Saturday night. Atwell hit 5 for 9, including 4 for 8 from beyond the arc. Keyshaun Langley added 13 points and seven assists. Corey Tripp led the way for the Terriers with 13 points, as Jackson Sivills added eight points and six rebounds for the Terriers.

VMI 52 - The Citadel 76
The Citadel evened their record with VMI this season by putting up a 76-52 win in Charleston, after the Keydets posted a  70-63 victory over the Bulldogs earlier this season in Lexington, VA.  AJ Smith scored 19 points to lead The Citadel over VMI 76-51 on Saturday. Elijah Morgan scored 15 points and added nine steals, while Quentin Millora-Brown had 13 points and  11 rebounds. The victory snapped a six-game skid for the Bulldogs. Taeshaud Jackson finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, and three steals for the Keydets.  Stephen Olowoniyi added 11 points and three blocks for VMI, which has lost eight straight games in conference play. 

Game #27 - ETSU (Black Out Ramsey Day)

Who: ETSU Bucs
Where: Ramsey Center, Cullowhee, NC  
When: Saturday, February 17, 2024
Time: 4 pm
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
TV/Video: ESPN+ 
Live Stats: Live Stats
Enrollment: 13,483
Nickname: Buccaneers
Colors: Navy Blue and Gold

Head Coach: Brooks Savage was named ETSU men's basketball head coach on March 20, 2023. Savage, the 19th head coach in program history, served as an ETSU assistant coach during its historic run from 2015-2020.

Savage's Record at ETSU: 13-13 (First Season)
Savage's Record vs. WCU: 0-1
Gray's Record vs. ETSU: 5-1

ETSU Current Record: 13-13 overall, 8-4 home, 4-9 away, 1-0 neutral, 5-8 conference.
ETSU Last Season's Record: 12-29 overall, 7-9 home, 4-9 away, 1-3 neutral, 8-10 conference.

The Series: Western owns a 29-58 overall record versus the Bucs. In conference games, the Cats are 20-48 and are 5-5 in the last 10 games played, however, the Cats are on a five game win streak against the Bucs that broke a 13 game slide against the ETSU. Western is 14-25 overall vs. ETSU in games played in Cullowhee.

The Catamount men host the "Beat the Bucs – Black Out Ramsey" game with all fans encouraged to match the squad's black Nike uniforms by wearing their black WCU gear to the game. In the doubleheader nightcap, the Catamount women host Samford for their annual "Shoot for the Cure – Pink Out" game with fans encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness for breast cancer.

The Bucs were picked to finish in seventh place in preseason polls by both the coaches and media. ETSU comes into this game having beat Mercer and losing to UNCG last Saturday. ETSU has won six of its last eight games and is holding opponents to 64 points, 37% percent from the field and 25% from beyond the arc during this run .

After losing three starters and eight players from last year's team, head coach Brooks Savage brought in 11 new guys for the 2023-24 season, seven of the new Bucs are transfers: Ebby Asamoah (Delaware), Karon Boyd (USC Aiken), DJ Hughes (Butler), Jadyn Parker (North Florida), Quimari Peterson (John A. Logan), Tyler Rice (William & Mary) and Timmy Fasehun (Gulf Coast State College). Four of the new Bucs are true freshmen: Maki Johnson, Gabe Sisk, Jaxson Jones, and David Meriwether.

The Bucs return four players from last year's roster who logged minutes, including starters Jaden Seymour and Allen Strothers, along with Justice Smith and Braden Ilic. Overall, ETSU only returns 29% of its scoring, 37% of its rebounding and 38% of its minutes played in 2022-23. Seymour totaled 253 points, 218 rebounds, Smith posted 237 points, 111 rebounds, while Allen Strothers recorded 109 points, 51 rebounds and Braden Ilic added for 46 points, 33 rebounds.

The Bucs come into Saturday's game on a 2 game slide, losing to Furman at home and Chattanooga on the road. 

Pic Courtesy WCU Athletics Media Relations

Scanning the SoCon (2-14-24)

No surprises in Wednesday night's SoCon games. All the teams that were picked to win, won, so the standings pretty much remain the same, except that WCU fell to sixth place and now Furman and Wofford remain tied for fourth place. The Bulldogs strengthen their stranglehold on 1st place, with Chattanooga solidly in second, and UNCG in third. The bottom four teams remain the same with ETSU holding down 7th, Mercer 8th, The Citadel in 9th, and VMI in 10th.  On the "Road to Asheville"

VMI 62 - Mercer 75
Furman's Ben Vanderwal scored 15 points to lead Furman to a 75-62 win over VMI on Wednesday night. Vanderwal also pulled down 13 rebounds as JP Pegues scored 14 points and added eight assists. Taeshaud Jackson led the Keydets in scoring with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and two steals. Maurice Wright Jr. added 13 points and Stephen Olowoniyi added nine points. The loss was the Keydets' seventh straight.

Wofford 73 - Mercer 60
Wofford's Dillon Bailey's scored 17 points to led Wofford over Mercer 73-60. Jackson Sivills scored 16 points, hitting 6 for 7, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc. Anthony Arrington, Jr. had 11 points and shot 4 for 8, including 3 for 6 from beyond the arc. Jake Davis finished with 15 points for the Bears and Alex Holt and David Thomas each recorded 12 points.

UNCG 76 - The Citadel 60
Keyshaun Langley led the Spartans over The Citadel 76-61 with 21 points on Wednesday night. Donovan Atwell adds 17 points. Joryam Saizonou finished 5 of 6 from the field to finish with 12 points. The Bulldogs were led by AJ Smith, with 20 points, and 11 rebounds. Quentin Millora-Brown added 14 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks for Citadel.

ETSU 71 - Chattanooga 84
Chattanooga tightened its hold on second place in the conference standings with an 84-71 win over rival ETSU in Chattanooga. Honor Huff led the Mocs with 31 points (9 for 16 from 3-point range) and Trey Bonham added 14 points and eight assists. The Bucs were led in by Quimari Peterson who finished with 22 points and three steals. Jaden Seymour added 19 points, six rebounds, and two steals for East Tennessee State.

WCU 88 - Samford 52
Samford extended its lead in the Southern Conference standings with their win over the Catamounts. Achor Achor had 18 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs. Jaden Campbell and Jermaine Marshall added 16 points apiece. Vonterius Woolbright led the way for the Catamounts with his twenty-second double-double, with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and two steals. DJ Campbell added 13 points for the Cats. Tre Jackson also had 10 points and four assists.


If it ended today.....

First round // Friday, March 8 // Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville // Asheville, N.C.
Game 1 -  #8  Mercer vs. #9 The Citadel  5 p.m
Game 2 -  #7  ETSU vs. #10 VMI  7:30 p.m

Quarterfinals // Saturday, March 9 // Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville // Asheville, N.C.
Game 3 - #1  Samford vs. Game 1 winner 12 p.m
Game 4 - #2  UTC vs. Game 2 winner  2:30 p.m 
Game 5 - #3  UNCG vs. #6 WCU  6 p.m
Game 6 - #4  Wofford vs. #5 Furman   8:30 p.m

Cats open season vs. Iona Gaels (3 game series)

Who: Iona Gaels
When: Friday, February 16 - Sunday, February 18, 2026
Times: Fri. 4:00 pm; Sat. 1:00 pm (updated) ; Sun. 1:00 pm
Where: Childress Field, Cullowhee, NC
TV/video: ESPN+ (Friday & Sunday only)
   -announcer: Daniel Hooker (PxP)

• Live Stats:  WCU Live Stats

Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
Nickname: Gaels
Location: New Rochelle, New York
Colors: Maroon and gold
Students: 3,590
Mascot: Killian

Last season's record: 13-38 overall, 7-5 home, 6-31 away, 0-2 neutral, 9-15 MAAC

Head Coach: Conor Burke (3rd season) - Burke, a Long Island native, joins the Maroon & Gold after most recently serving as an assistant coach at the Ivy League's Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Burke spent the last two years at Dartmouth, where he served as the recruiting coordinator and was primarily responsible for working with hitters and outfielders. Conor's college coaching resume also includes time with Adelphi University, Concordia College, and Queens College. In addition to his roles as a collegiate coach, Burke was the national recruiting coordinator for the Bayside Yankees, an elite travel baseball program based out of New York City. Conor is a 2012 graduate of Queens College (N.Y.) with a degree in Media Studies. He served as captain of the Knights baseball team as a senior. Prior to enrolling at Queens, he captained Suffolk Community College to an appearance in the NJCAA World Series.

Burke's Record at Iona: 18-75
Burke's Record vs. WCU: 0-0
Beck's Record vs. Iona: 0-0

Series History: The two teams met in a three-game series in Cullowhee in March of 2012, the Cats swept the series.

Iona was picked ninth in the 11-team MAAC preseason poll, with no players selected for the pre-season all-conference honors, however at the end of last season sophomore infielder Anthony Zollo was tabbed to the All-Rookie team.

Scanning the SoCon (2-14-24)

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

All ten SoCon teams are in action on Wednesday night. The big game of the night has to be the Catamounts traveling to Homewood to face the Bulldogs of Samford. Western dropped the first meeting in Cullowhee earlier this year on national TV by 4 points, 71-75. The Bulldogs are on a 14-game home win streak this season in the Hanna Center and have only one conference loss this season at the hands of Furman. In other games, VMI faces off with the Paladins in Travelers Rest, Wofford travels to Georgia to face the Bears in Macon, UNCG makes it a beach trip as they travel to Charleston to meet the other Bulldogs and the two Tennessee foes face off in the Roundhouse in Chattanooga. All games will be carried by ESPN+, while the WCU/Samford game is being shown nationally on ESPNU. All games start at 7 pm, except the WCU game which tips off at 9 pm ET, on the "Road to Asheville"


-7:00 PM - On ESPN+
VMI (4-21, 1-11 SoCon) at Furman (13-12, 7-5 SoCon)
Timmons Arena - Greenview, SC

-7:00 PM - On ESPN+
Wofford (14-11, 7-5 SoCon) at Mercer (11-14, 4-8 SoCon)
Hawkins Arena - Macon, GA

-7:00 PM - On ESPN+
UNCG (17-8, 8-4 SoCon) at The Citadel (9-16, 1-11 SoCon)
McAlister Field House - Charleston, SC

-7:00 PM - On ESPN+
ETSU (13-12, 5-7 SoCon) at Chattanooga (17-8, 9-3 SoCon)
McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, TN

-9:00 PM - On ESPNU/ESPN+
Western Carolina (18-7, 7-5 SoCon) at Samford (22-3, 11-1 SoCon)
Pete Hanna Center - Homewood, AL

SoCon MBB Power Ranking (2-12-24)

Welcome to Purple & Gold's 2024 SoCon Men's Basketball Power Rankings

This is the Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, SoCon Basketball Power Rankings. Last week's ranking in parentheses. 

   

   1. (1) Samford

   2. (3) Chattanooga  

   3. (2) UNCG

   4. (6) Western Carolina                  

   5. (4) Wofford

   6. (5) Furman 

   7. (7) ETSU  

   8. (8) Mercer

   9. (9) The Citadel 

 10. (10) VMI

  

 

Game #26 - Samford Bulldogs (the rematch)

Who: Samford Bulldogs

Where: Hanna Center, Homewood, AL
When: Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Time: 9 pm (ET)
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
TV/Video: ESPNU 
Live Stats: Live Stats
Enrollment: 5,791
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: Blue and Red

Head Coach: Bucky McMillan enters his fourth season as head coach of the Samford University Men's Basketball team. McMillan was named Samford's 29th head men’s basketball coach on April 6, 2020.

McMillan's Record at Samford: 62-37 / 4th season
McMillan's Record vs. WCU: 6-0
Gray's Record vs. Samford: 0-5

Samford Current Record: 22-3 overall, 14-0 home, 8-3 away, 0-0 neutral, 11-1 conference.
Samford Last Season's Record: 21-11 overall, 13-3 home, 8-7 away, 0-1 neutral, 15-3 conference.

The Series: In the series that tipped off in 1970, the Cats are 14-17 overall vs. the Bulldogs, thanks to a 6-game skid against Samford by the Catamounts. Western is 3-7 in the last 10 games played but is 3-12 against Samford in games played in Homewood.

The Rematch - this time the Cats travel to Samford's home court, where they have only 3 wins out of 15 games.

In the preseason polls, the coaches picked Samford to finish in 4th place, while the media picked Samford and Western Carolina in a tie for second place, and senior forward Jermaine Marshall was picked as preseason all-conference. Samford has won its last 15-straight game for a school record for longest win streak, interestingly 12 of those 15 wins have come in Homewood, AL, in the Pete Hanna Center - the home court of the Bulldogs.

So far this season, Samford has been led by junior Achor Achor, averaging 15.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, leading the team in both categories. Junior A.J. Staton-McCray is averaging 13.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Rylan Jones leads the team in assists, dishing out 5.4 assists per contest. Samford ranks in the top 10 in the nation in several categories, bench points per game (5th-38.80 ppg.), assists per game (3rd-20.5), fastbreak points per game (2nd-18.47 pg.), scoring offense (4th-89.5 ppg.), steals per game (6th-11.0 pg.), three-point percentage (5th-40.6%) and turnovers forced per game (8th-18.00 pg.).

Samford currently leads the SoCon in scoring (88.8 ppg.), scoring margin (+14.9), field goal percentage (.490), three-point field goal percentage (.404), turnover margin (3.38), assists (20.00 pg.) and steals (10.88 pg.). Individually, A.J. Staton-McCray leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.891) and ranks third in steals (1.7 pg.). Achor Achor leads the league in field goal percentage (.617) and ranks third in blocked shots (1.7 pg.). Rylan Jones ranks first in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.7) and fourth in assists (5.4 pg.).

Scanning the SoCon (2-10-24)

The standing picture is a little clearer tonight after Saturday's action.  The Samford Bulldogs now own a 2-game lead in the conference standings, with Chattanooga in sole possession of 2d place and UNCG falling to 3rd, in the standings.  Three teams are now tied for fourth place (WCU, Wofford, Furman) with identical 7-5 conference records, with 6 conference games remaining to be played before the conference tournament.  ETSU, Mercer, The Citadel, and VMI fill out the 7-10 positions, on the "Road to Asheville".

Saturday's results:

Samford 102 - VMI 63

The Bulldogs broke 100 points today against the helpless Keydets as Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones each scored 16 points to lead Samford's defeat of VMI 102-63 in Lexington. Campbell shot 5 of 6 from the field and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe, while Jones was 6 for 8, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc. A.J. Staton-McCray had 13 points and was 5 of 6 shooting and 3 of 6 from the free throw line. Taeshaud Jackson finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Keydets and Corey Chesley also scored 16 points for VMI off the bench. Samford took the lead with 19:47 left in the first half and did not give it up. 

Mercer 46 - Western Carolina 79
Vonterius Woolbright scored 16 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and posted 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season as he led the Catamounts over Mercer 79-46 on Saturday in Cullowhee.  With the game tied early at 4-4, the Cats hit a three-pointer and never gave up the lead in a dominating performance against the Bears as they swept the series with Mercer this season.  Tre Jackson also scored 16 points while shooting 6 for 11, including 4 for 6 from beyond the arc. Kamar Robertson shot 7 for 11, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points.  The Bears were led in scoring by David Thomas, who finished with 18 points.

Chattanooga  89 - UNCG  61
The Moc's Trey Bonham scored 31 points to led Chattanooga past UNCG 89-61 on Saturday night in Greensboro. Honor Huff scored 19 points while shooting 6 for 11, including 6 for 10 from beyond the arc, as Myles Che went 6 of 8 from the field, finishing with 14 points. For the Spartans. Mikeal Brown-Jones finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Keyshaun Langley added 12 points and four assists.  Chattanooga's win over the Spartans elevated the Mocs to 2d place in the standings, behind Samford with UNCG dropping to third place. 

Furman 65 -  ETSU 63
Recovering from an unexpected loss to Mercer on Wednesday night, the Paladins traveled to Johnson City and once again pulled off a win in the last seconds of a game, this time  JP Pegues sealed the victory with a free throw with 1.8 seconds remaining as the Paladins took down ETSU 65-63 on Saturday night.  In addition to Pegues' 15 points, Marcus Foster added 11 points, shooting 4 for 10, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc, and eight rebounds. Tyrese Hughey finished 3 of 3 from the field to finish with eight points.  For the home-standing Bucs, Quimari Peterson put up 14 points and 6 rebounds as Jadyn Parker added 13 points, nine rebounds, and five blocks.  Jaden Seymour's dunk with 1:03 to play gave ETSU a 63-61 lead, but Pegues was fouled on a 3-point shot and made 2-of-3 free throws to tie the game. Seymour then missed a go-ahead jumper on the other end but Pegues was fouled and hit the winning foul shots.

The Citadel 54 - Wofford 77
The home-standing Terriers defeated the Citadel 77-54 in Spartanburg on Saturday night, in the final SoCon game of the day. The Terriers hit  11 of 26 from beyond the three-point line (42.3%) hitting 53% overall in field goals, while picking up 12 points off 12 turnovers by the Bulldogs.  Dillon Bailey and Belal El Shakery both posted 15 points to lead the Terriers in scoring and AJ Smith lead all scorers with 27 points for the Bulldogs and Madison Durr added 17 points for the Citadel in their losing effort.  

WCU Player of the Game (Mercer) Woolbright

Purple & Gold's Catamount "Player of the Game" for the Mercer Bears basketball game on February 10th in the Ramsey Center, is senior guard Vonterius Woolbright.  

Vonterius Woolbright tallied a SoCon-leading third triple-double of the season, with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Bears In Saturday's game in Cullowhee. 

Woolbright hit 4 of 15 field goals and went 8 of 10 at the charity stripe. Woolbright's rebounds consisted of 7 defensive rebounds and 3 offensive rebounds for a total of 11, he also had 10 assists in the game to round out the triple-double.

Our congratulations to Vonterius Woolbright on his selection as Player of the Game.